 Ironton, Ohio Here's some of what I've learned about the plant. I'm not an expert on it, so if you have corrections or additions- please leave them on the comments and I'll update what we know about it. The cement company operated from the early 1900's to sometime in the 1970's. From what I understand, the operation was to extract minerals, such as limestone from open pits and underground mines then process it into cement (which I'm assuming to be the dry powder product at that stage). From some reading, I believe they would have sent it out in bag form and via rail cars in bulk supply. One old newspaper article (available on the web) details a point where they would fill up rail cars that would then be taken to the riverside where a huge suction would transfer the cement to barges. From that point, it would be pushed by towboat to the site of the construction of a high-lift dam, a bridge, etc. It looks like the plant had it's ups and downs, following along with the normal cycle of the construction business, when in the 1970s a wall in a basement collapsed killing several men. It appears the plant didn't open (or at least didn't remain open long) after this accident. This incident seems to have spurred a lot of local talk and now web-legends about the "haunted cement factory". All my life, I've heard stories that the Ironton-Russell-Ashland area is built on top of large underground mines. Typically, the story-teller talks about a company closing up and deciding to leave their heavy equipment in the mines because it was too expensive to remove them. I believe a lot of these stories might be a stretch of the imagination, but there is a newspaper article on the 'net where the owner of the Alpha cement property talked about the cement company mines going down 600 feet. In the article, he said it was his belief that the company left a lot of their equipment in the mines when they closed up. This might be the source of all the local legends. The structures are an imposing collection that I find both easy to photograph but difficult to get compositions that have the "wow" factor to them. This one is my favorite from this short trip. Like a lot of pictures, I believe the shadow makes it. Comment (11) | Permalink |
4x6photo.com | Alpha Portland Cement Company #2 | 26 January, 2005
