Darnell Concrete Products Co.
Slow 10mph, caution fork lift go slow
Pine Street. Across from the park pines everywhere. Empty. Raining. Day at 11:35 Sunday.
kurt drive retaining wall
twin grove church
705 Pine Street
Normal, IL 61761
Concrete Infrastructure Since 1960
Box culverts
I bet you didn’t know that since 1960 Darnall Concrete Products Co. has been setting the foundation for Bloomington-Normal and other surrounding areas in Illinois. Rainy days in a white Buick century (2001) to my left when heading west I see gravel and concrete. Abandoned image of a work yard and yet there are tire tracks imprinted in the gravel of the entrance. Sundays closed for business. Moving o
nly 10 mph down Pine Street, passing pine trees, gravel beneath the treads of four tires. Engine idols…
Geometric forms and materials piled and labeled by numbers. Tin white roofs act as shelter for the workers on Monday as structures are cut and laid for multiple projects to better what is Normal. Chains hanging that withhold my entrance to the jungle of concrete and gravel. Jungles everywhere of concrete and plastic. Facing north there is an area full of grass and open space. Split apart from the concrete by a flat concrete road.
Jungle gyms for kids in a park near the Normal water tower. Skyline of town homes and a sun set hidden beneath the heavy clouds. The town is split in half by industry and families. A train sounds and I see it travel across the rails passing by both the factory yard and the backyards reaffirming the sense of equality and change. Normal is changing, new families are now residing next to old families and concrete fixtures and stones are being placed in sections of town to rejuvenate or potentially found a new layer of life for a town that is constantly changing.
Wind blows leaves and pine needles back and forth across the street. Is Normal a town of concrete fixtures consuming the land and property? Darnall is building foundations above sediments for new life as well as the dying or deceased. Normal is growing and building creating new opportunities for the land, industry, and families. --Keri Wilson