of rust and ruin

mANVIL

One of my favorite parts of the country is the former industrial sections of Western PA, Northern WV, Eastern OH. This area is riddled with small towns like mini relics to an era that is far past its prime. Many of these towns grew up around a factory that has since closed. These factories can be like timecapsules to the past.










































































air polution left over from decades of industrialism makes for some very dramatic sunsets : )

hamster

One word: fantastic!

ArchiTexas

Wow. What a place, and what an amazing series of images! Can you provide a link to an online gallery where we can admire more of these shots?

anwmn1

Two Words: GREAT LIGHT!!!

Are these places wide open to the public or is there a little fence hopping involved? I wish I had access to places like this out west.

DoctorIt

what a fantastic set of photos, they really tell a story! bit of a sad story, all those rusty tools and forgotten molds/equipment, but a good trip nonetheless!

schmoo

Yeah yeah yeah I'm biased but.... thumb

This area didn't happen to have a great little dive bar with old ladies selling soup for charity, did they?

swintonphoto

For some drugs or alcohol get them going, but for me decaying factories are intoxicating. Wow, I need more more more!

leaforte

I really like the series. I like the stacks of molds #14, and the hanging templates #15. It's like production just ended one day. Someone came in and said "Ok, turn it off, go home". Makes you think. I also like the scale shot #5, "Detecto". Thanks for sharing.

speedracer04

wow i would love to go take photos there.

i really like the beer and hat photo and the desk photo. i think i like the desk photo best of all. great job

jziegler

Add me to the list of people that really like these photos. It almost looks like it wasn't planned to abandon the plant, it just happened.

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

kelsow

Very nicely done, I love to see pix like this.

mANVIL

Thanks for the compliments everyone. This place holds extra sentiment for me because my grandfather worked here 50-60 years ago. The facility which started as a foundry and ended as a casting plant finally shut down in 1984 and has sat like this for the last 23 years. The site is not open to the public. Similar factories in cities like Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland have been demolished or transformed into lofts, condos, retail/office space etc..as those cities see technology jobs start to replace the manufacturing ones. The smaller towns have seen little of this economic revival and hence places like this are abandoned with little prospect of revitalization. The property value here is worth next to nothing with high crime rates and houses selling for under 15,000$ in many cases.

ArchiTexas - These are all the shots I've processed from this particular location. I spend A LOT of time doing this and have a huge backlog of pictures and stories I need to go through. When I do I'll make sure to post here since you guys seem to enjoy them.

Schmoo - why yes, there was a bar not far from here with old ladies selling jars of soup for a 1$. I got 2.