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This sign was the main clue to the former life of this plant. Fatliquor is used in the tanning process.

More urbex shots, because nobody can ever have enough of those. This time it’s an abandoned leather factory in Gloversville that we visited on the 12th. Ever wonder how Gloversville got its name? From the City of Gloversville’s official website: “With the coming of the FJ&G railroad in 1870, Gloversville’s glove industry boomed, and it became known as the glove Capitol of the World, later the industry adopted the slogan “Gloversville Gloves America”, and later the word world was substituted.”

As with most of the industrial sites we visit, as workers’ conditions and regulations improved in the U.S., the industries moved to countries where workers aren’t paid a fair wage and health and environmental impacts aren’t as well regulated. What’s left is economic ruin and a huge eyesore.

There were surprises around every corner here. A junked Mercedes and Lincoln Continental sit in a crumbling garage. The flooded boiler room is under a foot and a half of water (though it’s hard to call it that as it’s obviously contaminated) that seeped in from a holding pond. The main facility is made up of three long buildings with drainage trenches running through the center. Walls and roofs are crumbling; as we climbed up a set of concrete steps one gave way underneath. An anachronistic barn stands ominously outside the site, tucked into the woods. Bizarre, overall.

Check out the slideshow and sebastien.b’s photos too.