About Rock City
Our history dates back more than 120 years to when the high-grade limestone found in the bluffs near Valmeyer, Illinois, was first mined for use as a fertilizer. Little did the miners realize that they were not only milling limestone, they were carving out massive underground rooms that might one day be used for other purposes.
Over time, visitors recognized the value of the temperature- and humidity-controlled space. From about 1939 to 1983, a portion of the underground space housed a mushroom farming operation. During the Cold War, the government made plans to use the underground quarry as a civil defense shelter, storing thousands of containers of food, water, and medical supplies.
Rock City has today become southern Illinois’ ultimate recycling project. Shuttered since the 1980s the quarry is now being transformed into a subsurface business complex with approximately 6 million square feet of usable space.
Rock City was made possible by a joint venture project of Admiral Parkway, INC., the Village of Valmeyer, the Illinois Department of commerce and Community Affairs and the U.S. Economic Development Administration.
ABOUT ADMIRAL PARKWAY
Admiral Parkway, the developer of Rock City, is a Columbia, Illinois-based commercial real estate development company. Its other projects include shopping centers, office buildings, auto dealerships, subdivisions, and other commercial developments.
ABOUT VALMEYER
Located approximately 25 miles south of St. Louis, the Village of Valmeyer is home to more than 1,200 residents. After the original village was decimated by the Great Flood of 1993, the entire village was relocated from its site in the Mississippi River Bottom to a new site two miles east and 400 feet higher. Federal grants helped with both rebuilding of the community and providing the roads and other infrastructure in Rock City, which the village took ownership of in 1995.
CONVENIENT LOCATION AND ACCESSIBILITY
Located 18 miles south of St. Louis and just 11 miles from Interstate 255, Rock City offers easy access to high highways and the Union Pacific Railroad rail spur. The Mississippi River is nearby for barge traffic.
