Focus On: The Brach's Candy Factory

Well, this is depressing. See that large factory complex in the photos below? That's the Brach's Candy Factory. Built in 1924, it's been a landmark on the west side of Chicago, visible from both the Lake St. el and Chicago and Northwestern (METRA) West Line. You probably know it better from "The Dark Knight" when the Joker blows up "Gotham City Hospital" - in reality the executive offices of this complex (they would have stood under the plain green square in the Cicero sign below).

Unfortunately, the rest of the complex is going the same way. Abandoned since 2001 (thanks to US Agriculture policy regarding sugar subsidies to domestic producers - making US sugar more expensive than the world average - it's become prohibitively expensive to make candy in the US), the owners apparently started demolition this week. In its place will be - just what Chicago needs! - some sort of strip mall.

Hard to know what to think about this one. A candy factory certainly wasn't coming back (see above) but there had to be something other than razing this thing.

And yet another piece of Chicago's industrial heritage dies.