I had my camera in the truck today, and decided to try to get some dusk pictures before it got too dark to need my tripod. I had some decent shots, but didn't have time to get everything I wanted. I'm fairly satisfied with what I got though. If anyone wants/needs more information on this location I'll try to dig up some dirt on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great pics, I remember be fasinated by this place as a child, but I haven't been back in years, we never seem to ride that certain part of the trail.

 

Is there still a guardhouse/tower across the bike trail in the woods?

There was a thread about this place a couple of years ago. I can't remember who posted it.

Creepy!

Is there still a guardhouse/tower across the bike trail in the woods?

 

I'm sure it's all still there somewhere. It's quite overgrown though and I was trying to beat dusk. I didn't have my tripod with me and snapped as many pictures as I could get off clearly before it got too dark. I'll go back sometime earlier in the day and poke around a little more.

Very nice.

 

Forgotten Ohio (forgottenoh.com) has some great pictures too.

 

An architecture class at Miami did some studies on renovation/reuse ideas too.

Very nice.

 

Forgotten Ohio (forgottenoh.com) has some great pictures too.

 

An architecture class at Miami did some studies on renovation/reuse ideas too.

 

Indeed. I visit forgottenoh from time to time. I love some of their pictures. I would love to get some similar ones but I'm not brave enough to venture inside the actual building due to legal issues. I don't have a problem walking around the actual compound though.

 

I haven't met a police officer yet who would do more than asking you to leave from a certain area, as long as you've you a belivable story. Sometimes they look at me with a strange expression when I'm carrying a camera and tripod around, but only because I just turned 22, wear a ball cap, and have a lot of tattoos. It seems as if I don't fit the ballcap/tattoo stereotype.  :lol: :lol:

 

As for the renovation of the site, the last I heard, there were plans on the table that would transform the building into loft apartments. It's been a long time since I've heard anything though and I can't site my source to confirm that my facts are even correct. All I know is that with some landscaping and tree removal, the view from the building to the Little Miami River would definately be a good one.

Turning it into apartments would certainly require extensive work, and you'd think there would be environmental issues that might prevent that. The brick portions of the buildings are my favorite, I'd like to see them preserved somehow.

 

If not, perhaps demolishion of the complex for a park centered around the old tower would be cool, although cost prohibitive.

 

This makes me miss Mosler's tower, it was gone before my time, and not that tall, but certainly as detailed and depressing to have lost.  Was it still around in your time BallHatGuy?

Ink:  In my day there was a tower (at Mosler) but it had been altered.  I don't rememeber it being this tall.  I'll have to see if I can find some photos from the '70's - '90's but here is what it looked like originally -

 

An architect friend indicated that one of the main problems with Peters is environmental with extensive lead contamination.  To clean up the site makes it almost cost prohibitive.  Tearing down everything except maybe the tower like Ink said may be a viable option but still expensive with testing, soil remediation, etc.

Here's what I know:

 

The site has always had a reputation for being a partying hangout and has always been considered pretty dangerous.

 

I lived in Dayton when I was in high school and I drove my dad's car down there one night with some friends to check it out. I recall hearing something hit the roof of the car when I approached the overpass thing on Grandin Road. Apparently some a$$hole in the building threw a rock at the car and it made a very deep, sharp dent in the roof. I disclaimed any knowledge but my dad was pissed! I imagine that the building was a base for gang activity and lots of petty crime. There is kind of a white trash/lowlife element around Warren County and that seems to be one of their "power centers".

 

A couple of years ago I was looking for office space and I saw an ad online for extra space from the guy in the building who makes whistles: http://www.tinwhistles.us/jubilee.htm so I drove down there to check it out. The space was extremely cheap, something like 500 SF, for $300/mo or so, but basically it was a damp concrete-cave type space, and was utterly unfinished and really nasty. I mean, like suspended ceiling that was half torn down, and grossly stained carpet. It would be OK for light industrial or a craft shop, but I needed office space and passed on it.  On this visit I chatted with an older fellow who was a watchman for the property. He fed something like 20 different stray cats that were hanging around the parking area. He told me that the foundation of the building (the footers) go down 12 feet, and thus nobody has been interested so far in funding the tear-down of the buildings.

 

Oh, and during the daylight hours, I went hiking down there in 1976 or so with a friend along the railroad tracks (now replaced with the bike trail) and I took pictures of these disc shaped metal signs from the 1940s that used to be on the tower that advertised the NBC radio network. It was evidently a wartime advertising thing. (I believe that image #12 from the top, above, shows a badly rusted remaining sign where some of the NBC art is barely visible through the rust.) I need to scan those pictures and post them...