Master Mix Feeds

Master Mix Feeds, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A classically grungy image for this week's Through the Viewfinder Tuesday. This is the abandoned grain elevator in tiny Arlington, Illinois. A very interesting structure, full of interesting textures and signage.

Supersweet Feeds

Supersweet Feeds, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

We've returned to the tiny town of Arlington, Illinois, to the elegantly crumbling grain elevator by the Burlington tracks. Several ghost signs in one shot-Supersweet Feeds, the famous red-and-blue CO-OP rings (not really a ghost, I guess!), and the Arlington Grain Company's logo itself. And, it's hard to see here, but the AGC's logo was painted on a couple of different ways.

Dust, fuzziness, grit, and general attitude thanks to the faithful Spartus Full-Vue.

Through the Viewfinder Tuesday!

Master Mix Feeds, originally uploaded by William 74.

We return to Arlington for this week's return of Through the Viewfinder Tuesday. I can't say a whole lot more about this building, or the town of Arlington, that I didn't say here last week. So I'll just let this shot of the Master Mix sign speak for itself.

Arlington

Arlington Grain Co., originally uploaded by William 74.

Arlington is a very small, somewhat remote town in rural Illinois. With a population of something less than 200, it is typical of the many tiny, almost gone towns that dot the American Midwest.

It wasn't always like this. Originally called Lost Grove, Arlington grew rapidly in the early twentieth century, with plenty of new residents who worked the coal mines of this part of Illinois. Several businesses set up shop as well, including a brewery and several restaurants. However, the Cherry Mine Disaster of 1909, which killed over 200 miners, put a damper on the mining business, and on Arlington's growth as well.



Arlington held it's own until after World War Two, when a tornado in 1950 destroyed most of the town. Many residents moved away at this time, the businesses shut down, and slowly the town started to shrink. Most of the homes have been given over to fields again (you can still find foundations out in them), and the downtown has a few buildings and a restaurant.

A block away, by the Burlington tracks, is the former Arlington Grain Company elevator. It's abandoned now, and slowly shedding it's steel siding, and an interior floor has collapsed into the basement. But still it stands, the tallest building on the landscape, the skyscraper of the prairie.