Whelen sirens in the Chicago suburbs / Chicago Area

[MARSsirenfan]

I need some help on identifying where these sirens were that I had difficulty finding.


In 2011, I went with my aunt and my two cousins my age to Six flags in Gurnee Illinois. On the way there, we saw a couple Whelens (My male cousin, Mark, is a siren enthusiast as well) so the day before we went to Six flags, we went to Huntley Illinois for my female cousin's theater production at the Huntley school and saw their groups of solar powered Whelen 2810s. From what I remember the one in particular I saw was the one by the Huntley water tower, near the golf course by the car dealership.

The next day, the day we went to Six Flags, I wanted to snap pictures of any sirens we saw on the way but I didn't want to bring my camera because it was cloudy and a bit sprinkly on the way there.

The first town we passed through, had a lot of trees from what I can remember and on the right side of the road was a Whelen 4004 with a little antennae on the back of it (Like in Chicagosirens's Harwood Heights Whelen 4004 video) I suspect this was MAYBE Woodstock, if that sounds right.

I spent an hour arguing with my cousin that it was a 4004 and NOT a vortex, (he and I still go at it to this day over the model, I say it's a 4004 because of all the 4004s in that area)

About half an hour later As we turned right on a road and entered another town, we looked in the distance and we saw either a Vortex or a 4004 (it was too far away to tell) by a water tower. I don't know what this town could of been. I suspect this was possibly Harwood Heights. Not sure.

And at Six Flags, as Mark and I were in line for a ride, Mark kept pointing by a cluster of trees saying he saw a 4004 just outside the border of Six Flags. is there a siren there too? According to the Gurnee website, there is one there.



So what were those unknown towns? Thanks!

[Brendan Ahern]

It depends on which way you took. Did you take the tollway or back roads? The first town was probably Wauconda. They have a system of Whelens, both omni and rotating. Yes, there is a 4004 at Great America that is part of Gurnee's system. It is in a maintenance yard. There is also one at Gurnee Mills Mall. I don't see how you would have ended up in Harwood Heights. It is literally surrounded on all sides by the northwest side of Chicago. You would have gone pretty far out of your way to end up there going from Huntley to Great America.

[Stevan Z]

Woodstock does have a 4004 that was installed at the time that Norwood Park Township (Harwood Heights) put up their 4004s and by the same company. And if it is indeed Woodstock, tell your cousin it's definitely a 4004 as it has a round thing sticking out of its rotor, a Vortex would have a square one.

[MARSsirenfan]

Thanks for the info Stevan Btw, I was wondering if you could fill me in on what the small antennae is on the back of the 4004's?

[Brendan Ahern]

I don't think those are antennas, probably a lightning rod.

[Gil]

Lake Barrington and North Barrington both have systems of 4004's.

In fact, a large number Lake County communities have Whelen systems.

[Notre.Dame1003]

Yeah Lake county is full of whelens, mainly in the areas outside of the former Zion Nuclear plant. You may have seen some of Lindenhurst's 4004s, as if I recall correctly many of theirs are near water towers.

Gurnee itself used to have three P-50 sirens prior to the closing of Zion in the late 90s. When the plant closed, ComEd gave the cities the opportunity to "lease" the sirens, which cover basic costs like power, maintenance etc. Many towns took advantage of this such as Zion, Winthrop Harbor, Waukegan, and North Chicago (although the latter installed a system of 2910s a few years back). Gurnee opted out of this and decided to install their own Whelen system.

[MARSsirenfan]

Notre.Dame1003, your profile pic is epic btw xD that is my 2nd favorite siren.