When I was a kid, there was a huge scrapyard on Clinton Street directly across from Fort Wayne's Lawton Park. Despite a tall, corrugated metal fence bordering the property—which was originally known as Superior Iron and Metal—stacks of junk cars and scrap metal eventually grew so tall they were easily visible to passing motorists on Clinton.
Thankfully, that junkyard eyesore is long gone, but the recent announcement about a new development slated for the property—to be called the North River Fieldhouse (which you can read about here) made me wonder how many people remember what used to be on that land—and what may still be there.
Back in the year 2000, a soil study of the former junkyard revealed unsafe levels of argon, cadmium, lead, mercury, and PCBs—all pretty bad stuff—and spills of diesel fuel, gasoline, and cleaning solvents were reported on the site. At this point I'm sure you're thinking: but that report was over 20 years ago, so surely everything's all good now, right? 😟🤞
Normally, I think any news about the continued development of downtown Fort Wayne is good news, but in this case, I intend to steer well clear of any future developments on the old OmniSource site. I mean, who wants an ice-cold PBR with a PCB chaser?
There's more to come in the next dispatch.
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