Carbide Graphite Group

It's simply an industrial wasteland.

This best describes what we found at the site of the former Carbide/Graphite Group, Inc. The plant — located in Niagara Falls, NY — was in the process of being demolished.

Following poor market conditions and past legal troubles, the plant was shut down in 2002.

Primarily, the company made massive graphite electrodes (conductors through which an electric current can pass, commonly used to heat electric arc furnaces used in the steel-making process). Whether this was the purpose of this plant or not is unclear.

The company also produced other products related to the process.

The site was a 30 acre landscape of asphalt. Administration buildings edged against Packard Road to the north. The remains of industrial equipment sprawled across the rest of the site. When we arrived, huge containers (abandoned equipment?) were strewn about, filled with steel, concrete and other debris.

In the time since these photos were taken, demolition has progressed. Satellite images show a site with more resemblance to a war zone than an industrial plant.