Tag Archives: milwaukee

American Urbex E.21 – Ryan Tretow

Ryan Tretow shares his insights into Milwaukee architecture, urban exploration, and his approach to photography.

Be sure to check out Ryan Tretow’s Flickr photostream.

James Blücher (a.k.a. Filth City) responds to Jake Dillard’s question about urbexers who use film. Excellent photos James!

Are you new to urbex or a seasoned pro? I want to interview you! Come talk urbex on May 13, 2012 from 10am to 12pm. Meet up at City United Methodist Church in Gary, Indiana. Let American Urbex know if you definitely want to be interviewed by visiting the Facebook event page.

Subscribe to the American Urbex Podcast on iTunes and YouTube.

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American Urbex E.19 – Under MKE

Robert Burns talks about his underground explorations, creative tools, and fascinating discoveries.

Robert Burns, aka Under MKE, on Flickr.
The Under MKE book on Blurb.

Support the Milwaukee art scene by visiting Redline Milwaukee online or in person.

If you are in Milwaukee be sure to check out Ryan Tretow’s exhibition Urban Decay: Ruins of a Modern Time at Rogue’s Gallery coming April 20, 2012.

If you are in Chicago do not miss Eric Holubow’s exhibition In Decay: Stitching America’s Ruins at the Chicago Cultural Center from March 31 to July 8, 2012.

Take a moment to donate to American Urbex: Southern Slide.

Subscribe to the American Urbex Podcast on iTunes and YouTube.

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Milwaukee County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy

Photo (source): The administration building.

Wisconsin has a strong cultural background in agriculture. One of Wisconsin’s first attempts at providing technical education resulted in the Milwaukee County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy in Wauwatosa. The site of the former high school enjoys protected status on the National Register of Historic Places, State Register of Historic Places, and is a Milwaukee County Landmark. According to the Google Map above it may look like there is plenty of activity at the location, but in reality the buildings have been long abandoned. The roads leading up to the campus were stripped away after the satellite image was taken.

In 1912 Milwaukee County had the largest rural populations in the state and opened the School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy. To build the school the county purchased 206 acres of land five miles west of downtown Milwaukee for $72,100 (or $350/acre). Milwaukee architect Alex C. Eschweiler was tapped to design the main campus Neo-Gothic style facilities. Structures for the school include four class buildings, one administration building, a dormitory, power house, barn, greenhouses, poultry sheds, and other smaller buildings.

Photo (source): The five buildings designed by Eschweiler. The building to the far right in the photo has been demolished.

The high school focused on areas of study specific to agriculture. Students were given hands-on technical training, such as this practical example of how to build a farm shed. Graduates of the school were given a leg up for enrollment in the University of Wisconsin System thereafter. Milwaukee Country residents could attend the school free of charge, while non-residents paid $27 for tuition. Heavy advertising and early momentum lead to strong enrollment for the 1912-13 school year with 243 students. By the next 1913-14 school year, however, enrollment dropped to 206. 1914-15 saw enrollment precipitated further to 191. Average class attendance rates were even less than that ranging from 118-146 (source). Attendance dwindled continuously until 1928 when Milwaukee County concluded that it could no longer justify the cost of operating the school.

Photo (source): The area around the campus buildings has incredible biodiversity.

In 2007 then county executive (and current WI Governor) Scott Walker (R) opened the buildings for use by SWAT officers to host a training conference. This decision drew the ire of local preservationists attempting to save the location. One report states that paintballs were fired and caused damage to some of the interiors.

As of December 2010 the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee made a significant move to develop the site as an Innovation Park. The UWM group plans on making installments totaling $13.55 million to be paid by 2014. The Eschweiler designed buildings are expected to be sold to a private group for conversion into apartments. There are skeptics that have been quite vocal about the infeasibility of the impending sale. For better or worse, the sale of the property mandates renovation of the Eschweiler designed buildings. Another groups of environmentalist critics seek to defend the property because it is part of the threatened Monarch Trail.

Photo (source): The monarch butterfly uses the yellow shaded portion that borders the school as a stop on their migration towards Mexico.

Photo (source): Beautiful park area surrounding the school.

While researching this location online sources mention that these buildings were later used as a tuberculosis clinic and/or mental hospital. The location is often conflated with the Muirdale Sanitorium, which is now a part of the Milwaukee County Research Park. Groups interested in preserving the location make no mention of the location being used for medical activities when writing about the history. Another general misunderstanding about the former School of Agriculture buildings involves the closest structure to the site, which is currently occupied by the Milwaukee County Parks Department. This structure actually used to be the location of the the Milwaukee Home for Dependent Children in the 1940’s. These mistakes are forgivable, but the websites that claim the School of Agriculture is haunted do this location a severe disservice to its history.

The campus buildings have signs stating that the area is under surveillance. The doors are either bricked off or bolted shut. To prevent access even the highest windows are boarded up. When I first visited in April of 2008, however, one of the doors was wide open. We wandered through the building and found mostly emptiness. Unfortunately my point and shoot camera battery died, so I don’t have very many photos. The ones that I was able to take are of poor quality due to the darkness. After we explored the first building I wondered about how we could make it into the others. My gut told me that each building may be connected via a network of tunnels. We went to the basement and my instincts proved to be correct. There really wan’t a whole lot left on the inside. Some of the buildings had power and a few lights on. One had an operational telephone closet running in it. The most interesting though was the administration building. At the very top is a beautiful chapel, which has been covered in graffiti. I returned a few months later in 2008 only to find my means of ingress had been bolted shut. Whatever the future has in store for this location the park area is a great place to spend an afternoon.

Resources:

All Business – Article detailing SWAT exercises at the location in 2007.

Davide Jackson – Great infrared photos of the school.

Google Books – History of Milwaukee entry on Alexander Eschweiler.

Google Books – 1911 US Office of Experiment Stations bulletin noting the agriculture school.

Google Books – 1915 Milwaukee County School of Agriculture report.

Google Books – Industrial Arts Magazine describes a student led farm shed project.

Google Books – American Poultry Advocate describes some of the farming activity on the grounds.

Google Books – Wauwatosa Historical Society book with a photo of the school.

JSOnline – Discusses the future plans of the site.

JSOnline – Discusses monarch preservation efforts by environmentalists.

Milwaukee Country Historical Society – Page on Wauwautosa landmarks.

TMJ4 – Report of damage caused by SWAT training.

Wauwautosa Now – UWM sale requires renovation.

Wikipedia – Entry for Alexander Eschweiler

Solvay Coke & Gas

The Solvay Coke & Gas plant sits in a prime real-estate area of Milwaukee. The plant originally opened in 1906 and closed its doors in April, 1983. Plans to demolish the expansive site have been in the works for years, but the intensive cleanup efforts mandated by the EPA have put this plant in limbo. It is, after all, a Superfund site. Arsenic, lead, asbestos, and a whole host of other chemicals have been mixed into the ground.

Don’s Rail Photos website describes what went on at this once state of the art facility.

Coal was brought in by boat and by rail and lifted to the top of the tipple. It was then dropped into an extremely wide gauge electric rail car which ran on the top level and took power by trolley from the wire at the front edge. The coal was then dropped into ovens where it was heated to a high temperature in a low oxygen atmosphere. The carbon reacted with the oxygen to produce carbon monoxide, or coal gas. There were also other smaller amounts of gasses trapped in the coal. The gases were collected and sent to storage tanks. The resulting hot carbon was then pushed out the front door of the oven into a hopper car and sent to a quenching tower. This produced coke.

The first time I visited the Solvay Coke & Gas site I was shocked by its location. We were not more than one city block from a major Milwaukee shopping center, but yet it felt like we had entered another world entirely. The site is absolutely massive in scale. What remains though is only a fraction of what used to be. Concrete foundations of buildings long gone still remain. (Take a closer look at the map above.)

In its present state the Solvay site has four main buildings and a trailer. The first time I entered the front offices my urbex partner and I heard water flowing in the basement. Upon investigating we saw four inches of standing water and could hear a steady flow. When I visited a second time there was a clear watermark that was up to the ceiling of the basement. The second floor has a room with an ornate fireplace and a well stocked bookshelf. Unfortunately vandals have since destroyed these treasures and smashed all but a few of the glass windows.

The next building behind the offices houses a labratory on the second floor. Some of the scientists’ instruments remain behind. Bottles full of unknown substances, extensive logs, and even samples can still be found here. It is unfortunate, though, that the last time I visited this building water had filled the basement completely. It has made the wood floor very unstable.

The largest building on the site is all that remains of the main factory floor. On the last trip I stumbled across a giant passed out drunken robot. I do not condone the desecration of urbex locations, though this robot made me reconsider my stance. It is a beautiful work of art that only those brave enough to venture out to such a location can enjoy. Bravo, whoever created this.

Research Links:

EPA location description

EPA contaminants description

Very descriptive health consultation about the Solvay site

Solvay Community Involvement Plan (PDF)

JS Online article discussing redevelopment of the site

Old operational photos of Solvay Coke & Gas

Alexander Fortney’s thesis revolving around the Solvay site

Asbestos abatement project from 2004

Milwaukee BizJournal article on new owners from 2006

Mark Bertieri’s collection of Solvay photos

Undercity’s collection of Solvay photos

Peter Cooper Glue Factory

Please see the Peter Cooper Glue Factory research post.

Hynite Company

The Hynite Company property is adjacent to the Peter Cooper building. This structure often gets confused for the Peter Cooper building. This location is mentioned in the US Department of Health & Human Services report.

The Hynite Company reportedly opened in Carrollville during the 1920s to manufacture nitrogenous fertilizers leather meal from waste leather. It is not clear to DHFS when such manufacturing halted at the Hynite property.

Tucked behind the southeast corner of the former Peter Cooper property is the 8-acre former Hynite property. Viewed from the end of East Depot Road, staff saw two buildings, a smaller, brick office with a vehicle scale on the south side, and larger multi-storied brick building estimated to be about 22,500 sq ft, with a newer 13,500 sq ft structure attached to the east side. Aerial photos of the Hynite property also show that on the northeast side of these buildings are several concrete foundation footprints of one or more prior buildings.

As of January 2010 the Peter Cooper building was under active demolition. It is a good bet that the Hynite building will meet a similar fate in the near future.

Please see the Peter Cooper Glue Factory research post.

Peter Cooper Glue Factory

Have you ever eaten Jell-O? If the answer is yes, then Peter Cooper has been a part of your life.

New York-based industrialist Peter Cooper received a patent for gelatin in 1845. He is also known for his other major contributions to American history. He also designed the first steam locomotive in the United States. To this date, he holds the record for being the oldest person ever nominated to run for President at the age of 85.

Located just south of Milwaukee in an area called Carrollville sits a huge abandoned complex of buildings at the end of a long road. For decades the Peter Cooper Glue Factory and adjacent business properties have remained dormant. It is a well-travelled urbex location.

The US Department of Health & Human Services wrote about the site in a report.

This area of Oak Creek is historically referred to as Carrollville, though many current Oak Creek residents may not be familiar with the name (Cech 2005). In 1899, the Milwaukee tanning industry established the U.S. Glue Company factory in Carrollville to make glue from remnants and scraps of animal hides, both tanned and untanned. During the 1930s, the U.S. Glue Company sold the factory to the Peter Cooper Corporation, who then sold the factory in 1976 to the French pharmaceutical company Rousselot. Manufacturing of glue continued at the factory until it closed in 1985.

For Milwaukee area old-timers the name Peter Cooper is synonymous with putrid stench. Julio Guerrero (PDF) includes an excerpt from the book Carrollville in Retrospect to explain why the area around the factory smelled so foul.

“The (cow) hides are washed, soaked in lime for 70 days to expand them, washed and treated with acid to neutralize the lime, then cooked in water until becoming a liquor which is spread out to dry for two and one-half hours in one of two million dollar ovens. The dry glue is then ground to a powder and sold. The drying ovens replaced the natural drying process that was handled by the flopper girls, who handled the 4’ x 6’ sheet of glue that seldom dried in a uniform way and often developed mold thereby causing the loss of the entire batch.”

The previously mentioned USDH&HS report details the fire that destroyed much of the Peter Cooper factory in 1987.

In November 1987, a fire broke out in the main buildings of the vacant Peter Cooper facility. This was one the largest fires in the history of Oak Creek, and the wooden structure was consumed by the blaze and fire fighters focused on saving adjacent buildings (Oak Creek FD, 2007). Cech (2005) states, “three of the four stories of the main building had been destroyed, the entire west wall had collapsed, and the remaining ground floor was gutted.”

As of January, 2010 the site was under active demolition.

Research Links:

Biographical information on Peter Cooper

Extensive writeup on Peter Cooper

Understanding the Experience of Mexican Workers in the Peter Cooper Glue and Gelatin Factory in the 1960’s (PDF)

Mention of the factory in The Milwaukee Journal

Peter Cooper fire of 1987

UER thread on Peter Cooper Glue

Urban Land Institute report with extensive statistical, geographic, and photographic information (PDF)

US Department of Health and Human Services report on health risks (PDF)

JS Online – Plans to demolish PCG move forward

Wikipedia article on Peter Cooper