| Summary: | Black and white photograph of the lawn at the back of the Portland Cement Association building located at 5420 Old Orchard Road in Skokie, Illinois in 1987. On June 8, 1950, the Portland Cement Association’s three million dollar research and development laboratory was dedicated in Skokie, Illinois. The original 57,674 square-foot facility, located on the 5400 block of Old Orchard Road (5420 Old Orchard Road), consisted of two concrete buildings connected by a covered walkway on a 15 acre tract of land. It had more than thirty laboratories as well as rooms in which different weather conditions were simulated-from arctic cold, desert dryness, and tropic heat. The Carr & Wright architecture firm of Chicago, Illinois, was responsible for the design of the building, with R. Rea Esgar as the architect (Pitt and Quarry, May 1948). The first concrete for the construction of the building was poured June 30, 1948. Additions and modifications had been made to the facility by the time this photograph was taken in 1987. The Portland Cement Association was established in 1902 by a group of American cement manufacturers to centralize research and testing of concrete and cement manufacturing and application. This photograph is part of the collection of the Skokie Heritage Museum.
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