U.S. Gypsum Factory, Southwest Philadelphia, 2006 (12 images)

The 1920s was a period of rapid growth for the United States Gypsum Company, who constructed several new facilities throughout the country. In 1929, they began building a plant in southwest Philadelphia on land formerly owned by the Gulf Oil Company.

Bordered on the north by 56th St, the south by Gulf Oil, and the west by the Philadelphia and Reading Railway (which provided rail service), the plant appeared to rely on the Schuylkill River for delivery of inbound raw materials....
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The 1920s was a period of rapid growth for the United States Gypsum Company, who constructed several new facilities throughout the country. In 1929, they began building a plant in southwest Philadelphia on land formerly owned by the Gulf Oil Company.

Bordered on the north by 56th St, the south by Gulf Oil, and the west by the Philadelphia and Reading Railway (which provided rail service), the plant appeared to rely on the Schuylkill River for delivery of inbound raw materials. The plant was originally configured to produce Sheetrock, the company's name for gypsum wallboard, and gypsum block, known as Pyrobar. The company's own Pyrobar could actually be found throughout the plant.

Between 1986 and 1991, US Gypsum sold the plant to a company called Certified Concrete. Plant records showed little activity dated after 1993, so that is likely the year the plant closed for good. The facility loomed silently on the west bank of the Schuylkill until June of 2007 when it was leveled.
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