Places That Were

Victoreen Instrument Company once supplied equipment for the Manhattan Project. The former electronics factory is now a ruined shell awaiting the inevitable wrecking ball.


A short drive from the incredible abandoned Newburgh Masonic Temple lies the the ruined headquarters of Victoreen Instrument Company.


Built in 1925, the crumbling brick structure originally housed Clark Controller Company, which manufactured electrical controls for cranes, presses, mills, and other industrial machinery.


When Clark Controller Company merged with A. O. Smith Corporation in 1965, the factory was sold to Victoreen Instrument Company.

Victoreen has a long and complicated history dating back to 1928, when it was founded by John Austin Victoreen, a brilliant physicist, engineer, and inventor.


The company specialized in the production of x-ray dosimeters and other devices that measured the intensity and dosage of X-ray exposure.


In the early 1940s, Victoreen became a contractor for the United States military. The company developed portable devices that measured radiation exposure for use in the Manhattan Project and during Operation Peppermint. After World War II, Victoreen supplied equipment used during the nuclear tests on Bikini Atoll.


The company saw many changes throughout the 1950s and 60s, including numerous acquisitions of, and mergers with, other electronics companies.

In 1965, Victoreen Instrument Company moved its headquarters to the now-abandoned factory on Woodland Avenue. It occupied the space for nearly 30 years before relocating in 1994.


In the years since Victoreen left, the property has changed hands several times.

An artifact from 2007

Plans for demolition were approved in 2009.


Portions of the structure were razed. Rubble and an outer wall mark where they once stood.


Demolition work ceased in 2014 after a fire broke out. The blaze was extinguished before it could spread throughout the building.



Quite a bit of furniture and other objects remain inside the old factory, but all the manufacturing equipment has been removed.



Many of the massive rooms are now empty except for rows of pillars and a layer of fallen ceiling tiles covering the floor.



Though demolition has been temporarily halted, it is likely that the remaining structure will be torn down before long. Until then, nature slowly creeps back in.

After exploring the ruins of Victoreen, I headed across town to visit the abandoned industrial complex of Warner & Swasey Company.


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