Among the more amazing vanishing acts for me is when a giant industrial complex is wiped away. My wife and I saw a couple of examples of this in Pittsburgh not too long ago. The old Southside steel mill is now a shopping area (excuse me, "lifestyle center") a la Legacy Village and the Homestead works (site of the infamous Homestead strike) is also a retail district. A giant bridge crane and several smokestacks are really all that remain of the the once sprawling steel plant.
Locally, we have Steelyard Commons. We now have Wal-Mart and Best Buy where a significant portion of Republic Steel once stood (and also non-union service jobs in place of good-paying union gigs, but that's a rant for another day). As time goes by, first-hand memories of the old steel mill will grow hazy before evaporating forever.
We can already see this effect with another another industrial behemoth once located in the Flats: US Steel's Central Furnace. Many Clevelanders have forgotten about this complex or were not even aware of it at all. The online version of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History has a good little article about USS operations in Cleveland. And the Steel Industry Forum has some good photographs at http://todengine.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3396188.
Perhaps the best image I've seen of Central Furnace, however, comes from Eric Hirsimaki's book "The Lakers, Vol I". If you turn to page 85, you'll see a grand picture from 1976 of the Eugene W. Pargny getting help from the Great Lakes Towing tug Virginia. The Pargny is getting ready to be unloaded by Central Furnace's two Huletts. These particular Huletts were equipped with rather small buckets; only ten tons per bite. As such, it will probably be a long unload time.
The details in Hirsimaki's photo are amazing. The Huletts are done up in a bright red paint job and one can see some type of big yellow machine in the background. Meanwhile, USS's "ALWAYS WORK SAFELY" motto is displayed in large steel letters attached to the plant's smokestacks.
These days, Osborne Cement occupies the site. In fact, the address is 2100 Central Furnace. You can see the site on a GOODTIME 3 cruise or catch a glimpse as you ride by on a RTA train (just to the east of the Terminal Tower). It's still an industrial area as opposed to being a retail mecca. You may even see a lakeboat tied-up there every once-in-a-while.
But there's very little to indicate what was once there. One can imagine some giant model railroader coming along and deciding to change the look of his layout. Pig iron plant today, cement operation tomorrow. And all we are left with are fading memories and a precious few photographs.
Perhaps the best image I've seen of Central Furnace, however, comes from Eric Hirsimaki's book "The Lakers, Vol I". If you turn to page 85, you'll see a grand picture from 1976 of the Eugene W. Pargny getting help from the Great Lakes Towing tug Virginia. The Pargny is getting ready to be unloaded by Central Furnace's two Huletts. These particular Huletts were equipped with rather small buckets; only ten tons per bite. As such, it will probably be a long unload time.
The details in Hirsimaki's photo are amazing. The Huletts are done up in a bright red paint job and one can see some type of big yellow machine in the background. Meanwhile, USS's "ALWAYS WORK SAFELY" motto is displayed in large steel letters attached to the plant's smokestacks.
These days, Osborne Cement occupies the site. In fact, the address is 2100 Central Furnace. You can see the site on a GOODTIME 3 cruise or catch a glimpse as you ride by on a RTA train (just to the east of the Terminal Tower). It's still an industrial area as opposed to being a retail mecca. You may even see a lakeboat tied-up there every once-in-a-while.
But there's very little to indicate what was once there. One can imagine some giant model railroader coming along and deciding to change the look of his layout. Pig iron plant today, cement operation tomorrow. And all we are left with are fading memories and a precious few photographs.
