A gallery of abandoned industries in the United States.
There are countless industrial properties that are unused, neglected, or discontinued due to various reasons such as economic decline, technological advancements, or shifts in consumer demand. These parcels often face significant challenges in terms of revitalization and require strategic interventions to bring them back to productivity.
Indiana
Farmers Grain Company
The former Farmers Grain Company elevator of Carlos, Indiana, is located on the abandoned Indiana, Bloomington & Western Railway. Construction began in May 1920 and was completed later in the year at the cost of $33,500. 1
Kentucky
Newport Rolling Mill
The Newport Rolling Mill in Newport, Kentucky, was constructed circa 1901.
Massachusetts
New Jersey
Baker Castor Oil Company
The Baker Castor Oil Company, later owned by CasChem and Vertellus, manufactured castor oil and other food oil products.
New York
Binghams Mills
In 1790, Walter T. Livingston started a grist mill called Good Hope Mill along Roeliff Jansen Kill. 6 The area was referred to as Blatner’s Mills, which was a misspelled name from one of the area’s first settlers, Jacob Platner.
Charles Bingham moved there from Connecticut in 1865, converted the grist mill into a paper mill, and erected several houses for his workers. 4 6 Eventually, the community consisted of a grist mill, two paper mills, a blacksmith shop, a woolen factory, a c. 1857 Methodist Episcopal church, and 20 residences. 4 5 By 1878. the village had 125 inhabitants.
In 1908, George Leary of New York City began building a hydroelectric power plant along the waterway, and by 1928, all the land along the creek was purchased, a dam was built, and the Red Hook Power & Light Company was put in operation.
The power plant’s operations were sold to New York Power & Light Company in the 1920s, which later sold it to Niagara Mohawk until it closed in the late 1950s. 6 The dam was torn down in 1965.
Other
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
West Virginia
Arbuckle Coal & Coke Company
The Arbuckle Coal & Coke Company was constructed along the south side of Arbuckle Creek near its terminus with the New River in Fayette County, West Virginia. 7 A 4,204-foot siding of the South Side Branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway served the facility; two additional short sidings served a tipple and coke ovens.
The Rend Nos. 1 and 2 mines for the tipple and coke ovens were located further up the hollow towards Rend (Minden after 1905). 7 They were operated by W.P. Rend from 1901-04. A narrow-gauge railroad was built on the west side of Arbuckle Creek to bring coal from the mines to a headhouse, where it was transferred to an incline. The incline led down the steep hillside and across the top of the Rend Branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway to the tipple and coke ovens located along the three sidings of the South Side Branch.
By the fall of 1901, Arbuckle was referred to as Rend. 7 In mid-1904, it was noted as B. Mine and then as Minden No. 1 by January 1906. By the 1920s, it was called Weewin.
Bennett & Hester Limestone Quarry
Bennett & Hester of Bellington, West Virginia, operated a limestone quarry at Bowden. 8 It featured a small processing plant along the Western Maryland Railway, supplying limestone dust to coal mines in the Junior coal field.
