The factory was built in the 1800’s to turn an inedible type of fish called a bunker, or a menhaden, into an assortment of products, such as fish oil, fertilizer, and pet food.

It sits on its own island in New Jersey’s Great Bay, the only stain on a landscape that seems remote and almost untouched by humans. The Crab Island Fish Factory is an exception. Most abandoned factories are found at the ends of dirty old streets, often next to foul urban waterways or unused railroad yards. Nature has begun to reclaim the various factoriesĬhemical tanks inside another building Leave a comment The inside isn’t in very good condition either… With great care to avoid collapse, I entered this building. The buildings here are also in terrible condition, some of them so bad that you can’t even go inside. I believe this is the original gun mill from the 1830’sĮxploring this area is tough, as you are almost always climbing over collapsed buildings and through thick plant growth. Today, all of the different mills and factories sit jumbled together in an overgrown and chaotic landscape. The area finally died in the 1980’s, ending around 150 years of service. After 1841 and the closing of the gun mill, this site’s history becomes far more complicated, hosting a multitude of other industries, including a silk mill, cotton manufacturer, and dye works. Many of the guns produced here would be sold to western settlers out on the frontier, and some probably even saw service in the Civil War. Here, from 1836 to 1841, he would produce the very first Colt Revolvers, as well as various muskets and rifles. Long before the Colt Revolver would become one of the most iconic American guns, Samuel Colt opened up a small factory in in the town of Paterson, NJ. “Abe Lincoln may have freed all men, but Sam Colt made them equal” Will the modern PPG Industries step up to tear this place down? I don’t really think so. Rusty ladders are often not intact enough to climb, but the ones here were still solid The roofs of the various buildings are easily accessible and provide a nice view of Newark’s skyline. Most of the floors look something like this Use extreme caution, or better yet, the still intact fire escape outside. The inside stairs of the factory are falling apart.

My guess, from the number of vats, pipes, and the environmental investigation sign out front, is that it produced paint, varnish, or some other chemical product. The history of this particular factory is almost unknown, including when it opened, when it was abandoned, and what it made. In more modern times, the company is responsible for many things we see day to day, from the printing material used in passports to transition lenses. It became one of the first American companies to expand overseas when it bought a plant in Belgium. As cars and tall buildings grew more popular throughout the early 1900’s, the company expanded, buying new factories(this one included) and diversifying its products. The Pittsburgh Plate Glass company was founded in 1883, and became the first successful plate glass manufacturer in America. With this in mind, it’s hard to imagine that the complex of ruined industrial buildings between the Passaic River and a stretch of unused railroad track once belonged to a company that today makes more than one billion dollars annually.Ī flooded ground floor in one of the buildings Almost every one of them has a similar story: founded in the late 1800’s, profitable until the late 1900’s, and then shut down, leaving behind poverty and urban blight in the communities that once worked them. Most abandoned factories are associated with loss.

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