Lyons Lumberyard: Joliet Tears It Down Finally

JOLIET, IL — Joliet's vagrants and drug addicts have one less place to congregate now that the city of Joliet has demolished the old Lyons Lumber property. This week, the crews from Grosshening turned the once-thriving Joliet business into several piles of bricks and cinder blocks in the 100 block of East Washington Street.

The city-owned property is about a block away from downtown Joliet's Gateway Transportation Center and not far from the Metra train tracks.

During an interview in June, then-city manager Steve Jones told Patch that the Lyons Lumber property continued to attract vandals and homeless people to hang out at the site.

"Police are frequently called to the property, which is littered with trash and there is evidence of fires being started inside the buildings. Due to the proximity of the recent public and private investment in the downtown area, this site is also considered by staff to be a good candidate for future development," Jones notified the Joliet City Council at the time the $97,000 demolition contract was awarded to Grosshening.

Now that the lumber buildings are torn down, the debris behind the chain-link fence will need to be hauled away.