Just a little Moore Chrome

The Willys-Overland Company was one of the most influential and substantial corporations in Toledo's history. The Willys-Overland Parkway Assembly Plant was originally constructed in 1904 as a bicycle factory, However in 1910 the site was purchased by Willys-Overland who by 1928, had transformed the site into a nearly 7 million square foot facility featuring more than 90 individual buildings.

The Parkway assembly plant would serve as a crucial manufacturing hub in WWII producing military Jeeps, shells and aircraft parts to supply the ongoing war effort. After the end of WWII the Parkway assembly plant would go on to produce civilian jeeps until its eventual demolition in 2002. 

As time went on most of the remnants of the Parkway assembly plant would fade away. Most buildings that had been spared from demolition were now being re-used for miscellaneous industrial things. However frozen in the midst of light industry and empty fields remains a small facility frozen in time, serving as a window into Parkway's past.

Another Cleaver Brooks boiler, Just like the one at DuPont!

This facility was originally constructed in 1928 under the name "The Reuben Company". The Reuben Company was a real-estate company at the time so there was likely a different company operating it until 1932 when the site began operations under the Moore Chrome Plating Company. 

The second floor.

The Moore Chrome Plating Company operated as a contractor for Willys-Overland producing automotive chrome plating until 1997 when the company moved to a newer facility located in Sylvania. 

Looking out the window you can see the former glass-cutting and glazing facility as well as the new Dana plant in the background.

Quite the nice television set.

In 2017 the facility was purchased by the Toledo Port Authority with the intention to "improve the appearance of the industrial park.". Since then there has been no further plans announced for the site as it slowly rots away.

An interesting freight elevator setup.

Due to the Port Authorities watchful eye and somewhat decent job at sealing the place it has been left in excellent condition and is full of older items.

A Deardorff Studio Camera which has since disappeared.

 

The white/grey color scheme of the place felt rather modern for a building of such age. I guess they were an early adopter of the depressing workplace aesthetic. 

Large vats left behind.

Spare parts.

This place had been abandoned for so long that even the hobo cart collection was dated.

I was torn on if I should even make a post about this place, these posts don't get much traction or views online, but then again it only takes one bad person to ruin a spot for everyone. I would hate to see such a well preserved spot ruined by vandals and scrappers. However this is kind of why I write these posts and take these photos in the first place, to be able to preserve a spot forever in the world of 1's and 0's regardless of what happens to it.

Anyways I hope you found this place interesting and learned a little bit of lost history. The weather has been unfavorable for exploration lately but I'm hoping that will change soon and I can get some more content out. 

Mutagen Out!

Sources:

https://www.toledoblade.com/local/2017/11/16/Port-board-buys-empty-building-next-to-industrial-park/stories/20171116149

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4084tm.g4084tm_g06911193603/?sp=89&st=image&r=0.76,0.687,0.334,0.217,0

https://www.toledoblade.com/Automotive/2011/08/11/Jeep-Timeline.html

https://www.buzzfile.com/business/Moore-Metal-Finishing-419-843-3510

 

Long Term Parking

Why hello there, I am back with another blog post. I debated on if I should write this one yet or if I should do another trip but I don't have anything else to write about (Technically I do but I can't share images of the place yet). Also you may think this is the first post of 2024 but it's not, I posted something at like 2am on January 1st but for some reason Blogger put it as being posted last year despite that not being the case. ANYWAYS

Today's post brings us back to the swamps of Ohio... or at least what used to be the swamps of Ohio. The building of interest today is the former Jersey Bread CO. I initially had plans to explore the building but as you will come to find out they didn't turn out very well. That said I will probably make an attempt to return in the future and will update this blog post accordingly. 

The building was constructed in 1929 and shuttered in 1973 after the Jersey Bread CO folded. There doesn't seem to be a ton of info online about the Jersey Bread CO, If I do end up going back and exploring the building I will search more deeply for additional info.

This explore was pretty botched from the start, we couldn't find a decent place to park so we ended up parking in front of the building to do some quick recon, which might I share some advice is a TERRIBLE idea. We noted the possible entrances and decided to come back later. As we were leaving a TPD squad car drove past staring at us as we jumped into the pickup and drove off.

After visiting a few other places we returned for our explore, this time parking across the street. Before entering my friend wanted to check out the cars that were scattered around because he is a big motorhead (Personally I'm more of a plane person).

However my interest was peaked when we quickly realized that most cars here were luxury or sports cars. many of them being quite dated.

The area directly behind the factory largely consisted of 70s-90s Mercedes as well as a few modern BMW's.

It quickly became obvious that these cars had been sitting for a long time. Strangely parts that would typically be salvaged or stolen for scrap still remained.

We checked the VIN numbers on a few of the vehicles and none came back stolen, So the cars were likely acquired in a legal manor which honestly just made things more confusing.

Seeing this many boxy Mercedes made me sad, I've always wanted one myself. 

Further on we came across A 1962 Eldorado rusting away.

Closer to the front we found a lot more mid 2000s cars most of them still being luxury brands however mixed in was a few "Less" fancy vehicles.

I have literally never seen this many abandoned luxury cars in such a small area before, Even in affluent areas like Miami If you consider Miami Affluent.

Hiding amongst the newer stuff we found another "Classic" car, I think it's a 60s Mercury Park Lane.

It's a T-Top Vette!

The Interior of this one had been stripped a bit.

We investigated the small side room on the factory to see if we could find a way in through there but we decided against it after realizing how bad the floor was, Ironic as we would visit here next.

By the condition of this mustang my best assumption is that maybe the owner is using this area to store cars and sell specific parts online, however if that is the case I don't understand why they would leave such valuable cars outside for them to decay, By now many of the parts had become seized or ruined by water. Maybe the inside of the factory is full of Bugattis or something lol.

As car time winded down we prepared to head inside the factory, however I was a bit sketched out with the way of entry as it would prove difficult to make a quick and easy escape if things were to go wrong. I couldn't tell you why but my Spidey (or bitch) senses were tingling and I decided we should come back another day. 

Upon popping out in front of the factory we quickly ducked back for cover as a pickup was now parked outside with a less than happy owner, gun in holster, unlocking the front door with a set of keys. As soon as he stuck his head inside and begun shining his flashlight around, We sprinted for the sidewalk and ended up walking a ways in the wrong direction so we could walk past on the other side of the road. 

I do eventually plan to return and explore the factory but for now enjoy some cars. 

Alles Gute, Mutagen Out!