Abandoned Industries

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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 and 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 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

Coal Dock

West Virginia Malleable Iron Company

The West Virginia Malleable Iron Company was incorporated in Heights (later North Point Pleasant) on September 11, 1902, and produced malleable iron castings. ³ Buildings included a foundry, finishing shop, boiler and engine house, pattern shop, carpenter shop, core room, offices, and storage.

Malleable iron initially cast is brittle and made malleable by a special heat treatment at high temperatures. ³ At the time the plant was built, the company produced bed castings and tank lugs, and later castings for other industries, growing to compass over 1,000 patterns. The largest consumers of the castings were the automotive, railroad, and farm equipment industries. Most of the customers were outside of the state, although some of the castings were sold to West Virginia entities, mostly in the mining and electrical industries. One of the most unique orders came from New York City for 25 miles of chain to be used in its sewer system. It was cast in six-inch lengths and hooked with pins.

In the early 1970s, the coal-fired furnace was replaced with two electrical furnaces to reduce pollution. ³ In September 1973, the Warren Tool Company acquired the Malleable Iron Company, which was operated as a subsidiary until the plant closed on February 11, 1983. At its height, Malleable Iron employed 250.

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Further Reading

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Sources

1. “Industrial and Financial.” Indianapolis News 20 May 1920: 29. Print.
2. “Historic Boneyfiddle Region (Entry 47).” Scioto County Government, 23 July 2007.
3. Williamson, Helen. “West Virginia Malleable Iron Co.” History of Mason County, West Virginia, Mason County Public Library, Point Pleasant, WV, 1987, pp. 463–464.
4. Historical plaque.
5. “Hidden Hamlets and Vanishing Villages.” Columbia County Historical Society, 2021.
6. O’Sullivan, Darren. “Hamlet once home to factories, bootleggers.” Poughkeepsie Journal, 30 Aug. 1995, p. 1B.