McHenry County Blog

Before Crystal Lake’s City fathers and mothers decided to go into the entertainment business on Vulcan Lake using Tax Increment Financing money, it blew a marvelous opportunity on Pingree Road.

I’m talking about the old Crystal Lake Outdoor Theater property.

Can you imagine the Vulcan Lake views from upper stories of apartments or condos there?

Instead, low-rise townhouses have been constructed.

An earlier city council decided to turn empty property south of Three Oaks Road into an industrial complex.

That’s fine for the non-lake front property, but how can the highest and best use for land with a view of water be industrial?

Prior to that zoning, I thought it would make a great location for a restaurant overlooking Vulcan Lake. Maybe only the second floor seats could see the lake, but the possibility existed.

And, why not high rises with most of the upper stories being able to see water?

Now a factory building right across Pingree from the lake is empty.

You can see pictures of several views of it in this article.

It’s the building next to the small park.

Can city officials come up with a re-use for this property that might make some use of Vulcan Lake’s proximity?

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The view of Vulcan Lake is from Pingree Road.

Before Crystal Lake’s City fathers and mothers decided to go into the entertainment business on Vulcan Lake using Tax Increment Financing money, it blew a marvelous opportunity on Pingree Road.

I’m talking about the old Crystal Lake Outdoor Theater property.

Can you imagine the Vulcan Lake views from upper stories of apartments or condos there?

Instead, low-rise townhouses have been constructed.

An earlier city council decided to turn empty property south of Three Oaks Road into an industrial complex.

That’s fine for the non-lake front property, but how can the highest and best use for land with a view of water be industrial?

Prior to that zoning, I thought it would make a great location for a restaurant overlooking Vulcan Lake. Maybe only the second floor seats could see the lake, but the possibility existed.

And, why not high rises with most of the upper stories being able to see water?

Now a factory building right across Pingree from the lake is empty.

You can see pictures of several views of it in this article.

It’s the building next to the small park.

Can city officials come up with a re-use for this property that might make some use of Vulcan Lake’s proximity?

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The view of Vulcan Lake is from Pingree Road.

My movements when I’m sitting in front of the computer typing must be unbalanced.

Now, I know a lot of McHenry County Blog’s readers would agree that I am unbalanced, but what I’m talking about is twisting while I work.

We had two metal kitchen chairs from my wife’s condo and they were the perfect height for typing.

The left front leg of the first one broke a while ago, but I didn’t worry about it. Another one was downstairs.

When the second one bit the dust and I tried a replacement, it was too low.

So, I started thinking about seeing if the old one could be welded back together.

I thought maybe Leroy’s Lawn might do some welding once in a while. They are the folks at 711 Tek Drive that keep my lawn mower alive.

After taking my son to a friend’s in Lake in the Hills or, maybe, Huntley—I have no idea where the village boundaries are—I drove to Leroy’s Lawn, which is between Pingree Road and Route 31, pretty close to Pingree.

It turned out that they didn’t have welding equipment small enough, but, pointing toward a building on Pingree Road, I was told that GK Welding did.

It was lunchtime when I arrived and a man waiting in a car thought I was the proprietor. I have to tell you, I’ve never been said to be a welder guy before.

Since I was across the street from the big Vulcan Lake, I wondered if I could get a decent picture. I don’t think I did, but by the time I had come through the bushes two times the owner had returned.

It looked like the man before me had machine tools to be repaired.

That turned out to be the case.

After taking his order and saying he could have most of the work done by tomorrow, I introduced myself. He said his name was Gary.

Later when I saw his card, I saw he was Gary Kerschke, President of GK Welding. He told me that he repaired a lot of machine tools.

I marveled out loud at his niche business.

He also told me a lot of local machine shops were shutting down, moving their work to China.

Because the Chinese use a different measuring system, apparently lots of tools get broken. They are then shipped back and end up in Mr. Kerschke’s shop.

After he taken that order I asked whether he could fix my chair. I told him there was no hurry, but he said he do it right then.

When’s the last time that happened to you when seeking a service?

Needless to say, I was really impressed.

You know how I am about stories. They pop up so often, the stack of ideas is over three inches on the desk above you keyboard. I can still see the screen, but I won’t be able to soon without some serious editing.

He clamped the broken leg pieces together and went to work.

The pictures show the sequence.

And, now I have a renewed chair. Some of the white paint is gone, but it’s functional again.

So, if you have small welding jobs, GK Welding is the place to go.

I’ve published a picture of the sign in front of his building so you can recognize it. The driveway is right off Pingree Road just south of the northernmost street in the industrial subdivision.

More about an empty building on the northeast corner of Pingree and Tek in a future article.

= = = = =
Not a bad picture of the blue flame of the welding torch, is it? I took it looking the other way. It is a part of a larger frame.

My movements when I’m sitting in front of the computer typing must be unbalanced.

Now, I know a lot of McHenry County Blog’s readers would agree that I am unbalanced, but what I’m talking about is twisting while I work.

We had two metal kitchen chairs from my wife’s condo and they were the perfect height for typing.

The left front leg of the first one broke a while ago, but I didn’t worry about it. Another one was downstairs.

When the second one bit the dust and I tried a replacement, it was too low.

So, I started thinking about seeing if the old one could be welded back together.

I thought maybe Leroy’s Lawn might do some welding once in a while. They are the folks at 711 Tek Drive that keep my lawn mower alive.

After taking my son to a friend’s in Lake in the Hills or, maybe, Huntley—I have no idea where the village boundaries are—I drove to Leroy’s Lawn, which is between Pingree Road and Route 31, pretty close to Pingree.

It turned out that they didn’t have welding equipment small enough, but, pointing toward a building on Pingree Road, I was told that GK Welding did.

It was lunchtime when I arrived and a man waiting in a car thought I was the proprietor. I have to tell you, I’ve never been said to be a welder guy before.

Since I was across the street from the big Vulcan Lake, I wondered if I could get a decent picture. I don’t think I did, but by the time I had come through the bushes two times the owner had returned.

It looked like the man before me had machine tools to be repaired.

That turned out to be the case.

After taking his order and saying he could have most of the work done by tomorrow, I introduced myself. He said his name was Gary.

Later when I saw his card, I saw he was Gary Kerschke, President of GK Welding. He told me that he repaired a lot of machine tools.

I marveled out loud at his niche business.

He also told me a lot of local machine shops were shutting down, moving their work to China.

Because the Chinese use a different measuring system, apparently lots of tools get broken. They are then shipped back and end up in Mr. Kerschke’s shop.

After he taken that order I asked whether he could fix my chair. I told him there was no hurry, but he said he do it right then.

When’s the last time that happened to you when seeking a service?

Needless to say, I was really impressed.

You know how I am about stories. They pop up so often, the stack of ideas is over three inches on the desk above you keyboard. I can still see the screen, but I won’t be able to soon without some serious editing.

He clamped the broken leg pieces together and went to work.

The pictures show the sequence.

And, now I have a renewed chair. Some of the white paint is gone, but it’s functional again.

So, if you have small welding jobs, GK Welding is the place to go.

I’ve published a picture of the sign in front of his building so you can recognize it. The driveway is right off Pingree Road just south of the northernmost street in the industrial subdivision.

More about an empty building on the northeast corner of Pingree and Tek in a future article.

= = = = =
Not a bad picture of the blue flame of the welding torch, is it? I took it looking the other way. It is a part of a larger frame.

Regan Foster of the Northwest Herald wrote a story Thursday about the McHenry County Transportation Committee’s having approved a 5-year highway plan to be financed with $50 million of borrowed money.

The theory is that people using the new and improved roads will be paid for by the people who are using them.

The article outlines what will be constructed in the next year:

“This calendar year’s projects include spending $3.4 million on highway maintenance; widening Algonquin Road to five lanes between Randall Road and Route 47; resurfacing part of Alden Road and conducting engineering on both Alden Road and the Alden Road Bridge; and pursuing land acquisition to widen Walkup Road between Route 176 and Bull Valley Road.”

Note the traffic I found just after 5 PM on Rakow Road.

Vehicles were backed up all the way from Virginia Street Road to Pingree Road on Thursday–the complete distance of the biggest Vulcan Lake. The image can be enlarged by clicking on it.

Regan Foster of the Northwest Herald wrote a story Thursday about the McHenry County Transportation Committee’s having approved a 5-year highway plan to be financed with $50 million of borrowed money.

The theory is that people using the new and improved roads will be paid for by the people who are using them.

The article outlines what will be constructed in the next year:

“This calendar year’s projects include spending $3.4 million on highway maintenance; widening Algonquin Road to five lanes between Randall Road and Route 47; resurfacing part of Alden Road and conducting engineering on both Alden Road and the Alden Road Bridge; and pursuing land acquisition to widen Walkup Road between Route 176 and Bull Valley Road.”

Note the traffic I found just after 5 PM on Rakow Road.

Vehicles were backed up all the way from Virginia Street Road to Pingree Road on Thursday–the complete distance of the biggest Vulcan Lake. The image can be enlarged by clicking on it.