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723 online
Server Time:
2024-05-07 04:02:59
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 hokoglowko
Location: Wisconsin
Gender: Male
 |  | Mirro plant
< on 9/8/2009 1:51 AM >
|  | | | Mirro Company manufactured aluminum products - cookware in particular - for over 100 years in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. In 2003 Mirro moved its operation to Mexico, completely abandoning Manitowoc. Several plants were left behind. The plant featured here takes up a whole city block, or seven acres, in downtown Manitowoc. It appears the plant was not constructed all at once; the height ranges anywhere from two to seven stories.
This facility served, in addition to manufacturing, as Mirro's headquarters. It has been abandoned since 2003. The building's ownership has changed hands once or twice since Mirro's departure, but no one knows what will become of the structure.
Due to the plant's high visibility, locked doors, and barred windows, it is impossible to enter the building without getting permission or B&E. I was able to take photos of the basement through broken windows around the perimeter of the building.
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JohnInMi
  
| | Re: Mirro plant
<Reply # 1 on 9/8/2009 2:31 AM >
| | | | The photos were grand, but don't you hate these U.S. companies that 'off shore' their work and lay off good American employees ??
If we had any kind of competent and right thinking political system in this once great country of ours, such actions would be FORBIDDEN by law. Moreover, those who terminated the jobs of U.S. workers would be expressly forbidden from doing any sort of business in this country until they re-employed our people! Better still, forbid the 'free trade' corporate types from even LIVING within the borders of America until they change their way of doing business and bring the jobs back here where they are so desperately needed.
Yeah, I know, that was a bit 'political' for a U.E. board, but truth be told, it felt GOOD to say it! 
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ToXiC
  
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Gender: Male
Original Jackassary.
| |  |  |  | Re: Mirro plant
<Reply # 2 on 9/8/2009 4:05 AM >
| | | | Posted by JohnInMi
The photos were grand, but don't you hate these U.S. companies that 'off shore' their work and lay off good American employees ??
If we had any kind of competent and right thinking political system in this once great country of ours, such actions would be FORBIDDEN by law. Moreover, those who terminated the jobs of U.S. workers would be expressly forbidden from doing any sort of business in this country until they re-employed our people! Better still, forbid the 'free trade' corporate types from even LIVING within the borders of America until they change their way of doing business and bring the jobs back here where they are so desperately needed.
Yeah, I know, that was a bit 'political' for a U.E. board, but truth be told, it felt GOOD to say it!
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Completely Agree.
Savage Hooligan |
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hokoglowko
Location: Wisconsin
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mirro plant
<Reply # 4 on 9/8/2009 11:22 PM >
| | | | It was a major blow to the local economy when Mirro closed up shop and left. This had been a major employer in the area for several generations, and many of the workers that were let go had worked there for their entire adult lives.
Notice the tattered American flag on the top of the building in one of the photos - actually most of the flag is missing. Not only were American workers abandoned, but Old Glory herself was left hanging.
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Clockwork
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Gender: Male
I WILL KILL THIS MONKEY! I'M CRAZY!
| | | Re: Mirro plant
<Reply # 5 on 9/9/2009 2:28 AM >
| | | | Posted by junkyard
I wouldn't mind living abroad.
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I wouldn't mind having a broad.
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ToXiC
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Gender: Male
Original Jackassary.
| | | | | Re: Mirro plant
<Reply # 6 on 9/9/2009 7:33 AM >
| | | | Posted by hokoglowko
Notice the tattered American flag on the top of the building in one of the photos - actually most of the flag is missing. Not only were American workers abandoned, but Old Glory herself was left hanging.
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Thats the new, corporate, way of the American Dream.
Our country or more fucked than the Sudan Area...
Savage Hooligan |
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hokoglowko
Location: Wisconsin
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mirro plant
<Reply # 8 on 9/15/2009 3:22 AM >
| | | |
I read your story and after doing some research I can't say for sure if Mirro manufactured your teapots or not. I'll let you know if I find out for sure. Enjoyed your story, though.
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Max Wasteland
Location: wasteland wandering
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Mirro plant
<Reply # 9 on 9/15/2009 8:15 PM >
| | | | It is - one of them is stamped with Mirro on the bottom.
ruling the ruins |
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Glass
  
Location: Chicago
as one does
| | | Re: Mirro plant
<Reply # 11 on 9/29/2009 4:57 AM >
| | | | Posted by junkyard
Cause Teapots Happen.
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Beat me to it
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Babushka
Location: Minnesota
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mirro plant
<Reply # 12 on 10/5/2009 1:54 AM >
| | | | Very cool looking place you found there!
Too bad you weren't able to find a way inside of the building. I would never go as far to say a place is impossible to enter, just check back at the building frequently, you never know when an entrance might become available.
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hokoglowko
Location: Wisconsin
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mirro plant
<Reply # 13 on 10/16/2009 4:12 AM >
| | | | The local paper, the Herald Times Reporter, published nine photos of the building, along with captions, in the October 15, 2009 edition. The mayor is trying to get stimulus funding for the building's demolition. The heading in the paper read "Washington Street Mirro Building in Ruins." There was no article, just the photos and captions.
I was hoping the photos would be interior shots from a photographer who had permission for access, but unfortunately the photos were only taken through broken windows, just like the ones I took last month. I am posting the nine shots more for the info that the captions provide than for the photos themselves.
On October 16, 2009, the HTR published a story about the Mirro building. It is copied and pasted below the photos.
Former Mirro building's owner fined
Mayor seeks funds to pay for $5.5 million demolition
MANITOWOC — The seven-story former Mirro building remains empty in the middle of downtown, with the exception of asbestos clinging to its structure and debris and broken window glass strewn across its 900,000 square feet of floors.
But the recent actions of local and state governments are at least getting decision-makers inside the bedraggled building, if only to see its decrepitude.
As Environmental Protection Agency representatives take ground samples of the property on which the building stands, Mayor Justin Nickels is saying he expects two officials from Gov. Jim Doyle's office to make a trip to Manitowoc to see the building within days.
And Fire Chief Bill Manis at the beginning of this week issued two $500 fines to the property owner, Eric Spirtas of St. Louis, for violations under the city's new, tougher fire code. The citations were for out of service fire protection risers, which carry water to sprinkler heads.
Because the building is privately owned, the city is not obligated to do anything remedial.
"But it's a big enough safety concern on my part that we need to take action," Nickels said.
Spirtas said he is constantly working to correct any safety issues as soon as he hears about them. Spirtas bought the property for $200 in June 2006 and pays about $5 annually in property taxes.
The Mirro building, which stands on the 4-acre site bound by 15th, 16th, Washington and Franklin streets, has stood empty since the Mirro Company moved out of town in 2003.
"The building is colossal," Spirtas said. "It has what I call aging pains that need to be addressed. And in every case, we're going to do everything in our power to address issues, timely, effectively, efficiently.
Manis said Spirtas was hard to get a hold of during the summer, but in the past 20 days the two have been in contact hoping to find appropriate remedies, however minimal they might be. Work on repairing some of the building's windows took place on Thursday, Nickels said.
"Just in the last year, I've fixed 500 windows," Spirtas said. "We're constantly replacing windows, and they don't spontaneously combust."
The fire department also has asked Spirtas to remove all the combustibles in the building. Manis said those combustibles have since been moved to the first floor and are in piles awaiting disposal.
Officials have estimated that it would cost $5.5 million to demolish the building — $3 million to dispose of contaminants and $2.5 million to actually knock down the structure.
"Demolition is a fantastic option based on today's economic time, the current standard in the real estate industry and based on the limits of options," Spirtas said.
But Nickels has said that is a cost neither the city nor Spirtas can absorb, and Nickels is seeking state or federal funds to assist with the project. He said the city will apply for a grant today.
"I am looking for anything and everything, mostly through the stimulus money," Nickels said.
Nickels said he contacted the governor's office about two weeks ago hoping to invite Doyle to walk through the Mirro building. He did not reach Doyle, but he did contact two of Doyle's assistants.
Seeking leftover stimulus funds from the state, Nickels said he will explain to them the environmental and safety problems the dilapidated building presents.
"That's what I'm trying to pitch them," Nickels said. "It's an environmental concern, it's a huge safety concern, and it's a concern for the neighbors."
The $1,000 charge to Spirtas for fire code violations came only a week after the City Council approved a stricter fire code with higher fines for certain violations.
"A lot of times, when these people come in from out of town and buy these big buildings or whatever, the fine that they have to pay to keep the building is minimal," Nickels said. "And they can just pay it and forget about it. This is a little more strict and to the point."
City officials changed the code because they saw a "deficiency" in lenient fines against property owners who were not taking care of their buildings. The new code allows the city to make a point, Nickels said.
Police Chief Tony Dick said during the past several months police have been able "to put an end to" people staying overnight in the building, but that problem could recur as cold weather approaches.
The main concern right now, Dick said, is children getting into the building, where there is a higher possibility of getting hurt. And when they get hurt, then emergency response teams have to enter the building and risk injury.
Dick said, however, that he is "comfortable" that the property owner is taking the appropriate steps to secure the building. It also helps that the building is in a high-traffic area, with police squads and community members keeping an eye on it.
But when police do get a call, Dick said searching the large building is very time-consuming.
"The inside of that building is a very dangerous place," Dick said. "We don't want young people or anyone in there. They should steer clear."
[last edit 10/16/2009 9:56 PM by hokoglowko - edited 1 times]
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