Rusty and Crusty

Here are some photos that I took while driving back from Ottawa, Kansas after we visited some of Holleigh's relatives. The first place was a beautiful, newly abandoned red barn. The clouds were very dramatic that day.

See, it is red, I wasn't making that part up ;)

We also came across a car lot that had a ton of vintage cars. I have an affinity for old cars and maybe one day I will have a gallery show with my car photos. This lot also had a bunch of roosters walking around..I just had to chase one ;)

We were told to check out an abandoned plant south of Ottawa. If you look at this Google map, the place (Buildex) is on the left. It is interesting to see how lifeless the place is compared to the business across the street on the right. I am pretty sure the place on the right is the sales office for Buildex. They still have two other plants where they mine shale.

There were a bunch of old machinery (like bulldozers and cranes), a gas pump, a couple office buildings, as well as other things that were a mystery to me. The following photo is of a crane.

This place had a quarry and they mined shale. These are the controls inside one of the buildings. Not sure what the machinery inside actually did. My guess is the machines broke the shale into smaller pieces.

Inside the office's bulletin board, there was a memo dated March 27, 1986 and it was addressed to all plant employees. It stated that "due to the current farm economy and reduced oil prices" the Ottawa Buildex plant will be closed indefinitely and will not reopen unless business improves. Looks like after 23 years, business never improved enough.

Exploring abandoned buildings is one of my favorite past times and it's always interesting to slowly learn the history that was left behind.

Labels: 2009, abandoned, chatter, photography, travel

posted by Patrick Binder (pbinder) @ 1:24 AM Click to view or leave a comment!   1 comments.