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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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Star Pin Company Shelton CT: An Insider Look
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Historical
Star Pin Company was first located in the Far Mill River in the Wells Hollow area of Huntington before moving to Canal Street in 1875 due to booming business and the Ousatonic dam upstream that provided crucial industrial energy. It had also used power generated by the Fulling Mill Brook before moving to Canal. The company that manufactured hairpins, pins, and eyes for clothing was founded on September 25, 1866, with a starting capital of $40,000. A hefty sum of capital for that period. In addition, it was the only factory in Shelton that was made of brick. In the early 1950s, the company even produced the packaging and boxes that held the pins. The company closed its doors for good in December 1977 after 107 years. To see more pictures of its early days, check out the fantastic book, Naugatuck Valley Textile Industry.
James C. Hubbard, one of the founders and early officers of the company invented one of the first automated hairpin-making machines in the United States. In keeping it within the family, his son Henry Franklin Hubbard designed the machines that made the first bobby pins. This accreditation is a bit of misshapen history because according to the Naugatuck Valley Textile Industry, the American Pin Company actually created the machines developed by none other than John Howe, a Connecticut doctor. Star Pin adapted the Howe machines for their use in pin manufacturing.
The company was also known to employ water-powered generation to generate lighting. So many factories around the United States to this day began along canals, rivers, and dams for their energy needs, water consumption, and environmentally damaging waste removal.
Current
On June 13, 2020, Star Pin Company's long-vacant property along Canal Street in Shelton/Seymour, Connecticut was gutted by heavy fire. The fire consumed the two buildings with untold asbestos contamination into the nearby Housatonic River and surrounding residential housing and apartments. It required around 150 firefighters from Shelton and Derby to staunch the inferno. The city of Shelton was in the process of selling to Bridgeport-based developer Primrose Companies to develop and convert it into 72 residential units and 128 parking spaces. The city had foreclosed on the site for $600,000 in unpaid back taxes in 2018. That deal was premised on the city cleaning up the contamination from its past uses. The building held over 52 separate businesses that included an art gallery, a custom firearms maker, and a photography studio. Last year, a $750,000 grant was approved by the state Department of Economic and Community Development for removing asbestos, lead, and PCBs from the 118,000-square-foot building.
You can see more in-depth fire photos at Firescenes.
The cause of the fire still remains under investigation by local authorities.
Status: Demolished due to fire damage.
Sources:
1. Gioiele, Brian, "Shelton Star Pin factory fire: 'We lost a part of history', June 14, 2020, CT Post
2. Gioiele, Brian, " Demolition begins at Shelton's Star Pin factory site damaged in blaze". June 15, 2020, CT Insider
3. Hall, Phil, "Fire destroys Shelton's 19th century Star Pin factory", June 15, 2020, WestFair Online
4. "Shelton Mayor: Star Pin fire debris may contain asbestos", June 15, 2020, News12 Connecticut
5. Orcutt, Samuel, & Beardsley, Ambrose, "The History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880", Harvard University
I was driving towards what used to be the Consumers Park Brewery when something caught my eye—the wooden gate doors of the old auto parts store were wide open. Someone had broken in. The building had been vacant for years, even as new construction surged all around it. Right next door, a fresh, modern structure had risen, but this place remained untouched—a relic of the past hollowed out and forgotten. I pulled over without hesitation. These moments don’t come often. A while back, another shuttered dealership had been left open for months, its entrance exposed. Graffiti artists had made their mark on the metal gates, turning the abandoned space into an urban canvas. I had thought about exploring it, but before I could, the gates were suddenly chained shut overnight. The opportunity was gone. Not this time. This time, I wasn’t letting the moment slip away. I stepped inside, finally getting a look at what had been hidden behind those rolled-down gates and green plywood barriers. An...
When I arrived at the former Aerosol Techniques factory, I was filled with a mix of anticipation and curiosity. Meeting a group of new friends for a day of urban exploration in Connecticut, we had a lineup of intriguing abandoned sites on our agenda. Our itinerary included the hauntingly beautiful Seaside Sanatorium, a former hospital, along with a few other potential spots that we were less certain about. We chose the factory as our starting point, mainly because it offered easy access and was conveniently situated next to a Lowe's hardware store. Walking along a well-trodden path, our group made a seamless transition onto the property. The sense of camaraderie was palpable as we embarked on our adventure with eager enthusiasm. The factory grounds, long deserted, were a canvas for countless graffiti artists. Every inch of the building was adorned with vibrant and eclectic street art, each piece telling its own story. This rich color and creativity set the perfect stage for our imp...
This place holds a special meaning for me. I’ve visited several times, determined to explore every corner and uncover its secrets. But no matter how hard I tried, I never quite managed to see it all. The main front building, the one closest to the road? Never got inside. The massive cooling building in the back with its giant fans and smaller outbuildings? Missed that, too. And then there was the tank farm—a cluster of 22 rusty tanks tucked away in the upper right corner of the property. For some reason, no one ever took pictures of those tanks, even though they sat quietly in the shadows. I only noticed them recently, flipping through my old research notes. That’s when it hit me: I’d never taken the path that led there, too hesitant to get close to the Trenton-Mercer Airport’s fence line. I wasn’t here to get in trouble. I was here for the peaceful, empty buildings, not to risk getting caught wandering near airport grounds. Still, being there felt like stepping back in time. Walking t...
A curious case of no found history. Today I present the 'Mystery Hotel' because the only relevant real estate information that could be found for this property all points to the category listed as hotels and classed as a miscellaneous hotel for land use pertaining to commercial & office buildings. Nothing could be found either in the Department of Buildings database using two known addresses for this property. I searched and searched for property records pertaining to the past uses and occupants of this commercial building but came up empty. Hopefully, in the future when development comes to this property I can write up a new update. But for now, enjoy these exterior shots I shot a few weeks ago. Former Hotel Entrance Cross Street View Now just used to store local school buses. About a month ago, there was a visible entrance inside the driveway. Someone had broken through the cinder blocked doorway and made their way inside probably to scrap for meta...
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