Tag Archives: federal

Superconducting Super Collider

Photo (Physics Central): Overview of the massive Superconducting Super Collider.

In the midst of the Cold War between Russia and the United States science was a key strategic weapon. In order to maintain scientific supremacy in the 1980’s the United States planned to build the world’s largest particle accelerator. No one could have predicted in the early 1980’s that the Soviet Union would collapse at the end of the decade, thus bringing the Cold War to an anti-climactic end. Without the looming spectre of total nuclear annihilation to spur innovation the project lost its driving momentum. In the absence of strategic scientific necessity the ever inflating budget to operate the massive scientific apparatus sealed its fate. In 1993 funding for the project ceased despite an urgent plea by then President Clinton.

The Superconducting Super Collider on the outskirts of Waxahachie, TX, just south of Dallas, encircles the whole town. The seemingly odd location choice was in fact quite deliberate.

The Department of Energy had chosen its site carefully. To mitigate the risk of hazardous material passing nearby, it selected land 5 miles from the nearest truck route and 4 miles from the nearest rail line. The collider is clear of flight paths and out of hurricane, tsunami, earthquake and flood zones.

Source: Wired

Before Congress removed funding for the project crews had already dug out up to 14 miles of underground tunnel and 17 shafts that lead to the surface. If the ring been completely dug out it the circumference would have been 54 miles. In the end this massive hole in the ground cost US taxpayers $2 billion dollars. Had the facility been completed, it would have been even larger than the Hadron Collider in Switzerland. An investment group snapped up the property in 2006 and has hired another firm to market it as a potential data center. Until that happens the colossal monument to American scientific investment fries in the sweltering Texas sun.

Resources:

BoingBoing – Orignal post on the physicists exploring the SSC.

C-Span – Congressional debate over funding for the SSC.

Damn Interesting – Article incorrectly asserts that President Clinton was not a fan of the SSC, but otherwise a good read.

Ellis County Museum – Summary of the SSC and its scientific applications.

Great Guy – An employee describes the accelerator first hand.

Physics Buzz – A group of nerdy urbexers infiltrate the SSC.

Pres. Clinton – Letter of support for the SSC from President Clinton.

Summer of Science – An explorer makes his way into the abandoned SSC.

Wired – 2009 article on the sale of the SSC with excellent photos.

Abandoned Post Office

Gary Post Office

Photo: The abandoned United States Post Office in Gary, Indiana.

Information on the abandoned Post Office in downtown Gary, Indiana is sparse. The building was erected in 1936 as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal program aimed at ameliorating the Great Depression. Architect Howard Lovewell Cheney, who worked for the Public Buildings Branch of the US Treasury Department, designed the building. This branch of the USPS supposedly closed in the 1970’s, though sources confirming this have not been located by American Urbex.

Photo: Postcard depicting the Post Office in its splendor. (Source: Chicagoist)

Sorting Room

Photo: The sorting room floor is covered in moss and new growth. Those are not bricks on the ground. Those are individually cut wood blocks that comprised the floor.

Gary

Photo: The main stairwell to the second floor is awfully moody.

Visiting the post office in Gary was the first time that I have ever infiltrated at federal government building. Well, maybe “infiltrated” isn’t the right verb. I had the expectation in my head that getting in would be a little bit difficult. It wasn’t in the slightest. The main entrances to the building were all wide open for anyone off the street to wander in. This urbex location was just as populated with photographers as the City Methodist Church a stonesthrow down the block. You will be hard pressed to find any post office ephemera at this place though. The rooms are devoid of anything but trash brought in by recent visitors. For an abandoned New Deal building, though, the few surprises inside make the visit worthwhile.

Resources:

My Flickr Set – Gary Post Office

El Tidy Flickr Set – US Federal Post Office

Webshots Gallery – Abandoned Post Office