Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Abandoned building at 425 West Chanslorway
This is a lonely abandoned building near where the railroad track used to be, and north of the R&R Mini Mart. I couldn't figure out what the building functioned for exactly, but I found details relating to it.
In the December 26, 1957 PVVT issue, it features the opening of a chemical fertilizer blending plant owned by Arical Co. and built by Robert Bruce, Inc. (In a 1987 Santa Fe Railway CLIC Book, the rail siding for or near the facility is for "Agri-Cal") It's said to be the first of its kind built in the area, and the materials for the fertilizers were shipped in by rail. The picture shows a portion of the currently abandoned building in question, and a series of chutes, hoppers, and bins (or whatever they are) with two towers, one or both them taller than that building, and what looks like a transportation belt behind the tall tower. The plant could reduce the prices of dry fertilizer for the local farmers by $6 to $9 a ton. The address is said to be 425 West Chanslorway, but it was at least shared with a business called Clarter's Glenda Pet Grooming, according to an internet search.
As of May 1961, the area with the chutes, hoppers, and bins was either covered or replaced
with a building extension of the now-abandoned building. The site of R&R was still inhabited by large trees.
The area north of Chanslorway and around the railroad line was still home to a series of industrial
businesses. In thirty-five years later (June 1996) most buildings were still there, and probably
still had use, but the building appeared to have no more extensions. In May 2002 the area
appeared to look abandoned, some buildings already lost. But by August 2006 the abandoned
building that stands as of ten years later became the lonely remnant of this industrial zone of
Blythe. (USGS and Google Earth aerial views) There are still a couple of industries south
of Chanslorway. In May 2015 according to a Facebook group, there was a fire in the building,
and sometime more recently, vegetation nearby were eliminated.
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