Environmental Progress - Winter-Spring 2004

Historic Manufacturing Facility Has Artistic Aspiration

IEPA helps Freeport implement vision

The Rawleigh Complex, poised dramatically at the edge of Freeport's downtown, is a historic asset to the community. Plans are now underway to turn it into an economic and cultural asset as well. With environmental problems having been largely remedied, and the help of funding from both the Illinois EPA's and U.S.EPA's brownfields programs, Freeport has refocused its energies at returning the Rawleigh Complex site back to productive use, providing a tax base and jobs for the city, once again.

W.T. Rawleigh was an early industrial entrepreneur in Freeport, a manufacturer of household products including food items, condiments, salves, cleaning agents, etc. The factory, established in 1904, also did mixing of ingredients for the products, packaging, labeling and shipping. Ultimately, in 1987, W.T. Rawleigh Corporation declared bankruptcy and abandoned the 450,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.

When the three-building factory closed, most items were left intact, much as they existed during production. This left a set of structures that, as they declined, not only became an eyesore for the community, but a major health hazard as well. Children were getting into the building, breaking mercury thermometers and further contaminating the buildings.

In 1999, the U.S.EPA conducted an immediate removal action of all remaining lab chemicals, tank contents, cleaned up some of the asbestos wrapped piping, as well as the mercury contamination. In 2000, they spent $1.3 million on the clean up of approximately 500 tons of contaminated soil, and 210 drums of liquid waste were removed.

In March 1999, the Illinois EPA awarded Freeport a $119,960 Municipal Brownfields Grant for environmental site assessments to determine the levels and extent of any remaining contamination in the Rawleigh Complex. In 2002, the grant was amended and Freeport was awarded an additional $120,000 to allow them to conduct more comprehensive investigation activities.

In June 2003, the City of Freeport, with its 26,000 residents, was also selected to receive a Brownfields assessment grant of $200,000, from the U.S.EPA. The city needed the funding to conduct additional environmental assessment activities at sites within the Rawleigh Complex Redevelopment Corridor, which has had many industrial and manufacturing uses because of its proximity to rail lines.

One of Freeport's initial major concepts is to use the Rawleigh building for arts-related activities, once the environmental issues are resolved. They believe that redevelopment of the Rawleigh Complex into an arts center could be an excellent opportunity to help revitalize Freeport's riverfront. This was the focus of an arts gathering held last August at the site. Over 250 redevelopment officials, artists and members of the general public were invited to explore and develop ideas for arts programming, arts institutions, and arts-related businesses that could be based in a refurbished Rawleigh Complex for the betterment of Freeport and tourists visiting the area.

Displays relating to the downtown revitalization that is currently underway, as well as future plans for Freeport, can be viewed in an area of the factory known as Visioning. Additionally, those artists interested in exploring a possible role for themselves at the Rawleigh are invited to hang their information and artwork in the Visioning Artists area.

As part of the U.S.EPA Pilot Grant, Freeport has convened a Brownfields Redevelopment Advisory Committee. This committee will meet quarterly to discuss progress of the environmental assessment and planning activities at the Rawleigh Complex.

To date, the City of Freeport has used approximately $165,000 of their $240,000 IEPA Municipal Brownfields Redevelopment Grant to conduct comprehensive investigative activities at a number of brownfields sites and to leverage grant funds for specific cleanup activities at a number of the sites, resulting in two soon to be issued No Further Remediation letters. The city plans to use the balance of the grant to leverage additional funds for investigation and cleanup activities at new sites in the future.