So long, Armour

Some of you, primarily midwestern, urbexers out there are familiar with the Armour meatpacking plant in East St. Louis. Word was, after roughly a half century of decay, it was coming down. Rumor became fact a few days ago when it was brought down in a controlled implosion. (See it here)

I’m not sentimental by nature, and I’d only been there once, but wow. The old power plant building, filled with vintage 19th century turbines, was the kind of thing urbexers dream of. I’ve always maintained that explorers shouldn’t bemoan the loss of buildings, as it is the cycle of development/abandonment/decay/destruction that makes what we do possible. But seeing this site come down was hard. Today’s post is from a visit there a couple years ago.

It was so overgrown, it seemed it was in the thick of a forest. It loomed up at you once you got close.

Refrigerator room doors, sans floors.

Machine room #1

Machine room #2