11/8/2013
Marquette Cement - Superior Ohio
Marquette Cement
These ruins of a massive cement making operation are the middle of nowhere in far southern Ohio. The site is fairly easy to get to and it's wide open to exploration. There isn't a whole lot to see but if you like huge concrete structures there are quite a few of them here. County road 41 entering the site from Ohio 93 to the East is marginal, the last section is unpaved but passable. 41 from Ohio 522 is only a mile on good road. Two cars passed in the 2 hours I was there. No one stopped. There is some chatter about hauntings on the internet. I saw nothing unusual. It did seem like the kind of place local teenagers would go to get wasted at night. I saw a few bottles and fire pits. Generally a pleasant and interesting place to walk around.
Marquette Cement
It's hard to find much about the history of the place online. Abandoned online has a bunch more photos and information here. Many of the structures he has photographs of had been torn down before my visit in 2013. From what I can piece together the factory was established in 1906 and operated until 1986. All of the surviving structures I saw when I visited appeared to have been built from the 1940s or more recently. Cement manufacture requires a large amount of energy. Much of this energy I assume came from the coal strip mines that have scarred the land to the Northeast of the plant. Coal mining in the area generally died out in the 70s and the cement industry has been using natural gas as an energy source exclusively for some time. I'm sure these two factors played a significant roll in the closure of the plant.
Marquette Cement
I can find even less information about the town of Superior. I know it existed possibly at the intersection of Superior-Lawrence Furnace and Superior Buckhorn roads? The Superior Marquette plant was named after the town as was the reservoir North of the plant. Superior does not appear on any census so it must not have ever been very big. The cement plant though would have been big enough to employ several hundred people at some point and there are no close by towns that they could have lived in. Judging from slightly older pictures I've seen of the site, demolition of the structures is slowly progressing. However I saw no obvious signs of work when I was there.
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
Marquette Cement
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