Visiting Toledo was fun, because I had absolutely zero expectations. I basically knew nothing about the city, other than it has an amazing art museum, which is a must-see if you’re in town, and that is about it. As I began to research the city, which is in the extreme northwest of Ohio, I discovered…
Tag: Factories
River Rouge
I’ll be blunt: I was deeply concerned by my visit to the famous River Rouge area, a short drive just south of Detroit. First, a bit of clarification is in order; there is the actual town of River Rouge, which is located along the banks of the Detroit River, and includes the mouth of the…
Former Packard Plant, Detroit
A visit to the former Packard automobile plant is de rigueur for any architectural historian or any lover of abandoned buildings. While Packard closed in 1956, the complex was never truly abandoned, as far as I could find, until 1999. As so often has happened, a manufacturing plant with an august history was relegated to…
Former Ford Piquette and Fisher Body Plants, Detroit
Henry Ford’s Piquette Avenue Plant remains one of the most important locations in industrial and consumer history, serving as the factory where the famous Model T, as well as a whole other alphabet or earlier prototypes were manufactured. While not the first place Ford operated, it is still of critical importance. Located north of downtown,…
From the Vault: South Shore Industry, Chicagoland
Heading south down the shore of Lake Michigan from the Chicago Loop, you encounter a landscape that is both sublime and ineffable at the same time. There are no words to describe it. As I planned my journey to a series of Midwest industrial powerhouses, I realized I had never used these old, very old…
Fire at the Former Fred J. Swaine Manufacturing Co.
The night after the fire at Jamison Memorial Church, a suspicious fire broke out at the former Fred. J Swaine Manufacturing Co. building on the north side of the vacant lots of what was supposed to be the ill-fated Bottle District. A descendant of the founder, Karen Swaine, was kind enough to share with me…
Coming Soon: Nothing! North 13th Street
I’d heard about the impending doom of this building for years, and it’s finally happening now. I realized I never quite captured it very well, but you can see its front façade in this post from June of 2019 (last photo). I’ve long been worried about this end of Old North; this weed-choked lot, I…
Cementland, April 2023
Cementland, for those who haven’t heard, has been sold to a barge and commodities company, and judging from recent satellite images, much of the structures built on the property have been cleared. I went by on a recent Saturday and there is a new gate on the front entrance, and evidence of earth having been…
Weird and Wonderful Tower Grove South: Beck Avenue East of Morgan Ford
Let’s start looking at the neighborhood that rose up on the land the Russells subdivided, cashing out their land after it could no longer be exploited for its natural resources. Beck Avenue is typical of many streets on the south side of Tower Grove South, which is made up of small tract homes for the…
End of Winter 2023 Odds and Ends
The old Soulard Branch of the St. Louis Public Library has had several uses over the last decade besides the commercial space facing 7th Boulevard. There was “The Library” and then “The Archives.” They’re both gone. Below, in McKinley Heights, I still can’t believe that Second Empire house below is sitting vacant; the property values…