I could use some help on this one. That's the very recognizable Jessop Steel structure in the background, but I have no idea when this photo might have been taken or who the workers are. The photo was taken by Washington photographer Charles Rodgers.
7 comments:
Could you blow the picture up a bit? It might be from around the 1930s or early 1940s judging by the dress. Or would it be earlier perhaps?
Looking at the original, you are right about the 1930s or 1940s. We have other photos of construction of the building in the background, but I don't know when that was put up, either.
If you click on the picture, it will produce the image in a browser tab by itself. If you are using firefox, you can hit ctrl and "+" to blow it up to a rather large size... The "locomotive" (The first rail car from the left) has the word "Plymouth" on it... (I think)...
Here is a link to a wikipedia entry on Plymouth Locomotive Works, but the dates don't jive with this being a photo from the 30's or 40's...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Locomotive_Works
Turns out, the Plymouth Locomotive Works was HQ'd in Plymouth, Ohio... which was also home to Plymouth Commercial Motor Truck Company, so perhaps the cars were pulled or pushed by one of those vehicles.
Could that be scrap metal in those hopper cars? I don't believe Jessop Steel operated a blast furnace for pig iron production.
I'm a few years late, but according to my dad and his dad who both retired from there, Jessop used to run their own power house to generator plant electricity.
When I did my two summers there, the power house was just used to operate a giant air compressor, but the remains of some of the generators were there.
It seems likely that this power generating equipment was operated by a coal fired boiler. I'll have to ask my dad to see if he knows.
I checked with my dad, and yes, the powerhouse had coal fired boilers. So, I'd be willing to bet that this picture shows some coal that is destined for those boilers.
And for some extra information about the powerhouse, it generated both AC and DC power for the plant, along with generating compressed air. The DC voltage was used to power some old overhead cranes that ran on DC. Some of the power plant equipment was donated to the national pike steam association.
The plant whistle that the whole town could hear, was at the powerhouse.
Post a Comment