Any BITOG members ever work in a factory or manufacturing plant that’s now abandoned or defunct ?

[CR94]

Interesting to see foregoing posters mention specific abandoned plants where my relatives and friends were once employed, including Whirlpool, Bell Labs, Bethlehem Steel, etc. I knew Bethlehem Steel was in trouble when a friend who worked there reported he was no longer allowed to park his foreign car in their employee parking lot.

My first real job was at a facility which was already a former factory. Iron cannonballs were made there long ago, from locally mined ore. It's now offices of the local school system.

Then I worked at a former (1950s?) automotive lighting plant which during my time made appliances, and motors for them. My employer abandoned it in 1993. The last I heard (circa 2000), dishwasher racks were being made there. I don't know whether they still are.

Engineering was transferred out of the power tool plant where I later worked circa 2008, and the last remnants of manufacturing and rework a few years later. Now it's a flea market, or some such thing. Long before my time, sewing machine cabinets were made there from local timber.

 

[bcossa2020]

Bowling Green Heinz Plant

When I was a boy, my hometown of Bowling Green, Ohio, spent several days in late summer/early fall smelling strongly of ketchup. I do no...

aborer1962.blogspot.com

Just moved my son to Bowling Green State University in Ohio. We saw a sign reading Heinz-Site near the campus, did a little research and found the site of what was once the largest ketchup factory in America.

 

[Andrew1972]

Yep, we can’t compete against places paying $3 an hour and zero benefits.

Our role in world is more complex manufacturing, engineering, creativity and ideas.

 

[rekit]

Hard to compete with Countries that allow pollution as well.

 

[Rmay635703]

As an intern I worked at Merkle Korff and at Kraft / Digiorno Brookfield

both locations were considered inefficient and shut down after I left

manufacturing small custom electric motors using antique equipment by hand or working in food production are both bad ideas

 

[andyd]

It was a whole 'nother world. The huge manufacturing plants of the 20th century, scrapped or left desolate. I worked from 2/75-3/86 at General Dynamics' (ex Beth Steel) Fore River Shipyard in Quincy MA. Situated on 52 acres, the Yard was just inside the Fore River Bridge. Across the river was coal fired power plant and a Proctor and Gamble soap plant. I worked the 3:30-midnight shift for the last 8 yrs. I worked mostly shifting pieces of hull staging and shoring around with the help of overhead cranes. It was sad. The place was run to death and abandoned by GD. The end of 200 yr old industry. Cranes and machine shop and mills all gone. It is the car lot of a mega car dlr now.

 

[dlundblad]

I worked in a warehouse that used to be a fastener manufacturer.

The entire upstairs was still 1970’s era offices with the ash trays on the walls. The place even has one of those vacuum tube bank things for sending off messages before email. The CEO’s office was in the corner with hardwood walls and a balcony overlooking the street. I found a bat skeleton in that room.

 

[Dave Hess]

I worked in a warehouse that used to be a fastener manufacturer.

The entire upstairs was still 1970’s era offices with the ash trays on the walls. The place even has one of those vacuum tube bank things for sending off messages before email. The CEO’s office was in the corner with hardwood walls and a balcony overlooking the street. I found a bat skeleton in that room.

What happened to that building, is it still there empty or was it torn down ?

 

[01rangerxl]

I worked in a warehouse that used to be a fastener manufacturer.

The entire upstairs was still 1970’s era offices with the ash trays on the walls. The place even has one of those vacuum tube bank things for sending off messages before email. The CEO’s office was in the corner with hardwood walls and a balcony overlooking the street. I found a bat skeleton in that room.

The dealership I work at was built in the late 60s and still has remnants from that era. We had a vacuum tube system, much of which is still intact. The big vacuum pump or whatever you want to call it is still in the back of parts. There's also an office in the shop that has never been updated and has been used for storage for probably 20+ years. It has fake wood paneling, funky patterned linoleum flooring, and plaid curtains. Until recently there was still a big late 60s metal desk in there. The shop bathroom also has lockers and shower stalls. They aren't campground showers, they are like what you would have seen in a nice house in the 60s. Now they are shop rag/supply storage. It would have been interesting to see the place when it was brand new. It was probably a really nice, almost state of the art dealership by Alabama standards. These days it struggles to meet minimum requirements.

 

[dnewton3]

I worked at the Ford Motor Company Indianapolis streering systems plant from 1990 to 2016. It opened in the mid 1950s and closed not long after I left. It's gone now; the entire 1.8M sqr ft facility, along with the powerhouse complex were dismantled for tax purposes; only the guard shack and waste treatment building remains. The property itself is still owned by Visteon (Ford), and probably always will be, because of the emmensely staggering cost of having to "clean" the earth should it be sold. It's a super-fund site if there ever was one.

Google Maps

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[Rmay635703]

I just Googled the photo of this building and it’s very impressive.

I‘m always amazed that newer buildings can be abandoned after only a few years of use. They must have spent big $$$ on such a modern building only to abandon it soon after.

This is a perfect example of me wanting to go back in time to visit..... then revisit it today.




.

Unfortunate they simply scrapped the “outdated “ fabs that used to lie dormant there

That “outdated “ technology is exactly what auto makers use in their electronics today

Wouldn’t take much to send some lithography over to a dormant fab and start pressing

 

[Dave Hess]

I worked at the Ford Motor Company Indianapolis streering systems plant from 1990 to 2016. It opened in the mid 1950s and closed not long after I left. It's gone now; the entire 1.8M sqr ft facility, along with the powerhouse complex were dismantled for tax purposes; only the guard shack and waste treatment building remains. The property itself is still owned by Visteon (Ford), and probably always will be, because of the emmensely staggering cost of having to "clean" the earth should it be sold. It's a super-fund site if there ever was one.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

This is what I like to see on Google maps.
The plant back 10 years ago and what the area looks like today.

Lots of manufacturing facilities and plants are a super-fund sites due to all the necessary chemicals, solvents, etc...