The State of the Stack

[62burst]

For a while the fate of the Gibson smokestack at 225 Parsons Street, Kalamazoo Michigan was looking grim. There had been some discussion and fine photos shared on the forum when it was being surveyed to see if the stack at the original Gibson factory's location was even savable: Gib acoustic forum link1, and Link2.

 

 

 

Efforts are underway to preserve and hopefully rebuild. Here is a quick view of the dismantling from a vantage point few have seen of the 'stack, and of the lay of the land around Parsons Street:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBRSmeWEKnM

[j45nick]

I hope they can save it. The stack is an icon of American manufacturing.

[MorrisrownSal]

Agreed.... Restore it. I think its beautiful. Throw a microbrewery next door with live music and boom. Instant hipsticalitiousness

[fortyearspickn]

Here, in San Antonio, we have a complex called "The Pearl Brewery". Very interesting architecture. Baroque. Many buildings, including a stable well over 100 years old. Was neglected, in a less desirable part of town. A few developers came along and voila! in 15 years, a complete turnaround. Property values doubled.

Now comes the part of the story that is most interesting.... one of the prominent features of the old brewery was a massive stack - double the size of the Gibson one. There was a worker in it cleaning. He fell. No one missed him. He lay at the bottom for hours and finally died. There are restaurants and cafes around the smoke stack - it is an icon as recognizable here as the one in Kalamazoo. But there is something uneasy about it, when you know what happened there a few short years ago.

[OldCowboy]

Rumor has it that Lloyd Loar's remains lie at the bottom of the Gibson stack - possibly along with those of Les Paul😋