Most people think of the Cold War’s early-warning radar line as something out on the Arctic tundra. Yet one of its key sites sat in the cornfields a few miles west of Streator. For nearly 20 years, the technicians who ran the Distant Early Warning Line learned their jobs here. For more of the city’s past, return to our History of Streator.
What Was the DEW Line?
The Distant Early Warning Line was a chain of radar stations across the far north of Canada and Alaska, with related stations in Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It was built to spot Soviet bombers coming over the North Pole and give North America hours of warning. The line was operational from 1957 until 1985, and its last original equipment shut down in 1995, when the joint U.S.-Canadian North Warning System replaced it.
A Prototype in the Cornfields
Before the Arctic stations could be built, engineers needed a place to test the design. A station built about five miles west of Streator in 1952-53 served as a prototype of the stations that would make up the DEW Line. Researchers say the site was up by about 1952 and fully operating by the end of 1953. Veterans later recalled that north-central Illinois was chosen partly because flat cornfields affected radar and radio signals in much the same way as Arctic tundra grass.
From Test Site to Schoolhouse
In 1956, with the Arctic line nearly finished, the Streator station became a training center. It was run by the Federal Electric Corporation, a subsidiary of ITT that operated the DEW Line, and it was the main site in a small Illinois network that also included an auxiliary site near Seward and smaller sites near LaSalle and Oregon. Federal Electric said about 150 students went through Streator each year.
The course lasted about 12 weeks and was demanding. Trainees, known as “radicians,” studied Arctic survival, weather observation, radio and teletype communications, the AN/FPS-19 search radar and the FPS-23 Doppler gap-filler, and station operations. There were weekly exams. Failing one could get a student dismissed, and failing two meant being sent home at his own expense. Federal Electric boasted that graduates could become fully proficient at their Arctic posts within five days, compared with about a month before the program started.
The Only DEW Line Site You Could Drive To
Streator’s public art guide notes that the site was the only DEW Line installation south of the Arctic Circle, and the only one you could reach by car. It had a radar module, a power plant, classroom buildings, a transmitter building, a supply building and a Quonset hut with offices and a vending-machine “mess hall.”
Life in Town
Trainees lived in Streator during the course, and many stayed at the Plumb Hotel, the town’s most elegant hotel and a landmark of the Plumb family era. A DEW Line veteran’s memoir repeats a local story that Al Capone’s crowd once stayed at the Plumb, but that tale is lore, not documented fact.
Closing and Remembering
The Streator site closed in 1975, when ITT consolidated training in Colorado Springs. Training later moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The buildings still stand on private property, in poor condition and not open to visitors. In 2018 the Walldogs painted a DEW Line mural, designed by Mike Harper, at 134 S. Bloomington Street, so the town’s Cold War role is now on public display.
Related Streator History
- Streator History Overview
- Streator's Military Heritage: The Howe Brothers, Poundstone Flag and More
- The Plumb Family Legacy: Opera House, Hotel, Bank and Disney Music
- Streator Railroads: The Santa Fe Depot, Interurbans and Coal Lines
Sources
- "DEWLine Training Site: Streator Illinois," The DEWLine (L.S. Wilson), compiling Radomes.org research and veteran accounts. https://lswilson.dewlineadventures.com/streator/
- Streator Public Art – Tour of Honor (D.E.W. Line Mural). https://www.streatorpublicart.com/tourofhonor
