Category: Midwest

June 28, 2023 / Explorations

I joined Jeffrey Jakucyk on a photography excursion where we had the opportunity to explore the remains of the Miami & Erie Canal. Our journey took us from Cincinnati all the way to Miamisburg, Ohio.

April 5, 2023 / Appalachia
February 22, 2023 / Explorations
April 26, 2022 / Explorations
March 1, 2022 / Explorations
December 4, 2021 / Demolition
May 28, 2021 / Appalachia

Charcoal timber, iron ore, and limestone supplied material for numerous furnaces that produced pig iron, munitions, and tools in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. One of the most preserved is the Buckeye Furnace near Wellston, Ohio. The Buckeye Furnace was financed by the Newkirk, Daniels & Company and constructed by Thomas Price in 1851. It initially produced 7½ tons of iron per day, operating 42 weeks out of the year. Output was later increased to 12 tons of iron per day. The furnace was sold to H.S. Bundy in 1862, the Perry Austin & Company in 1864, and the Buckeye…

September 23, 2019 / Explorations

Within the storied walls of the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, echoes of the past resonate through corridors that have seen the passage of 155,000 souls over its 104-year guardianship.

September 20, 2019 / Explorations
September 16, 2019 / Demolition

The printing operations for the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, then the world’s largest magazine publishing house, was located on High Street in Springfield, Ohio. After years of underutilization and disuse, the remainder of the once-storied complex will be demolished.

April 19, 2019 / History

While living in the now-demolished Friar’s Club in Cincinnati, Ohio between 1941 and 1944, Lumen Martin Winter painted murals on the walls of the residents’ lounge. The 1,600 square-foot scenes, painted in tempera emulsion on a casein ground, depicted regional highlights of industry, music, religion, and literature.

January 18, 2019 / Explorations
November 17, 2018 / History

The Palmer Park Apartment Building Historic District, well regarded for its ornate and varied examples of active and abandoned apartment buildings, is located in the Palmer Park neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan.

March 19, 2018 / Midwest
October 12, 2017 / Midwest

Amazon has been called the killer of the American indoor shopping mall in countless articles. But it’s been no secret that traditional shopping centers have been struggling long before the advent of online shopping, with the United States boasting more square feet of retail than any other developed nation by far. It is with some irony that Amazon is building new fulfillment centers on the grounds of two dead malls.

December 20, 2016 / Midwest

The Longaberger Company, a celebrated manufacturer of handcrafted maple wood baskets based near Newark, Ohio, has struggled in recent years with collapsing sales.

December 14, 2016 / Appalachia

East Liverpool, Ohio, once lovingly referred to as the “Crockery City” and the “Pottery Capital of the World,” is the classic definition of the Rust Belt. Much like Pittsburgh’s reliance on steel mills and Cleveland’s manufacturing plants, East Liverpool depended on the pottery industry because of ample natural resources, access to newly laid railroads, the Ohio River, and an untapped market.

November 7, 2016 / Explorations
September 1, 2016 / Explorations

When the Dennison Hotel on Main Street in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio closed in 2011, it marked the end of a hoteling era. The single room occupancy extended stay facility once competed with the Browne Hotel, Fort Washington Hotel, Fountain Square Hotel, and others — all of which are long closed and demolished.

July 19, 2016 / Explorations

Several years ago, I was able to visit the former printing operation for the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, once the world’s largest magazine publishing house, in Springfield, Ohio.