Friends,
The demolition at the former Pillsbury site continues. Five of the largest manufacturing buildings are now completely down (Grocery, AB-Mill, Turbo, Bulk Storage, C-Mill) and the piles of rubble are being sorted by heavy equipment. In the coming month, a concrete crusher will be brought in to crush and recycle most of the material on-site. The wrecking ball will also be back in operation taking down what remains of the silos. We anticipate that the Bakery Tower and Headhouse will then be demolished in late June or July.
One of the unique aspects of the Pillsbury Project has been the attention given to the historic elements of the site. With the high level of public interest and the use of public funding to advance the project, we felt it was necessary to document the site, the people involved, and the historic importance of the site for the Greater Springfield community. A major element of that documentation has been archival photography.
In late 2022, we contracted with Ben Halpern to begin archival photography. He came to us with significant experience and a mix of old-school and digital photography that was perfectly suited for the job. He began the project with a robust set of digital color photos from throughout the site and just this past month concluded with a tremendous set of 4×5 box camera images that were delivered to the Lincoln Library Sangamon Valley Collection for archive and public viewing.
Attached is a photo of Ben in November of 2022 set to photograph the east wall of Warehouse #4 that was built in 1929. He captured the image just two months before the partially collapsed building was demolished. After careful demolition, we were able to recycle over 500 tons of brick from this building. We also sold over 400 engraved Pillsbury bricks from this original warehouse. So, if you have an engraved Pillsbury brick this is where it lived from 1929 to 2023.
Thank you for being a part of this important community project!
~ Team Pillsbury
