Landmark Building On Collins Street Being Demolished

A building that has stood in Joliet since 1891 is now being torn down. The limestone building located at 927 Collins Street caught fire in the overnight hours just after 3 a.m. on Saturday, September 7th. No one was injured, but wind from flying embers reached two blocks away. According to Joliet Fire Department Chief Jeff Carey there were squatters in the building. Cause of the blaze is under investigation.

While the Joliet Fire Department continues to investigate, it was over a month ago that fires were being started outside of the building from thieves trying to steal copper wires.

• original story below from August 5, 2024 

The Joliet Fire Department was called out to the big limestone office building for the Collins Street steel mill due to smoke and fire behind the building.  It turned out that somebody was stripping copper wire out of the building and decided to burn all the rubber off the wires right behind the building which looked like the building was on fire.  The blaze did char the back of the limestone. Fire fighters shot water on the big bundle of wires that was burning against the building.