Packard Plant – May 2008
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At 3,500,000 square feet, the Packard Plant was the titan of abandoned buildings. In an earlier post on this trip to Detroit I talked a little about the culture of private urban exploration forums that arose in the 00s. Our particular forum became a very close knit group of friends, and I always thought of the Packard Plant as the center of our power. A totem of unimaginable potency.
In the Northeast, a lot of people had adopted the culture of “take only photos, leave only footprints” to a great degree. We did this partially out of respect for the buildings and property owners, partially to keep from drawing attention to the fact that people were getting in to the building, but perhaps moreso out of practical necessity. In the Northeast, real estate is a premium commodity and if the building doesn’t have active security, the neighbors are probably still paying attention.
Not so in Detroit. The Packard was located in the middle of a neighborhood that was “struggling” to say the least and absolutely no one cared what went on there. Crashes, bangs, gunshots, fires…none of this drew even the slightest amount of attention. This may seem like an exaggeration to people who have never been to Detroit or seen the Packard plant, but I assure you it is absolutely true. In later visits to the Packard, HUGE sections of the building had pulled down by people looking for scrap metal. In the last picture in the gallery you can see a drop ceiling – that entire space was rubble on a subsequent visit, and there was no official demolition going on at that time whatsoever.
So when I say the Packard was a venue where you could Do Whatever You Want, I mean it literally. It was a lawless no-man’s-land in a major American City. I remember that, after exploring for a while we stopped to rest in an area, and our hosts continued on to a higher floor. All of a sudden the the sound of breaking glass cascading past the windows in the area where we were began, and it did not stop for 5 full minutes. This was our introduction to the mayhem possible…nay inevitable…at the Packard.
I won’t go in to all of the details but I will say that, at one point, some kind of business involving boats popped up in the Packard. Boats were often stored on upper floors of the complex and, naturally, someone had to return those boats to ground level…and the more rapidly the better. Purely in the name of efficiency, you see. It’s amazing what 6 or 7 people working together can lift.
Where mayhem was challenging, tools and equipment were brought in to help. You may have seen a story that made the national news about a dump truck being pushed out of a window at the Packard Plant. I wish I had been there for that one, but this kind of activity was not that unusual.
Many Urban Explorers, to some degree or another, have a feeling of being on the outside of mainstream society. Sometimes it is diagnosable. Other times it is about how one was treated growing up or just how a person is wired. Having a venue where you can step completely and totally outside the expectations of society at large is very freeing for people who fall in to this category. It was truly another world where there were no rules but the ones you chose for yourself. Visiting a place like that is a little scary and very freeing. The Packard was certainly both of those things.
I will recount the history of the Packard in a later post, but if you’re really interested in the history you would do well to visit Nailhed’s Packard Portal.
At 3,500,000 square feet, the Packard Plant was the titan of abandoned buildings. In an earlier post on this trip to Detroit I talked a little about the culture of private urban exploration forums that arose in the 00s. Our particular forum became a very close knit group of friends, and I always thought of the Packard Plant as the center of our power. A totem of unimaginable potency.
In the Northeast, a lot of people had adopted the culture of “take only photos, leave only footprints” to a great degree. We did this partially out of respect for the buildings and property owners, partially to keep from drawing attention to the fact that people were getting in to the building, but perhaps moreso out of practical necessity. In the Northeast, real estate is a premium commodity and if the building doesn’t have active security, the neighbors are probably still paying attention.
Not so in Detroit. The Packard was located in the middle of a neighborhood that was “struggling” to say the least and absolutely no one cared what went on there. Crashes, bangs, gunshots, fires…none of this drew even the slightest amount of attention. This may seem like an exaggeration to people who have never been to Detroit or seen the Packard plant, but I assure you it is absolutely true. In later visits to the Packard, HUGE sections of the building had pulled down by people looking for scrap metal. In the last picture in the gallery you can see a drop ceiling – that entire space was rubble on a subsequent visit, and there was no official demolition going on at that time whatsoever.
So when I say the Packard was a venue where you could Do Whatever You Want, I mean it literally. It was a lawless no-man’s-land in a major American City. I remember that, after exploring for a while we stopped to rest in an area, and our hosts continued on to a higher floor. All of a sudden the the sound of breaking glass cascading past the windows in the area where we were began, and it did not stop for 5 full minutes. This was our introduction to the mayhem possible…nay inevitable…at the Packard.
I won’t go in to all of the details but I will say that, at one point, some kind of business involving boats popped up in the Packard. Boats were often stored on upper floors of the complex and, naturally, someone had to return those boats to ground level…and the more rapidly the better. Purely in the name of efficiency, you see. It’s amazing what 6 or 7 people working together can lift.
Where mayhem was challenging, tools and equipment were brought in to help. You may have seen a story that made the national news about a dump truck being pushed out of a window at the Packard Plant. I wish I had been there for that one, but this kind of activity was not that unusual.
Many Urban Explorers, to some degree or another, have a feeling of being on the outside of mainstream society. Sometimes it is diagnosable. Other times it is about how one was treated growing up or just how a person is wired. Having a venue where you can step completely and totally outside the expectations of society at large is very freeing for people who fall in to this category. It was truly another world where there were no rules but the ones you chose for yourself. Visiting a place like that is a little scary and very freeing. The Packard was certainly both of those things.
I will recount the history of the Packard in a later post, but if you’re really interested in the history you would do well to visit Nailhed’s Packard Portal.