Venice Power Plant, Half Gone

I've been fascinated by the demolition of the Venice Power Plant, which I've covered before in the past.

Unlike a lot of demolitions, which start with the clearing of the interior, the demolition here is proceeding from front to back, revealing the still intact interior spaces before they're torn down.

I know nothing about power plants, other than they burn coal, creating steam that powers a generator; perhaps what those giant funnels do is pour coal down into the boilers.

There are four of them, and there were once four smokestacks, so I presume that is what they are.

There is a whole complex of other outbuildings, which I presume will be torn down as well.

If you or anyone you know worked in this plant, I would love to hear from you.

Venice High School Demolition

I received word that the Venice High School building was being demolished, so I rushed over and got some mediocre pictures of the edifice before further demolition could be accomplished.I know very little about Venice, Illinois, except that it once owned the McKinley Bridge and failed in its efforts to restore the bridge by itself. I drove around Venice for a little while; I have to admit that it has a strange feel to it--almost small town, but yet seems more devastated than parts of North St. Louis. I examined the high school, which is still standing in portions, though the back side of the building is gone. I did not take pictures of this portion of the building, as a car was idling in the back parking lot, and I did not want to risk irritating this stranger by accidentally photographing his car. The high school seems to still project a sense of civic optimism in its refined, streamlined facade, despite the absence of windows and the abundance of plywood.The side closer to St. Louis is by far the most heavily demolished, and is probably mostly gone at this point.Venice once sat on an island, and you can still see the eastern channel in the topography around Venice.