Loss: I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2

I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2, Philadelphia, 2006-2007. by The Preservator.

Meet an old friend of mine, the I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2.  Since the early 20th century, this building sat along Richmond Street, facing the Delaware River in the Fishtown neigborhood of Philadelphia. Its early history was spent as a manufacturing facility, creating iron machine parts for the internationally renowned William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company.

Fishtown was a major manufacturing area well into the 20th century.  There, along the Delaware River, Cramp grew into an industrial powerhouse over the course of a century. During the Second World War, Cramp's operations peaked, ultimately employing about 15,000 people (largely Fishtown/Kensington residents) on its 65-acre campus. Cramp shut its doors in 1946.

The long decline of industrial Philadelphia has meant that many large manufacturing facilities remain untouched, while others are demolished. The I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2 was the last vestige of Cramp's once enormous presence in Fishtown. This year, after years of planning, the Machine Shop is being demolished to make way for a new ramp for I-95 intended to handle traffic for the new Sugarhouse Casino a few blocks south.

In 1994 the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission had deemed the building eligible for listing in the State/National Registers of Historic Places. I always liked its raised monitor windows and the railroad tracks leading into the bays suggesting its industrial past. This is all that remained as of Wednesday:

via www.95revive.com

Want more? Peep this:
95 Revive: Cramp Building Coming Down
PlanPhilly: Cramp Shipyard Demo Proceeds
PlanPhilly: How One Shipbuilder Impacted Philadelphia and the World