1918
World War 1 ends, Wartime Obligations have strained Chicago power generation plants. Power providers doubt that future demands which are expected to increase steadily, can be met without new construction.
1921
State line land company selects a 70-acre lake shore site for a new power station in Hammond, 2700 feet from the Illinois state line.
1925
Construction commences on a breakwater protecting the State line building site. Hammond’s post-World War 1 building boom ends.
1929
State line’s 208,000 unit 1 begins operation on July 1st; State line is the world’s largest power plant. Mr. Edward Gilory is selected to lead the State Plant as Chief
1930
The Merchandise Mart is built for Marshall Field and Co. Costing $32 million, the 4.2 million square foot structure was the world’s largest commercial building, Adler Planetarium, the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public.
1936
After a long day delay to the onset of the Great Depression, construction of State Line Unit 2 was resumed. Refitted with hydrogen cooling, the generator was operational in 1937.
1945
World War 2 ends. Having strained to keep pace with wartime power demands, State Line continues the effort to match supplies with the demand in the early postwar years. Postwar prosperity ignites a Hammond Building Boom.
1948
State’s Line’s generating equipment is modernized.
1956
State Line’s generating capacity is increased to more than a million kilowatts. New corporate headquarters for NIPSCO opened in downtown Hammond.
1963
The first version of the Clean Energy Act is passed by the U.S Congress. The legislation will be amended twice by 1990, imposing significant anti-pollution standards on power generation companies nationwide.
1966
On June 24th, the total State Line output is a constant 1,028 megawatts, the station carries this heavy load through the mid 70s.
1977
State Line’s historic Unit 1 turbine is retired from service; Unit 2 will be retired the following year.
1998
An explosion at the plant injures 17 people. Both units are unable to operate for about 6 months.
2002
State Line is sold to Dominion Resources for $182 million.
2004
State Line initiates a program in which the company pledges to donate $250 for any employee participating in a nonprofit organization.
2012
State Line, a National Engineering Landmark, closes on March 31st after an illustrious 83-year run.
2013
The EPA and Dominion resources entered a consent decree that called for the permanent retirement of the State Line facility.
2016
BTU Solutions completed its remediation and inspectors from Dominion agreed that the contractual remediation process was completed and was following EPA guidelines
2018
Digital Crossroad purchases the State Line site
2019
Digital Crossroad selects Overwatch Mission Critical to oversee construction and operations
2020
The new Digital Crossroad data center campus launches. DX-1 is the first building comprising 105,000 SF and 20MW.
To learn more about the history of the State Line Generating Plant, read our blog post on the State Line Story