Saturday, April 23, 2011

Urban Exploration: Independent Refining Corporation

Independent Refining Corporation, Hamshire, Texas:



See this set on Flickr


Located in Southeast Texas, the Independent Refining Corporation crude oil facility was built in the 1940’s and expanded in the late 1970’s. The refinery was closed in 1981 (or '82), following "elimination of governmental small refinery subsidies, and implementation of new pollution control regulations that necessitated large capital expenditures." The facility was purchased out of bankruptcy in 1986, but never re-started operations.

The entire place seemed like it was caught in some sort of Planet of The Apes time warp, with nature slowly working itself back into a dominant position. An absolute pleasure to explore!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My dad work in that plant for over 10yrs. I lived right around the corner from it...it just down completely in 1985. As a teenager, we ran all over that place.