Abandoned Oil Depot





























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Philadelphia Branch House of International Harvester Co

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On North 16th Street in Philadelphia, a quiet piece of industrial history looms—its story tied to changing times and unfulfilled promises. This building, steeped in nearly a century of commercial and industrial legacy, tells a tale of shifting economic tides and unrealized dreams for redevelopment.   From my research, the building predates the 1942 land use maps, with its earliest recorded presence dating back to the 1920s. Over the decades, the structure served various roles. It housed a branch of the International Harvester Company, a manufacturer of tractors and motor trucks, and later split its space with a Sears Roebuck warehouse. Other businesses came and went, including Hess & Son, which produced non-corrosive tinning sticks branded as Tinol; The Bunting Company, known for its powder-coated metal furniture, and The Shore Company, a distributor of shipping trailers.   Today, the building’s fate remains uncertain. Once, a vision was to transform the site int...
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Doubt Casts Shadow on Future of BQX Streetcar Project

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Brooklyn-Queens Connector (BQX) streetcar project may have gone belly up during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was proposed as a $2.7 billion streetcar linking Red Hook, Brooklyn to Astoria, Queens in 2016 by then-Mayor DeBlasio. Unfortunately, the pandemic put a dent into these plans when the city estimated a $7.4 billion shortfall in their gaping budget as tax revenue plunged when businesses and people were put on "pause" for months. An environmental review did not even start yet before it was nixed. Public meetings have not been forthcoming and during this time the Trump administration was not in the mood to help with federal funding of mass public transit in New York City.     As you can see in the video above by the Brooklyn Eagle , the media presentation mockup showcases the Alstom Citadis tram, the very same one that rots away now, which was featured in a late 2017 campaign to promote the proposed Brooklyn-Queens Connector. This streetcar line aims to connect Red Hook in ...
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New Haven's English Station

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  I have a thing for industrial ruins. Smokestacks, turbine halls, boiler rooms with ceilings high enough to swallow a cathedral. Something about these places pulls at me. So when I first stumbled across English Station, a coal-fired power plant squatting on Ball Island in the Mill River between Fair Haven and Wooster Square, I felt that familiar tug in my chest. It started with a set of old photos from 2012, posted by someone who had slipped inside years before the place became a pilgrimage site for urban explorers. The images stopped me cold. Barrels lined the floors in long, quiet rows. The exterior loomed like a fortress slowly losing a war with time. And then there was the shot that really got me: two men standing on the roof of the structure, grinning wide, the whole New Haven skyline stretching out behind them like a reward for the climb. I wanted in. Within seconds, I had Google Street View open in another tab, scanning for an approach. What I found cooled my enthusiasm fas...
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Waterbury’s Forgotten Factories: The Story of Bristol Babcock

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  For nearly a century, the city was known as the “Brass Capital of the World,” with a thriving industrial and manufacturing sector. But when the American brass industry declined in the 1970s, the city was hit hard by a series of economic challenges. Factories closed, jobs disappeared, and in their wake, large areas of land were left contaminated and abandoned. These brownfield sites, once bustling hubs of production, became symbols of the city’s struggle to adapt to a changing economy. By 2019, the city had made significant progress in cleaning up these sites, having remediated over 178 acres of land. Still, 140 acres of brownfields remained, with efforts underway to return them to productive use, offering hope for a new chapter of growth and development. One notable site is the former Bristol Babcock Facility, which operated from 1889 to 1989. The 6.6-acre property, with four buildings dating from 1895 to 1954, straddles the border between Waterbury and Naugatuck. The Bristol Bab...
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Echoes of the Oven: The Legacy of Nicetown Freihofer's Bakery

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Six years ago, I embarked on an exploratory journey through the forgotten corridors of a place whose name was unknown to me then. Only recently, with a bit of help, I unraveled the mystery: this place, archived in my memory and on my hard drive, was the Freihofer Baking Company. This discovery rekindled a special connection in my heart, remembering my early days in urban exploration in Philadelphia. It was here that I first tasted the thrill of exploring abandoned buildings, a passion that soon had me crossing state lines in search of that exhilarating, novel feeling once more. The neighborhood surrounding the Freihofer Baking Company was a stark canvas of socio-economic hardship, a desolate space that spoke volumes of its forgotten glory. I remember vividly the day I ventured there. Agile and swift, I maneuvered over a wall of large rectangular stones – a barrier against scrappers seeking to plunder valuable metals. These stones were a gateway to the past, leading me to the nearest op...
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