Abandonment Issues: Firestone Tire Factory

On a freezing cold bitter day in February 2011, after visiting the Westinghouse Boiler Room, and a failed attempt to bribe the security guard at Rheem, Ninja and I spent 7 or 8 frozen hours exploring the long abandoned Firestone Tire Factory in Hamilton, Ontario.



The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Canada built the tire manufacturing plant on 40 acres of re-claimed harbour land in 1921. Twelve expansions had taken place by 1983, growing the facility to a massive 800,000 square feet. By 1987 however, Firestone was drowning in debt, losing upwards of $250 million per year. The company began liquidating assets to stay afloat, and in 1988, The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Canada was purchased by Bridgestone, which successfully and quickly revitalized the brand. This marked the end of Firestone tire manufacturing in Hamilton, as the massive plant was closed and abandoned. In 1990, "The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company" and "Bridgestone Tire Company Ltd USA" were amalgamated and became "Bridgestone Firestone North American Holdings Ltd".

Since 1988, the Firestone plant had been left to rot and decay. At the time of our visit, 23 years later, this decay was very extensive. Paint chips were peeling and falling to the floor, and large holes had formed in portions of the floor. The 40 foot deep basement had flooded with 25 feet of water, creating a 250,000 square foot lake. The lake was not a result of precipitation, but rather formed by groundwater seeping in from Lake Ontario.

In December of 2011, the City of Hamilton, which took ownership of the land in 2001, began the primary stages of demolishing the plant. The first stage was asbestos removal. The City of Hamilton cited urban explorers as the primary reason for the demolition, claiming a parade of urban explorers trespassing and publicly promoting trespassing at the site had become a major liability, including those that had boasted of traversing the basement lake in rubber dinghies. The escalating value of the prime real estate in Hamilton's industrial harbour was another factor, one would assume. In January, 2012, the demolition began, and by the end of April of 2012, a crew of twelve men using eight excavators had demolished the Firestone Tire Factory.

















































































The Firestone Tire Factory was a favorite location of many Ontario based explorers, and it will be missed.

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Abandonment Issues: Westinghouse Boiler Room

On a freezing cold day in mid February of 2011, Ninja IX and I paid our first visit to the Westinghouse Boiler Room in Hamilton, Ontario. With bitter winds on our frozen faces, and a trail of footprints behind us in the snow, we approached the building to the rear of an active factory. Gaining entry was easy, and a collective sigh of relief was exhaled once inside. We were excited not only to have gotten in, but to be out of the elements in the bone chilling, spine tingling, freezing cold weather outside. At first, we were disappointed with the size of the building, as it was much smaller than we had anticipated. But the contents and colour inside this small building more than made up for what it lacked in size. We made quick work of photographing the buildings interior, spending less than a half an hour inside, and then continued on with our journey to our primary destination of the day: the Firestone Tire Factory.

Last weekend, the Westinghouse Boiler Room was the third of five locations visited on the East Meets West Tour with fellow explorers dallas, doom vs. and rockandrollfreak.

The four of us followed the path where mine and Ninja's footprints were buried in snow 18 months prior. With the hot summer sun beaming down on us in the thick humid air, we wiped sweat from our brows.

Once inside, we quickly scattered, and then came back together for some group photography courtesy of rockandrollfreak.


(Photo credit: rockandrollfreak)


(Photo credit: rockandrollfreak)


(Photo credit: rockandrollfreak) 

Again, we scattered. We took turns ascending the catwalk to the upper level and moved about fluently through each area individually capturing our desired images. We sporadically huddled into a group around specific objects and conversed, and then dispersed yet again. This process repeated itself a few times. Having previously visited this location, the sense of discovery wasn't as strong as it once was, but it was interesting to watch doom vs. move about with a childlike excitement that usually fills me up the first time at a new location. One thing became obvious to me here, proving my initial hunch to be correct, and that is that rockandrollfreak and doom vs. are similar to me in the sense that they are passionate and excited about exploring, and they love it like I do. This thought brought a smile to my face.

According to rockandrollfreak, the Westinghouse Boiler Room sent steam through an underground network of pipes and tunnels to heat the 1 million square foot factory. Originally, it was coal fired, but was eventually converted to burn gas and also became automated, at which time 30 employees were let go, as their jobs became redundant.

This collection of images is representative of both visits, separated by a time frame of 18 months.






















































































Covered in dirt, we hopped back into the car, and continued on our journey. Several hours later, we were wrapping up the East Meets West Tour at the former home of Esther Lee, where we uncovered a treasure trove of personal memorabilia filled with history and memories.

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