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Showing posts from September, 2019

Virjune Manufacturing Co: Inside Waterbury's Vacant Factory

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J and I were already having a rough day. We'd just driven across town to check out an old industrial site he hadn't visited in a while, only to find it erased. Nothing left but a slab of concrete and chain-link fence. So we took a detour. Sometimes you salvage a disappointing afternoon with a backup plan, even if you're just ticking a box. The former Virjune plant hides in plain sight off Thomaston Avenue. If you drive past in summer, you'll miss it completely. Trees and shrubs swallow the building whole, nature reclaiming what industry left behind. Come winter, though, when the branches go bare and the world turns gray, the red brick skeleton reveals itself. Even then, you have to know where to look. I pulled up old Sanborn maps to trace the building's history. The earliest tenant was an auto body shop in 1922. By February 1950, something bigger had moved in. The map labels it simply "Stamping Wks." No company name. No flourish. Just function. That namele...

Did Not Catch Me Mill

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Oh boy! Do I have a story for you guys today! A first for me and hopefully not one to repeat itself soon. One warm day J and I went to see this mill J had scouted a while back and wanted to revisit. We approached the mill through the front and nonchalantly entered the building we came to shoot first before potentially moving on to the rest of the buildings. We both went our ways inside laboring away behind our cameras when about 20 minutes into taking pictures, J called out to me that he saw a white truck in view from inside where he stood on the second floor. I immediately went up to join J while I continued shooting some more shots you will see below. We found ourselves in a corner of the mill when to my surprise I saw someone enter where we had just entered. We both ducked down behind the partitioned wall and panicked. The male voice was talking on the phone. Next, other voices soon joined the first male voice. Three other people had come in behind the first person. Two male...

T Uniform

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🔥 Update: May 3, 2026 The former Temco Uniforms facility—anonymized as "T Uniform" in this early exploration—was destroyed by fire on May 3, 2026. These photos are now part of the historical record of a site that no longer exists. 📖 Read the full historical write-up and environmental investigation here . Not much I can say about this little gem nestled next to a bridge other than it is heavily polluted. A nice little fun exploration. The boiler and electrical rooms were neat little surprises. Sometimes you find various equipment from all over and even in some cases defunct factories or mills where you have already explored products right up in your face. I nearly went in through an open window but decided against it since I saw an opening while walking up the bridge surveying the property for any viable entrances. A full historical writeup when I reveal its true name. Enjoy! 📖 Full History: This location is t...

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