Some new photos from Fort Wayne

[Ko.Fe.]

I'm finding it interesting and educative.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

George DeWeese is the owner of DeWeese Appliances, an appliance store in the small town of Warren, Indiana. He is sitting at his desk in the back of the store, surrounded by family photos, artwork made by his grandchildren, and religious signs.

George is a deeply religious man; his company's trucks, advertisements, and his business cards all feature the slogan: "Troubled? Try Prayer!" He told me that he sees himself as simply the caretaker of the business, since Christ is the real owner of everything in the world. He didn't believe that making money should be the main focus of business; helping others and being a force for good in the community was more important.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Last week, I was able to go back to the former General Electric factory complex in Fort Wayne to photograph it a second time. I made about 20 more more photographs, to add to those I shot back in April. This is the first of the second series of photos.

This is Building 31, an office building on Swinney Avenue, next to the GE Club building.

If you want to see the earlier photos and read the story of the GE factory in Fort Wayne without going back through my old posts here, you can see them on my website:

http://chriscrawfordphoto.com/chris-results.php?category=110

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This gymnasium is in the GE Club building at the former General Electric factory complex on Broadway, just south of downtown, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

I made this photograph during a tour organized by the developers who hope to transform the old factory into a residential and retail complex to be called Electric Works.

The tour began in the GE Club gym, where this large sign featuring renderings of how the completed project will look was on display.

The GE Club was built in 1927, and included both a basketball court and a bowling alley for General Electric's Fort Wayne employees to use.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This storage space is under the stadium-style spectator seating in the GE Club gymnasium.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is the front of the GE Club building at the former General Electric factory in Fort Wayne. It was built in 1927 as a recreation center for GE employees and contains a basketball gym and a bowling alley.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The sign on the GE Club building at the former General Electric factory complex in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The bowling alley in the basement of the GE Club building at the former General Electric factory complex in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The GE Club is on Swinney Avenue, next to the office building.

The GE Club was built in 1927, and included both a basketball court and a bowling alley for General Electric's Fort Wayne employees to use. GE closed the last of their operations in Fort Wayne at the beginning of 2015. The former factory complex is being redeveloped into a housing and retail center to be called "Electric Works."

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Racks of bowling balls in a storage room next to the bowling alley int the GE Club at the former General Electric factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

There were several bowling balls an bowling bags left behind in the GE Club by workers at the General Electric factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana. One of the bags in this photograph has the name of its owner, Bob Fisher, written on it!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

These signs, some of them handwritten, were taped to a wall in Building 22 at the former General Electric factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They contained technical info for the machinery used to manufacture electrical transformers.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is one of the entrances to Building 26, where electric motors were built at the former General Electric factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

 

[Muggins]

Chris - if you'd rather this wasn't on your thread, please ask a moderator to remove it (I'd say PM me, but I read far more often than I sign in, so it might hang around for weeks before I see the message).

I know that European members, especially English ones, here have often commented on how many people in the USA fly the Stars and Stripes. On this side of the pond we are much more reluctant to fly our flags but every now and then the English go a little silly. Here's an example from just down the road from me today - the reason is the football (soccer) world cup which, inexplicably, England are doing quite well in this time around.

Adrian

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Chris - if you'd rather this wasn't on your thread, please ask a moderator to remove it (I'd say PM me, but I read far more often than I sign in, so it might hang around for weeks before I see the message).

I know that European members, especially English ones, here have often commented on how many people in the USA fly the Stars and Stripes. On this side of the pond we are much more reluctant to fly our flags but every now and then the English go a little silly. Here's an example from just down the road from me today - the reason is the football (soccer) world cup which, inexplicably, England are doing quite well in this time around.

Adrian

I've seen a lot of photos in the UK showing people waving the Union Jack, but the flag of England seems to be much less commonly seen.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Several construction workers' hardhats lay in the stairs just inside one of the entrances to Building 26 in the former General Electric factory complex on Broadway in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

GE closed the last of their operations in Fort Wayne at the beginning of 2015. The former factory complex is being redeveloped into a housing and retail center to be called "Electric Works."

 

[Muggins]

I've seen a lot of photos in the UK showing people waving the Union Jack, but the flag of England seems to be much less commonly seen.

Unfortunately it tends to be associated with the far right - though churches seem to be able to fly it from their towers without anyone assuming they are nazis - unless there's a mass outbreak of sporting fervour. Football (soccer) world cups are the main exceptions.

I do like the hard hat photo, by the way.

Adrian

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A factory floor inside Building 26 at the former General Electric factory complex on Broadway in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Each floor of this five story building consisted of vast spaces like this one that were once filled with machinery and workers.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Every time I check this page, I see something new.

 

[Contarama]

Every time I check this page, I see something new.

Ive been watching it for a long time. Its strong.

 

[dmr]

Ive been watching it for a long time. Its strong.

One of the must-read threads here. Thanks to Chris for keeping it up! 🙂