Inside the Abandoned National Silk Dyeing Co.: Paterson, NJ's Forgotten Textile Mill (Photos)

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  The text message from my friend J was simple: a list of addresses in Newark and Paterson. An invitation. An urban treasure map with Xs marking forgotten places. I picked the one on Piercy Street. Pulling up, I saw the building wasn’t exactly hiding. It was a behemoth of brick and colorful lettered graffiti, a whole city block of decay. A door gaped open next to an old loading dock, but the scene gave me pause. Mounds of illegally dumped trash lay along the floor of the loading bay. This part of Paterson has a tough reputation, and the open doors felt less like an invitation and more like a dare. I took a deep breath and stepped inside. The air was thick with the smell of dust and damp. I found myself in a vast, open space littered with plastic containers and skeletal metal shelving. I moved deeper, drawn toward the old boiler house section. Before I reached it, I walked into a room that stopped me cold. Everything was stained a deep, blood red. A fine crimson powder coated the fl...
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Abandoned Home Goods Manufacturer (Bilco Co.)






* *This site was the former Bilco Company which manufactured basement hatchways, garage doors, sidewalk doors, and roof hatches on Water Street in West Haven, Connecticut. 


Milling about with gleeful abandon.

I finally checked out this complex from a depressing neighborhood where houses are boarded and vehicular traffic is always substantially busy. I was astonished at how easy it was to access the complex. I had previously seen kids hanging around by the water playing around on a previous visit whilst using my DJI Phantom 4 drone.



















Upon entering the property I feared the worst. Local kids may have already trashed the property based on the numerous windows busted out. Entering inside my fears were appeased. Inside was comfortably clean and unblemished from graffiti and shitty craft. It seemed the complex could be cleaned up and put to use with a little TLC and back into a hub of commerce. The offices on the other hand needed substantial renovation. A shame the previous owners left to move to another part of the state. The property provided a substantial view out to the water. Standing inside a side doorway. I could see many previous employees taking a smoke break and taking in the calming water lapping against the property.
















I had the entire place to myself. I milled about to my heart's content until I finally got all the shots I required. A prime location for a model photoshoot if I shot models. 💁




































































Status: Demolished as of July 31, 2022, and surrounding residential houses fenced and boarded for future demolition and development of The Haven Mall Outlet project.

*April 13, 2023, houses North of Richards and East of First Avenue have been demolished. The Haven Mall Outlet project has been scuttled while the vacant lot languishes.

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