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Showing posts from November, 2010

Abandoned City

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After we roam around the state looking for abandoned places in the desert, we will be in search of abandoned places in various cities.  Look for future posts of our antics in Phoenix, Tucson, Prescott, and Flagstaff.  It should be fun.....

The Sugar Beet Factory

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In the 1900, sugar beets were a profitable product in many states around the country. One person who took note of this was businessman W. J. Murphy, who was the founder of the Arizona Improvement Company for water and land development. Glendale was one of the many growing agricultural communities connected to a canal and irrigation system, which makes it a great location for a sugar beet factory. Since the early 1880’s, sugar beet factories were built in many states with the desire of changing sugar beets into granulated sugar. Murphy pushed for a large factory to be built in Glendale after successful experiments proved that sugar beets can be manufactured in the Salt River Valley. In the summer of 1903, construction began on the Sugar Beet Factory just on mile east of Glendale’s business district. But by December, construction had to be temporarily stopped because of financial woes leaving only the steel frame standing. By 1906 with construction resuming, the huge factory was ...

Mother Nature's Fury on the Domes

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Since we had a guest traveler with us, Vinnie, Sharon thought he might want to see the Domes in person.  Even though they say there are "No Trespassing" signs posted, we did not see them.  We were just there to take pictures and admire the uniqueness of the structures. Unlike the vagrants and party peeps, we were not out to destroy the place.  Besides, Mother Nature has done a good job of it all by herself. It had only been a month since Sharon and I visited the Domes, but within that time the cruel and harsh weather that went through our state played havoc on the Dome's structures.  The walls and ceilings of each building had more holes especially the last building.  There were huge chunks of the ceiling lying on the floor where there was none before.  The walls that had various cracks where the sunshine poured in, and there were now holes that we could walk right through.  We don't think that last structure is going to last much ...

The Beast, Box and Warehouse

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Right after catching a quick lunch in Casa Grande, we headed back towards the place where the abandoned shop was located.  Another large building caught our eyes and it looked deserted.  Yahoo, another place to sneak into.  Even though we didn't see any "No Trespassing" signs, we knew that the locals wouldn't want us in there, but we didn't care.  We walked towards the large warehouse building which had other structures around it, and noticed all the windows broken and graffiti on the walls.  On the inside near the entrance is a line of what looked like it used to be electrical boxes.  We didn't know who the "Beast" was, but he put his name on almost every wall.  It definitely looked like a recent Halloween party was there because of the costumes and party favors we found.  There were a couple of cages and a jack-in-the-box looking object in the middle of the place.  We could only imagine what kind of wild party the attendees had, ee...

The Forgotten Shop

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Just on the outskirts of Casa Grande and near the dump, sits an empty building that looks like it may have once been a store or some sort of business.  This town is so small that if you blink, you will miss the entire place, and where driving your lawnmower from place to place is normal.  We didn't get any hints from the mess all over the floors of what the building once was, but at least Sharon picked up a story from a pole in the middle of the room.  It was the second abandoned place we found on our day trip.

Casa Grande’s Lost Places

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This weekend Sharon, I, and a guest are hitting the road for more abandoned places. This time we are concentrating on the area around Casa Grande. According to Sharon there are lots of desserted places in that area. The Domes are close by, but this area also has a vast amount of buildings, factories, motels, and restaurants that have folded under because of the economy. We are out to get photos and readings of the history of these places. We are looking for the stories of what was and photos of what they are now. Here is a brief history of Casa Grande: During Arizona’s mining surge in 1879, the town of Casa Grande was founded and named after the Hohokam ruins. It wasn’t until 1915 that Casa Grande became incorporated. Many of the places around town were named after one of the founding fathers, Thompson Rodney Peart, (Peart Road, Park and Center). A major railroad terminated in town and earned the name, “Terminus”. Casa Grande was mostly a farm town, but can boast the first exhibi...