"A Fiery Apocalypse" Utica's Charlestown Blaze
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- Опубліковано 22 жов 2024
- Utica NY-area residents awoke the morning of August 27, 2020 to the smell of smoke. A fire started approximately 01:30 hours that morning at the former Charlestown Outlet Mall located in Utica/Frankfort, NY. The building once housed Savage Arms. The fire burned, on and off, for a few days.
On the early afternoon of Sunday August 30th, my good friend John Ivory droned the site. I accompanied him. The old arms factory looked like something out of WW2 Europe. Thankfully, the buildings were not occupied; the entire structure appears to be a total loss.
Here's a link to a news story: www.cnyhomepag...
Music: "Ride of the Valkyries" (Wagner) UA-cam Audio Library
Wow!!!!! What a view!!!! And yes I've walked there when it was open! So great that you have done this! Again thank you my friend! Please never stop what you do here!!!!
My main comment none of our local news groups gave us this kind of coverage, thank you!
My Dad worked there when it was Savage Arms and we both worked there when it was UNIVAC.
Interesting that it was in two counties. So sad to see old industrial architecture go away like that. The skilled masons and carpenters that built that from a by gone era.
So sad to see a piece of history gone.
Thank You for the Excellent ariel drone footage!
My mom told me about the fire this morning when I was phoning her. I was surprised a fire of this magnitude (5M gal. H20 used to suppress it) never came up on my CNY news feed. Lots of happy little kid and older childhood memories shopping there for back-to-school clothing and also during the holidays while trundling up and down all those narrow hallway floors made from dark oiled - impregnated heavy timber. I also remember going to the OTB Parlor (which was located on the bottom floor) with my grandfather (he loved to play the ponies in retirement) when I was young. As for an indoor Mfr. Outlet Center, Chuck Geatano was a visionary way ahead of his time.
I understand the old Savage Arms (btw where my grandmother worked during WWII while my grandfather was serving in the Army) --- come Sperry UNIVAC manufacturing complex -- come CharlesTowne, had once again began to garner some developer's interest in the property now that the Courts had finally ruled w/in the last year or so that 80% of the entire complex was firmly located in Herkimer County, where property & school taxes are much, much, lower. The current owners of the property should have been more proactive and had F.J. Puglise Pest Control Co. keep up the place-----Those sneaky Mice With Matches will get you every time!....And those nice mice even took care of all those $$ HAZMAT abatement issues before the property even changed hands. How Convenient!
I can remember walking through those hallways when I was a kid when it was Charlestown Mall and again when I used to deliver to North Country Books when I worked for Fedex. Sad to see such a majestic structure as it once was now turned to a pile of rubble.
During it's heyday busses from all over would bring tourists to shop. I enjoyed exploring all the mini shops and food stands. You could get lost for a whole day and not get bored.
@@rickdaystar477 wow Rick I was going to send this to you. This happened on my brother's and 5 year old grand daughter's birthday. Sad to see
@@kevinireland1619 Just read your email and replied. Did you ever visit Charlestown? Wow 2 birthdays on the same day. That's got to be rare.
@@rickdaystar477 I've been through Utica but don't recall Charlestown. Yeah my grand daughters DOB came as a surprise. She was almost 2 weeks overdue.
@@kevinireland1619 lol still up 5 am. I learned from some posters here history of the place. Pretty interesting.
It was a very cool structure, but from what I've seen, it was already beyond salvage prior to the fire.
Hate to say it, but I think this was purposeful arson, to get the actual funds to tear it down finally.
@@mistressaya I hate to be cynical but that's the first thought that came to mind.
@@rickdaystar477 same. Even our local congressman is trying to get federal funds to tear it down now.
ct e@@mistressaya
I visited it in January of this year and I would have to agree with you there. It would have costed in the millions to fix and repair the damages that came after it got left abandoned.
At 1:20 did anyone notice the train off in the distance?
Yes, of course! It was on the CSX main.
Good pick, when I first saw it I thought it was a lot of semi-trailers tailgating on the main road, when you made me aware of the position I took another really good look, and realized, yeah it is a train, and what I thought were pan-techs were in actual fact containers on flat cars. I claim age (70) for my slowness of perception.
Awesome views. Probably haven't been in there since the very early 1990s. And you're right--it does have a post WW2 European vibe to it.
It looks like Bremen after the firebombing by the Allies.
Isn't it interesting that those trees, especially that one tall pine, appear to have survived the intensity of that fire? Perhaps the brick structures direct most heat and flame upwards. A testament to it's original construction.
I noticed that as well! Too bad the tall pine, having survived the fire, will likely no longer stand following the demolition.
The fact that I could smell the smoke everywhere in my house and in my neighborhood was very surprising. I live a streets down from Charles town and it’s sad to see it get more damaged
thank you for covering this
I wasn't aware that the place burned. As a kid I remember shopping there. As an adult I spent a lot of time working there on phone systems for Riverside School of Aeronautics.
For those that didn't recognize it, the music is the same as that used in "Apocalypse Now" for when all the helicopters were flying in. It's a little ironic that one of the famous quotes from the movie was “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” :-)
I like that shot at 1:17. You got the train in the distance with the locos going under the cantilever signals
Another legendary place gone.. Insurance fraud is a bitch. Saw it coming though.
Nice shots dude
I'm from Utica but visited during the years Charlestown was at its peak. Other than that I don't know why such a booming busy seemingly successful place would close. Could someone tell me about that? I'd like to know how it ended up in ruins. Thanks
It's pretty simple really. 1.) Charlestown as an indoor Mfr Outlet Store shopping center was done in by its own success. That's the problem with many things when they are the 1st of their kind and their concept is ahead of its time. 2.) The location of Charlestown itself was not in any garden spot in the city or Central New York by a long shot and 3.) The city of Utica itself really began to slide quite rapidly downhill into the whole NE economic Rustbelt sewer beginning in ernest in the late 1970's and continuing throughout the entire 1980's and 1990's.
Again, Utica itself is no garden spot on the map, and the total economic devastation, urban decay , and shift of the economy to more prominent cities and locals out of state and/or into the surrounding suburbs during this time all contributed to Charlestown becoming just another victim of an unsustainable model (in the long term) of urban re-use / re-development in Upstate NY.
@@macsdaddy3383 Thanks for the explanation. So essentially Charlestown got sucked down the black economic hole the city and state went down. It could not itself sustain viability. I remember General Electric Radio Receiver Division on Broad Street and the people that lost good jobs when it closed. That was a huge blow to Utica. My mother told me years ago Utica had textile mills and manufactured clothing and fabrics but the whole industry went south for cheaper labor and more favorable tax advantages than NY. Geeze how far back do we go? The first Woolworths was in Utica. Didn't Univac make the first data processor machines in Utica? We definitely have quite a history.
@@rickdaystar477 Savage Arms made all of the 1928 and 1928A1 Thompson machine guns during WWII. A Utica company called Rogers and Spencer made what was considered to be the best revolver at the end of the Civil War. Utica Cutlery made bayonets, fighting knives, and eating utensils. Bossert Manufacturing Corporation stamped out WWI Doughboy helmets and during WWII made shell cases and oxygen tanks for airplanes. A.E. Company made officer insignia. There's a lot of history in that town. Too bad it has gone down hill.
My mother worked at Radio Receiver and my father worked at Chicago Pneumatic.
@@ronbednarczyk2497 That's a pretty impressive list of industry in Utica. I didn't know about the Thompson's being made in Utica. As a kid I heard the name Bosserts but didn't know anything about it. This is bringing back memories of going to the Utica Cutlery outlet store and buying knives for our kitchen with my father. After the war he worked at a mattress factory and later at International Heater which I think was on Broad Street somewhere. There was a place he used to go for lunch called " Spaghetti Joe's"? Down in that area. Lots of history being brought up in my memory I had forgotten. I remember as a teenager before GE left there were neighborhood pubs on almost every corner.
@@ronbednarczyk2497 My senior year at UFA 1969 I would get out of school at 3:15 and start my shift at White Tower downtown from 4 to 12. I worked there for a year. One night the Clinton Comets bus pulled up after a game at the War Memorial in Utica to get hamburgers. It seems during the hockey game the bench was cleared in a big fight. The visiting team saw the Comets bus as they were leaving town and pulled up to confront the Comet players. It was a huge brawl in White Tower and outside. Working nights downtown was an education for an 18 year old. Sometimes we would get orders for hamburgers for the city jail. We had a phone with no dial you pick it up and it would ring the desk Sgt at Utica PD. We used it for trouble and they rang us up for food. I thought you would be amused with this little bit of personal history of mine in Utica.
Sad
Was that a pond or pool in the middle of the complex, or simply runoff from the firefighting?
That was a pond!
Last I knew there were some giant koi in that pond.
@@BradKempeny last I heard all the koi were dead a couple years ago. :/
There was a cat colony and homeless people who called it home though.
Sad to see a piece of history destroyed.
I live about 2 miles from there, and had to close all my windows because all I could smell was smoke and burning plastic (and I'm sure asbestos.) The entire neighborhood looked like Silent Hill even 24 hours after.
asbestos doesn't burn
@@dzlf2504 good to know. There was a definite burnt plastic funk to the smoke though.
What caused the fire ?
I hope this wasn't intentional.
That was a set deal. No way that started by an accidental. Sad.
Why Dwight why?
That's next to my step father's work place
Do they know what caused it?
Probably arson. The owner of the property wanted to tear it down but was blocked due to it being located within two counties, Onieda and Herkimer.
@@mistressaya I wonder did two county fire districts respond?
@@rickdaystar477 three fire departments responded, at least. Utica, Frankfort and Whitesboro. Utica called for an assist minutes after the initial fire call.
Whitesboro even responded to a huge fire up in Boonville earlier this year.
@@mistressaya Thanks for the response. I appreciate it.
mistressaya From what I have read, demolition was blocked because of unremediated asbestos and potentially other hazardous materials.
Well that will fix it's tax problems.
I had to come.to.you tube to find better news from uticA go figure
Good riddance to the remnants of Savage Arms! Knock it all down. Out with the old and in with the new. I wish they would knock down the old mills at State & Court and Stark & Court too. They are both eyesores leftover from Utica's Erie Canal heyday. Great video!
yes, knock it all down and replace them all with some concrete monstrosity! That's the kind of attitude that prevailed in the 1960s and 70s, and look what a nightmare that resulted in
You mean the old mill at State St and Court that has a lot of revenue generating businesses and high end loft apartments? Yeah, what an eyesore.
The Mill there at Court and Stark Streets is getting a big rehab into apartments instead of shipping the rubble off to a landfill if they were torn down. www.wktv.com/content/news/Renovation-work-beginning-soon-on-the-former-Globe-Mill-Building-in-West-Utica-508415461.html
And how Charlestown ended up in ruins was once it closed, the City of Utica essentially turned a blind eye if you ask me. It was let to deteriorate until it was pretty much unusable.