Varnish to Tarnish
Important Note: This isn't the first time I have written about this place. I originally wrote about this place on my old blog under the title "Toxic Relationship". However since I published that post I got my hands on a lot more historical information so consider this a complete rewrite.
Welcome back Ladies, Gentlemen and whatever else people call themselves these days. This is going to be a bit more in depth post then most of my others so strap in.
Our story begins on July 16th of 1934 when the site of the defunct Mountain Varnish and Color Works Company is purchased by DuPont De Nemours (whatever that means) for an unknown price.
DuPont purchased this site due to the significance of it's location in relation to the constantly expanding auto industry in the Midwest. Over the next 6 years the plant would undergo numerous upgrades and modernization allowing it to produce "Dulux" a quick dry enamel coating created by mixing synthetic alkyd resins with oil, Dulux was commonly used in the Automotive and Refrigerator industry.
At the same time the plant was also churning out Lacquer, varnish, and synthetic resins at a much smaller capacity.
During the 1940s DuPont had planned to construct a completely new plant on the site with the ability to manufacture waxes, polishes, cooling system cleaners, sealers and rust inhibitors. The newly constructed plant would also be updated to state-of-the-art stainless steel equipment.
The complete rebuild of the site was estimated to cost approximately $1,125,00 ($241,834,214 today). However these plans were tossed only a few months later due to a massive jump in construction costs following the start of the minor human disagreement known as WWII. During WWII the plant continued it's operations normally although due to the shortage of labor, women were employed at the plant for the first time in history.
Date unknown.
After the end of WWII, the species of humans that wont talk to me also known as women disappeared from DuPont and were not seen again until the 60s. In 1948 construction began on the "annex" to provide lockers and changing rooms for the employees. In the early 1950s the stone equipment and floor mixers were finally replaced by modern steel equipment and pebble mixers. As far as I can tell DuPont never upgraded to diamond or netherite tools. After the overhaul was completed the smokestacks for the varnish kettles were no longer needed as the plant now utilized closed resin kettles.
After the overhaul DuPont continued to produce similar things as before with more of a focus on the automotive and refrigerator industry. It is estimated at this time the plant employed around 400 people. During the 1960s the site began manufacturing now infamous DuPont Teflon. At the time this facility was the sole producer of Teflon for direct food contact until 1985. During this time DuPont used C-8 in it's production of Teflon. C-8 is toxic to humans and animals with it having greater effects on animals, DuPont knew the dangers of C-8 but like a political thread on Twitter continued to spew these toxins into the public until oppsie doopsy now 99.7% of American's have C-8 in their blood.
In 1962 the Power House was upgraded to use 9 smaller boilers to heat the plant as well as housing several massive compressors to supply the plant with compressed air and nitrogen.
These Cleaver Brooks boilers are in literally every abandoned chemical plant.
In 1965 the plant sustained moderate damage during the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak, which spawned 55 tornados across the Midwest leaving 271 people dead and over 1,700 injured. One of the varnish smokestacks was destroyed and a few of the buildings lost their roofs
Tornado damage at DuPont.
As the 60s turned to 70s a new warehouse was completed to store finished products.
And yes I checked, the forklift wouldn't start.
In the 1980s construction was finished on "Reactor 7". Reactor 7 was a high-tech reactor designed for manufacturing acrylic resins. This process was achieved by first mixing acrylic monomers with Initiators to start the reaction, followed by Propagation where unpaired atoms react with the monomers, causing them to join together and form polymer chains. After the reaction subsides the resins underwent Post-Polymerization Processing including; Coagulation, Washing and Drying, before eventually being stored in the tanks below the reactor.
Resin manufacturing.
The new resin storage area.
In 1991 disaster would strike at the plant, The employee lounge suffered an explosion during advanced experimentation of putting cans in microwaves, the damage was severe resulting in the complete destruction of one (1) microwave oven. This disaster also resulted in the devastating loss of a microwave casserole. After the loss of the microwave casserole, plant moral quickly fell, likely resulting in the plant closing a year later.
If you pull this off, I might just forgive you for that debacle at Black Mesa.
In 1992 this site as well as another plant in Flint would consolidate and move to Mount Clemens leaving both facilities empty. After the closure in 1992 a large part of the plant was demolished and the site would undergo major retooling for the next 3 years. From 1995 to 2010 the plant would resume operations under DuPont's ownership producing coatings for the automobile industry. Ultimately sometime around 2015 the plant would close its doors for good.
The first time I visited the site was in January of 2023. I had noted the existence of this place a few years prior while driving in the area, but I couldn't find anything confirming it was permanently closed at the time and didn't feel like accidentally wandering into an active chemical plant.
During my first explore I was regrettably still using my old iPhone 7. My new 13 mini had just arrived that day and I didn't have a case for it, and we all know iPhones shatter quicker than Chinese steel.
I discovered that this place was abandoned via a reddit post, knowing how quickly places in this area get overrun and destroyed from even a little social media presence, I decided to make this place a top priority.
The photos you are seeing are a combination of both trips, during the first trip there wasn't a massive amount of graffiti and the power was running in a lot of places.
Considering that the building still had power and it's former occupants seemingly left millions of dollars of equipment behind (Much of it still in working order) I was shocked to see no type of security.
The inside of the plant was a maze of pipes running in every direction, we could hear the hum of dying transformers echoing throughout the plant.
A steam driven Worthington air compressor, this room contained two which were powered by the boilers in the adjacent room, also present in a nearby room were two much more Oil Free Rotary Compressors.
An Annunciator panel for the Oil Free Rotary Compressors.
The large fences around the facility had saved a lot of the equipment from becoming an asset of the Northwest Ohio Cocaine Alliance. Unfortunately it seemed that vandals had still beat us to the party.
The boiler room was my favorite room because of its large skylights, I would totally live in here.
Between my two visits to the plant things had quickly gone downhill, small fires and widespread vandalism had caused the power to fail in several areas of the plant. Surprisingly there was no noticeable signs of scrapping, Detroit residents would have never let this slide.
Sadly the majority of Reactor 7's lights were not functional at the time I explored so I was unable to get any photos in that area, which is a shame because that area was cool.
Seemed like only the lame rooms had power.
Exploring the rooftops for a bit, we had to be careful, this facility is surrounded by busy places on 3 sides.
During our second trip some greenery had grown back.
Tank farm off in the distance, never did make it out there.
Our second trip to the site was only a few months after the first, we made this trip after we realized we literally forgot to explore half the plant (oops).
Would you look at that another wooden roof, Just like Baron Drawn Steel, and The Lefere Forge.
During our second trip we noticed the police had begun watching the building from afar, it was evident the property owners and city were now aware of the large number of trespassers and vandals entering the site.
After a series of small fires and a growing number of vandals and reckless trespassers the property owners had enough. The holes in the fence that so many used to access the site were quickly resealed and nearly round the clock security began patrolling the site. Graffiti on the exterior of the building was also covered up in some areas.
In March of 2024 demolition began on the site. Axalta Coating Systems sold the property to "1930 Tremainsville LLC" for $500,000 shortly before the demolition began. 1930 Tremainsville LLC is a shell corporation set up by James Hewines, who owns and operates Huntington Machinery Inc, a demolition and scrap salvage company.
A worker cuts up an old resin tank.
As of current there is no immediate plans for the property. According to the Toledo Blade a distribution company expressed interest in redeveloping the property, however years of industrial waste left over from the facility makes re-use of the land quite difficult.
A sad but quite predictable end to another historic site. There really isn't many re-use applications for abandoned chemical plants unfortunately, especially ones that have been heavily vandalized. At the time of writing this only a few buildings remain on site and the entirety of the main facility has been demolished. At the very least DuPont's legacy as well as the legacy of many other structures will continue to live on with this blog, at least until I stop paying for it. As always....
Mutagen Out.
Sources:
I will put the book I got a lot of this stuff from when I'm done scanning it
