What do steam engines, Henry Ford, and shipbuilding have in common? Sure, Detroit, but let’s be specific–I give you the Dry Dock Engine Works, a Detroit relic about to go through yet another overhaul…
history under ground
The Midwest
Dry Dock Engine Works
Duluth & Iron Range Dock Six
Two Harbors, MN
A Poem
In nineteen-oh-nine when the winds blew colder,
Nine-hundred and twenty feet long…
Duluth Armory
Duluth, MN
This armory was built in 1915 for the 3rd Regiment of the Minnesota National Guard. During the World Wars, it was a place where troops would train and muster, and where equipment was stored. Occasionally, […]
Duluth’s Lost Silver Mine
Duluth, MN
In mid-1880s, a few men began tunneling under downtown Duluth looking for a fortune. Now there’s no trace of their labor under the Point of Rocks, is there?
DWP’s Short Line Tunnel Ely’s Peak Duluth, MN
It started as a rumor, then I heard it over and over–there was an abandoned train tunnel outside Duluth.
Excello Paper Mill
Middletown, OH
Harding Jones Paper Company operated the Excello Mill between 1865 and 1983. It has changed little since it was built beside the Erie Canal.
Falstaff Brewery
Saint Louis, MO
A dead brewery marks the graves of four others on the outside of St. Louis, the new Detroit. It’s been empty longer than I’ve been alive, and things are not looking up…
Fergus Falls State Hospital
Fergus Falls, MN
Why write, who cares? The door asked… I guess I just didn’t have an answer. I’ll keep doing my thing, I thought, and you keep doing yours. Now, how best to capture the fingernail scratches around this padded room’s peep hole?
Fisher Body Plant 21
Detroit, MI
Fisher Body #21 made plane parts in World War II, served as a homeless shelter during the Great Depression, made Cadillacs, Buicks, ambulances, busses, and even paint. What is left of this place, besides some stories and graffiti?
Ford’s Twin Cities Plant & Sand Mines
Saint Paul, MN
On December 16th, 2011, the last Ford Ranger standard truck left the assembly line and paint shop and not long afterward the doors were chained and locked. Then it was my turn.
Fort Snelling’s Upper Bluff
St. Paul, MN
Fort Snelling was first sold off in 1858, long after Minnesota had lost its status as a frontier state, but the Civil War and conflicts between settlers and the Dakota renewed the need for a […]