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themanpotato t1_j6rlv6n wrote

I always looked forward to passing this place when I was a kid. On the way into the city we’d all search for the giant Sunoco sign by Allegheny and then on the way home in the dark we’d be in wonder at all the steaming pipes and bright lights of the plant. It seemed so mysterious and intimidating.

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LowSleep2566 t1_j6s8ka0 wrote

I was terrified of this place as small child. I would freak out and cry hysterically. My parents would tell me that it was 'the Circus' to try to calm me down.... which only extended my fear towards the Circus. 😂 80's Parenting.

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iverson555 t1_j6t13jn wrote

I work here and this place also makes me cry.

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Rtg327gej t1_j6umr51 wrote

What do you guys produce there?

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iverson555 t1_j6uuir2 wrote

Mostly a chemical called Phenol.. also Acetone

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clickstops t1_j6v838s wrote

It’s amazing how things we take absolutely for granted require these immense manufacturing facilities. Pretty cool.

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themanpotato t1_j6s9tmu wrote

Haha “the circus” makes it even more scary. My dad always told me they made paint there.

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phillyfan488 t1_j6x0fyw wrote

That’s so fucking funny, I always thought the circus was the gas facility off of castor east or Richmond st. The big ol dome with the flame coming out. Same shitty late to my though lol

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SomeOtherOrder t1_j707lc0 wrote

I knew someone who’s parents told them it was Disney World when she was a kid and she fuckin believed them for a bit.

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Full-Wafer357 t1_j6rmyfm wrote

I can smell this image

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CheapBoxOWine t1_j6rs2bd wrote

Is that the toast smell?

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Full-Wafer357 t1_j6rw0qd wrote

The toast smell is the La Colombe roaster warehouse.

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CockercombeTuff t1_j6s2u4f wrote

Is there a plant in Bridesburg as well? The one in Port Richmond is a bit far from this plant.

Also, it smells like burnt popcorn to me, but not as acrid. I've come to really enjoy it on my runs.

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cruzincoyote t1_j6s5qut wrote

The picture is Bridesburg. It's right off Bridge street.

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CockercombeTuff t1_j6scjc0 wrote

I'm aware. Did you see the comment I was responding to? I may have used plant twice, but the context is La Colombe. The person said the toast smell is the La Colombe plant ("roaster warehouse"), which is in Port Richmond and nowhere near smelling distance from this industrial plant.

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mikeygaw t1_j6tiq6y wrote

Ellis Coffee has a plant on Bridge between Richmond and Garden streets.

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enn_sixty_four t1_j6rotpp wrote

"No one lives in the slums because they want to. It's like this train. It can only go where the tracks take it."

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ouralarmclock t1_j6rq23q wrote

Didn’t realize we lived in Midgar!

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CheapBoxOWine t1_j6rs5zh wrote

With the Eagles Green image that was shared last week and this... yeah, we're in Midgar.

Seems there ain't no gettin' offa this train we on.

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licensedtojill t1_j6rttml wrote

Everyone who grows up in bridesburg has asthma too, I swear.

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lordredsnake t1_j6sa042 wrote

Honeywell doesn't exactly have the best track record for containing environmental hazards:

>The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that no corporation has been linked to a greater number of Superfund toxic waste sites than has Honeywell.[184] Honeywell ranks 44th in a list of US corporations most responsible for air pollution, releasing more than 4.25 million kg (9.4 million pounds) of toxins per year into the air.[185]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeywell

And their impact is probably still being underestimated:

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/environment/2020/11/10/honeywell-superfund-lawsuit-nj-over-edgewater-nj-and-hudson-river-contamination/6224306002/

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ewyorksockexchange t1_j6searg wrote

So it’s technically a different company now (AdvanSix), but to your point they spilled 2,000 gallons of phenol last year, some of which possibly entered the city sewer system.

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phillyfan488 t1_j6rsb27 wrote

Remember when they torn down the school right next to it so it didn’t poison anymore kids.

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randompittuser t1_j6ryppo wrote

It just kept poisoning all us kids that went to the boys & girls club.

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KnightMareInc t1_j6sshqr wrote

I was told as a kid the school closed down because of an explosion at the plant. They tore down the school decades later for the 95 expansion.

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licensedtojill t1_j6sq6gx wrote

The charter school in the arsenal??

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phillyfan488 t1_j6x0lxw wrote

Nah, there used to be an old stone school on the east side of state rd under where the highway is now, might still be rubble there from it im Not sure

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licensedtojill t1_j6zfbbv wrote

Oh yeah I remember that school, I thought they tore it down for the 95 expansion tho, hadn’t been in use for at least 30 years.

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Kronos6948 t1_j6s67jg wrote

It'll always be Rohm and Haas to me.

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ADFC t1_j6tuwll wrote

Rohm & Haas sat further back by the bridesburg boys and clubs club and was demolished in the late 2000s.

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Kronos6948 t1_j6tz7t4 wrote

I haven't lived in Bridesburg since the late 90's...I didn't know they knocked it down and rebuilt it.

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ADFC t1_j6u7hdd wrote

This is a separate facility owned by a few companies then Sunoco, then Honeywell, which then spun off into what is now AdvanSix. It's the one immediately adjacent to 95. This plant has been producing phoenol since the 50s and is actually one of the largest phenol producing facilities in the country.

Rohm & Haas sat more back towards the mouth of old Frankford creek on the Delaware and was even more massive. This plant closed in 2009 and the location is currently used to store vehicles. A NY-based developer bought the plot in 2020 but haven't seen any updates since. I used to always mix these up myself.

Not much left of Philly's rich chemical past.

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Sagemasterba t1_j6ujndj wrote

It also has the world's largest cumene oxidizer. Whatever that is. The others kept blowing up lol. That phenol is nasty stuff, it gives permanent scarring burns that make you look like Drax the Destroyer. The in-house guys take these scars almost as an initiation. I swear there are just puddles of leaking benzene all over the place, to the point you need full B gear just to be in the plant. They also have a 0 lightning stand down policy. If I can afford a packet of Ramen I won't take a job in that place.

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Environmental_Web505 t1_j6rt8pw wrote

Looks like Batman should be lurking around here taking out numerous henchmen

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pianomanzano t1_j6tdfhl wrote

Did a co-op here while at Drexel back when this plant was part of Sunoco, my job was to detect leaks at every single valve, joint. Climbed up all the tanks, vessels, and distillation towers to detect for leaks. It was a fun job climbing up and down and everything here, but man was it scary if there was actually a leak anywhere. Phenol is a nasty chemical!

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sgarst t1_j6tlnby wrote

Jealous! Of the climbing, not so much the phenol.

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Sagemasterba t1_j6ukojb wrote

It's not like you think. The amount of safety gear is pretty outrageous. B gear just to be there, plus normal work clothes, sometimes a respirator and always a harness for 100% tie off, but check that because all of the chemicals just eat right thru them. Also all the stuff you are climbing and walking on is dang near rusted through, piping hot, and slippery. F-that place!

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philly_bits t1_j6urpar wrote

Yeah living there when they went isn't fun. Smells kind of like a pool, though I know it's not bleach.

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ewyorksockexchange t1_j6s023e wrote

Shoutout to that poster like 2 years ago who couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t allow him to take a tour of this place like he did at the Dixie cup factory.

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hobby4bkind t1_j6rtpr6 wrote

Love the composition of this! The barbwire in foreground. The wispy clouds. Its a whole thing!!! I too can smell this picture! Good capture brother!

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passing-stranger t1_j6u952f wrote

I always loved passing this as a kid. I even liked the smell (?!) and would roll the windows down to take a deep whiff until my mother said to stop giving myself cancer. Unfortunately she was probably right about that one lol. Sucks growing up and learning the way things are. Honeywell would gladly kill us all if it helps their bottom line

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TellYouWhatitShwas t1_j6um3oh wrote

I've done work there, place is ridiculous. There are steam leaks like space shuttles taking off. Abandoned sections that feel like a picked over post-apocalyptic wasteland. The phenol will burn the pigment right out of your skin.

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SlackerDegree t1_j6uokdc wrote

I have good memories of Community Safety Day here back when it was Allied Chemical. I was too young to remember, but my Aunt came to evacuate us when there was an “incident” and everything outside was covered in a white ash.

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Phooey-Kablooey t1_j6sapzm wrote

Used to call it the Slinky factory as a kid.

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roddomusprime t1_j6tytpa wrote

Whenever I drive non locals by here, I tell them it's a water gun factory. That's why it smells like the inside of a water gun.

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RealPrinceJay t1_j6u15bx wrote

Should be used in the next Batman movie lol

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Ctfwest t1_j6s2vwe wrote

Been a while but back in the 80’s my parents would take us up and done 95 to visit family every other weekend.

That smell. 🤢

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p_britt35 t1_j6ue43z wrote

I can smell this picture.

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saul_weinstien t1_j6xt2l0 wrote

The brain damage caused by the fumes of this place is probably why Bridesburg is filled with MAGA chuds.

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pervysage_1992 t1_j6v9g2o wrote

What's the stuff that this sprays onto us as we drive past it on 95? It kinda smells like chlorine

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TheRealMaxGains t1_j6wfih4 wrote

I went on a date with this girl a while ago. She told me to kiss her where it stinks, so I took her to Bridesburg.

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