Within a number of American cities lie the oxidized graves of a forgotten industrial age. These are structures you’ve driven by countless times, but spend little time thinking about. When you do casually glance over, all that registers is the sight of rust, some old signage, and not much movement. Occasionally you allow your mind to wonder about these places,
“What is it?”
“What WAS it?”
“Is it even open anymore?”
“How does someone end up working in a place like that?”
Questions and observations flash through your curious mind, and in today’s world, you are ultimately satisfied by the notion that you can simply Google it later…
It used to be you could ride your boss’s boat within 25 feet of the Battleship New Jersey during Portland’s Rose Festival. Now, you can hardly get a boat within 400 yards of a battleship, and the USS New Jersey is a floating museum outside of Philadelphia. Besides highlighting the progression of national security, this simple story is a friendly reminder that times change, and no one understands this better than Dave Gardner, the Senior Estimator at Thompson Metal Fab. After spending 44 years around the steel industry (including 27 years with Thompson) Dave is retiring at the end of September.
The American Institute of Steel Construction featured some of Thompson Metal Fab’s work—namely the Universal City Station Pedestrian Bridge—in the Structurally Sound section of their monthly publication, Modern Steel Construction, for August 2016.
Click the link to learn more about the finished product!
