Built St. Louis > > The Industrial City | Carondelet > > Carondelet Coke PlantCarondelet CokeN. Grand Avenue, St. LouisA 40 acre complex of buildings, in operation in various capacities since the 1800s, was a site for manufacturing coke for steel production since the 1950s. It has stood abandoned since 1989.Nature has fiercely reclaimed the site in the 15 years of its abandonment, and it has become a popular site for graffitti artists and juveniles of many stripes, as well as a fascinating destination for urban explorers. Ruined buildings and massive abandoned machinery abound, emerging from the trees like an ancient temple in a jungle.Considerable contamination has long made re-use of the riverside site prohibitive. In 2007 plans got underway to demolish everything on the site and construct a new industrial park. Work got about half way through the "demolish everything" par...and little accomplished beyond the destruction of a favorite site among urban explorers.The site is a short distance from the Mississippi River, where a massive ore loading crane once brought coal from barges to the furnaces of the plant.More information and photos at Preservation Research Office.The site in September 2006November 2008, with demolition half-finishedThe coal loader craneGallery: Co-Products BuildingFilled with pipes, ovens, furnaces, boilers, precarious walkways, this building was the site's biggest attractor for the urban explorers and miscellaneous hoodlums who frequented the site.2008 found the Co-Products Building half-demolished and in ruins.Other buildingsCoke OvensSeptember 2006November 2008The site in 2008, with the abortive demolition halted.Bing.com captured a before-and-after aerial view of the site.Continue touring (Industrial + Carondelet) > > >

This 60-acre former industrial site, located at the confluence of the Mississippi and the Des Peres Rivers on the southern border of the City of St. Louis, has been vacant for more than 27 years.The site was first used industrially by Vulcan Iron Company from 1870 to 1896 and was home to the first Bessemer steel works west of the Mississippi. From 1918 to 1950 Laclede Gas Company developed and operated a coke oven/coal gasification and by-product plant. Great Lakes Carbon Corporation purchased the site in 1950 and continued the operation of the coke ovens, building as many as 40 additional coke ovens over their tenure. In 1980 the site was sold to Carondelet Coke Corporation, who closed the plant doors for good in 1987.The site’s valuable location along the river, with river, rail, and highway access was offset by the known and unknown site contamination from years of industrial use. The development of this site would involve the resolution of significant environmental issues, including the following: