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Waukegan Research Paper

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Waukegan is one of the oldest communities in Illinois. Waukegan began as Potawatomie Indian settlement, Little Fort, and a French trading post. In 1829 the Potawatomie Indians ceded their land to the federal government in 1829. Between 1844 and 1846, the population grew from 150 to 750 people and then became incorporated in 1859 when the population rose to 2,500. On March 31, 1849 Little Fort changed its name to Waukegan, the Potawatomie word for “fort” or “trading post”. Growth in Waukegan can be accredited to industry and railroads. Some of the industry included ship and wagon building, dairying, flour milling, pork packing and sheep raising. The most successful was brewing of malt liquors. In the late 1860’s William Besley’s Waukegan …show more content…

John-Manville Corp is the site of 150-acre asbestos disposal. Around 3 million cubic yards of specification products and wastewater sludge were disposed of at the site. They stopped operations in the site in 1998 and former manufacturing buildings were torn down in 2000-2001. Asbestos is the main problem, during clean up asbestos contamination was found outside of the fence line. Outboard Marine Corporation is on the north section of the Waukegan Harbor. It was an outboard-boat-motor manufacturing plant. The contaminants include PCB’s, OMC that are used in hydraulic fluids, and TCE. Yeoman Creek Landfill is on the northwest side of Waukegan. The landfill was open from 1959-1969. The landfill did not have a bottom liner and the soil was permeable. The liquid from the landfill contained chemicals with elevated concentrations of metals and ammonia. Gas from the landfill was detected off site. North Shore Gas North Plant has was contaminated with residuals the past plan operations. North Shore Gas South Plant includes 1.9 acre former MGP facility along Pershing Road and bordering areas where MGP residuals are now found. MGP’s are industrial facilities that produced gas from coal, oil, and other

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