The Rise and Fall of America's Smokestacks: Urban Legacy

[00:00:00]I've always felt that the smokestacks  looming over American cities create a sense of grit but also Nostalgia as they  rapidly disappear they remind us of a time when our grandfathers made their way in  the world Paving forward the path that we now follow compare the skylines of almost any  major American city during the turn of the 20th century and now and it becomes quite obvious  that the visual Legacy their visual Legacy is fading away but what exactly is the story  behind these smokestacks what purpose did they serve and what remains join me to find  out because today we discover the rise and fall of America's smokestacks I'm your host Ryan  sokash and you're watching its history [Music] for obvious reasons harnessing the power of heat  has always been on the mind of human inventors one particular problem of that has been figuring  out just how to keep the heat within a home people would have fires inside their houses to generate  heat but the inevitable smoke that comes off a fire became another problem initially people  would just let the smoke sit in their homes where it would slowly Escape through windows  or open doors the early precursor to chimneys could be found in the Roman Empire where larger  homes had pipes built into the walls that let out smoke which had built up within during the Middle  Ages the first historical accounts of chimneys appeared as several famous buildings were said  to have had them such as the connersburg castle in Yorkshire but it can be difficult to establish  the precise history as many buildings which may have had chimneys were lost to the elements for  example we know for a fact that the famous 1347 earthquake of Venice Italy damaged chimneys but  we don't know if perhaps even older structures may have just been lost outright well there are  instances of buildings being constructed with vents during the Middle Ages it's not to say  that they were expected as they were largely inefficient these chimneys were usually connected  to the central fireplace in a home used for cooking due to location a standard chimney would  not evacuate all the smoke typically only homes were buildings owned by upper class society would  have had actual chimneys it wasn't until the 18th century that household chimneys became commonplace  due to different scientific understandings of how smoke operates and the better overall development  of fireplaces Louis savit a physician in Paris France started to develop fireplaces and chimneys  which were more narrow in Design This allowed for a much easier flow of smoke out of the house  then in 1740 Benjamin Franklin invented the Pennsylvania fireplace which was followed  by the Franklin stove many years later these devices reduced the fuel needed and hence the  smoke created the transition of using bricks to build chimneys as opposed to Wood also led to  far less dangerous fires and more chimneys being widely implemented in England in 1753 Benjamin  Thompson more commonly known as count Rumford made a groundbreaking scientific discovery that  found that heat and smoke were not fluids like initially thought it was observed that they  naturally rise upwards due to being less dense than oxygen count Rumford also revolutionized  chimneys by incorporating them into the walls of homes rather than an attached structure on  the outside along with other Innovations and so it was for almost 150 years the Rumford design  of fireplaces and chimneys was widespread across Europe it wasn't until other heat sources became  prominent that chimneys find and mainly became a decorative feature of homes but it wouldn't take  long for them to reappear and in a major way once the Industrial Revolution took the World by storm  in the 19th century the role of the chimney would then reappear but this time as the smokestack  the Industrial Revolution was one of the most influential periods in human history permanently  changing Society in numerous ways this era saw a massive shift from agriculture to manufacturing  it was a period of exponential economic growth alongside rapid and accelerating technological  and scientific developments this then also led to many societal and cultural changes the rise of  the middle class and the growth of the industrial city the Industrial Revolution also marked the  beginning of Western dominance on a geopolitical scale and many credit this as the start of the  modern era one of the most stereotype typical aspects of the Industrial Revolution is the  continual line of new technologies invented such as Steam Engines railroads the light bulb  and many more indeed other Technologies existed before the Industrial Revolution but experienced  significant advancements in their designs such as textile producing machines firearms and  different armaments but for the sake of our story the smokestack is a prime example might I  say an icon of the time as we looked at before chimneys were not a common household feature meant  to expel smoke from the home still now during the Industrial Revolution we see enormous iterations  taller than many buildings attached to factories or power plants rather than the everyday household  these new structures called smokestack Industries or just smoke stacks are made of brick or steel  and their purpose is to release the byproducts of fuel or fire combustion from furnaces is high  up in the air and away from humans at the start of the Industrial Revolution coal powered many  Industries making Smoke Stacks a crucial part of most factories furthermore smokestacks played a  vital role in the combustion of fossil fuels where furnaces produced steam to Power electric  generators they aided in ore smelting or facilitated separation and Refinery processes  these cylindrical Stacks served two primary purposes enhancing the inflow of combustible  air and separating potentially harmful exhaust Gases such as carbon dioxide and pollutants from  ground level emissions during progressively larger industrial operations smokestacks often employ  the so-called stack effect where the significant difference in temperature between the lower  interior and exterior of the stack contributes to a boosted airflow rate as the gases exit these  Stacks were usually very tall towering over most buildings on the city's Skyline early on cities  like Manchester or Birmingham and England were known to house numerous Smoke Stacks in the U.S  Pittsburgh is where the smokestacks were often the tallest structures in the entire area there  is a particular reason for this though and that is to minimize pollution as much as possible  you see the smoke Stack's height spreads the pollution over a much larger area reducing  the impact these toxic chemicals known as flue gases are discharged during the combustion of  hydrocarbon based fuels like coal oil or natural gas these flue gases usually come from a boiler  where combustion occurs in a particular Factory or power plant and what's produced as smoke well  that depends on the fuel burned among the harmful pollutants present are nitrogen oxides sulfur  oxides carbon dioxides carbon monoxides and particulate matter which can be very dangerous  is to the environment to mitigate their effects various methods are employed to remove as much  of these pollutants as possible before releasing the gas into the atmosphere these days technology  within a smokestack like wet and dry scrubbers and electrostatic precipitators can eliminate up to  99 percent of specific pollutants along with these methods some factories aim to build their Smoke  Stacks at an extremely high altitude this would take advantage of higher wind speeds at higher  elevations allowing for better disbursement of gases and reducing the concentration of harmful  substances in a given area furthermore building Stacks taller than the inversion layer facilitates  a more effective distribution the inversion layer is an area within the atmosphere where warmer air  lies above colder air and by releasing the gases at this height they're prevented from immediately  falling down and polluting the nearby area the inversion layer is often most accessible at night  when the cold ground chills the air leaving a warmer sheet above still the inversion layer may  be hundreds of feet tall meaning Smoke Stacks must be built to meet those requirements however  it must be said that smokestacks haven't solved everything because of their often immense height  they can represent a flight Hazard for aircraft especially at night which is why many smokestacks  are fitted with lights to warn low-flying planes or helicopters and despite the benefits of  dispersing the pollutants over a considerable distance this alone doesn't prevent pollution  caused by the power plants the pollutants often cause issues downwind such as acid rain not to  mention that simply scattering these gases across a long distance sometimes increases the overall  area affected for example the infamous Great Smog of 1952 in London resulted in numerous direct  and indirect fatalities estimated to be around 12 000 individuals furthermore a recent investigation  focusing on children below one year of age were those whose mothers were pregnant during the Great  Smog revealed an increased incidence of asthma by approximately 20 percent as was mentioned  before one of the foremost characteristics of the Industrial Revolution was the endless supply  of ever-changing Technology well this concept saw the mass production of smokestacks and factories  or power plants worldwide It ultimately saw their decline with the gradual switch to Natural Gas  meaning that smoke stacks were less necessary many of these massive smokestacks still populate the  skylines of countless cities and many of them are still in use so now let's have a look at what's  been lost and what remains New York City was one of the cities in the United States with many  notable smokestacks well England was the center of the Industrial Revolution once it began as it  unfolded on on a global scale the United States became an industrial Powerhouse within its own  right and cities with extensive infrastructure like New York took advantage of this worldwide  Trend therefore throughout the last century New York has featured several prominent Smoke Stacks  but as they did worldwide their necessity declined as other fuel sources were explored nowadays the  famous smokestacks that still stand in New York City have become a point of controversy this can  be seen in the Ravenswood Generating Station and the Inwood incinerator smokestacks perhaps the  most memorable smokestacks are The Four Towers looming over the Queen's Waterfront these belong  to the Ravenswood Generating Station the city's giant power plant aside from their apparent  height what makes them so Unforgettable is their red and white paint design which makes  them resemble candy canes the station sits directly across from the Queensbridge houses  which is the largest public housing development in the country Tree in fact they're also visible  from the East River in Midtown Manhattan despite its history residents environmental activist  groups and some City politicians have been rallying to remove these smokestacks accusing  the entire power plant of being one of New York City's biggest polluters a 2019 study from the  Environmental Protection Agency has alleged that these four smokestacks omit 1.2 million tons  of carbon dioxide constituting almost five percent of all electricity sector emissions  in New York some also blame the unhealthy air on the power plant pointing to the 360 tons  of nitrogen oxides and his release but it's rather controversial to go after the plant as on  the other hand the Ravenswood Generating Station is a massive power plant that provides crucial  energy for New York City and employs many of the surrounding population the power company which  owns the plant has also asserted that they have made efforts to transform it into a cleaner energy  Hub and have already shut down most of the plants dirtiest units coupled with the candy cane-like  smokestacks being somewhat of a monument it is likely to be a long time before the Ravenswood  Generating Station is torn down several of New York Smoke Stacks which are being torn down are  the Inwood incinerator smokestacks a part of the decommissioned Department of Sanitation Destructor  plant these smokestacks have a history going back nearly 90 years you see until the 1930s all the  trash in New York City would be dumped into the sea but after the state of New Jersey filed a  historic lawsuit against New York claiming that rubbish had polluted their Waters so much that  it ruined their beaches and gotten their citizens sick the supreme court ordered New York to burn  their trash instead of dumping as a result the department of sanitation's Destructor plant was  built on 215th Street near 10th Avenue due to the massive amount of trash produced constantly by the  city the plant worked relentlessly incinerating 7 500 tons of garbage daily all the smoke and soot  would then be emitted from the three tall Smoke Stacks while this Destructor plant solved  the problem of dumping trash into the sea which affected New Jersey beaches it created new  problems as unpleasant and harmful Vapors were released into the Skies of New York City it was so  unbearable for some residents that one apartment dweller who lived nearby in Park Terrace East  attempted to sue the city for 1.5 million dollars only a few years after the plant was constructed  the destructor plant continued to burn New York's trash daily for nearly 40 years until in 1970 when  Nationwide Trends calling for better air quality and a reduction in pollution saw the city quickly  phase out these incinerators eventually land-based dumping grounds or landfills in Staten Island were  preferred by the end of the year the incinerators were officially closed down and the workers were  reassigned elsewhere well the building remains an administrative headquarters and storage facility  for the Department of Sanitation the smokestacks were left as a dormant relic of the past that was  until early 2020 when a rather harsh Windstorm damaged the old smokestacks and fearing that they  had become hazardous to the area the department of sanitation decided to tear them down ironically  while the smokestacks were often seen as harmful to the community when they were in use the  neighboring towns began to hold them in a different regard once they were decommissioned  viewing them as characterizing landmarks of the region and then there were others Who Loved These  smokestacks due to the resemblance of the cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album animals and hence as a  result many residents were sad to see them go New York City has had a unique relationship with the  smokestacks that only a few other City cultures have but not in the way you may expect you see New  York City is stereotypically known for attractions like the Empire State Building Times Square Statue  of Liberty and services like taxis and bodegas but another unique feature are those orange and white  tubes covering manholes which pump out clouds of white steam that are found on countless New  York street corners commonly referred to as smokestacks these iterations are much smaller  than their industrial counterparts but they serve a similar purpose in a roundabout way while  steam might seem like an obsolete energy source it is still essential to many everyday activities  and as a result New York has over 100 miles of service pipes passing steam to approximately 1  800 buildings however one since these scalding hotlines come into contact with colder air or  rainwater condensation is produced leading to these mini Smoke Stacks we can now admire on some  occasions they've even taken on cultural relevance as Street artists offer their decorations at other  times they've gone as far as building sculptures around these mini smokestacks this case is not  unique to New York City in fact the situation over in Chicago was very similar like New York  Chicago was one of the major American cities that experienced an exponential manufacturing  boom during the Industrial Revolution and just like New York there have been many factories and  power plants that utilized smokestacks however these chimneys don't seem to have had as big of  a cultural impact on Chicago as compared to New York that being said several notable smokestacks  have been towering over the windy city for the better part of a century the story of smokestacks  in Chicago mirrors that of New York and cities worldwide witnessing their immense rise as  a necessary method to relieve smoke or other harmful gases from factories and plants only to  see their purpose gradually decline as Society shifted towards other energy sources unfortunately  here smokestacks generally have a negative connotation even after their discontinuation and  this is the most significant difference between the smokestacks of New York and Chicago casing  in point the controversial Crawford power plants smokestack built in 1924 Crawford Generating  Station was the largest coal-fired power plant in the city providing power to all of Chicago located  in the South Lawndale neighborhood it remained in operation until 2012. after a long conflict with  environmental groups it was closed down alongside its neighbor the Fisk Generating Station and  then by 2019 the demolition process began with the most recent controversies surrounding the  plant unfolding in 2020 when the sole remaining smokestack was being demolished with a series of  controlled explosions the base of the smokestack was blown apart sending the entire 400 foot  tall tower tumbling down epically unfortunately this generated an enormous smoke cloud which  then enveloped the surrounding town of Little Village on the west side of Chicago residents were  rightfully Furious is that such an oversight was allowed and that they were exposed to many  potentially harmful materials in the air to make matters even worse the implosion occurred in  March of 2020 right before the covid-19 pandemic hit the city of Chicago causing even further  complications for Citizens with breathing issues this whole incident has been criticized for the  incompetence of many within the local government who were accused of being aware of the possible  health concerns before the scheduled Demolition and with that being said there is one more famous  Chicago smokestack we need to discuss here but for more positive Reasons I'm talking about that giant  red brick smokestack next to the Mayfair pumping station at 4850 West Wilson Avenue is a massive  red brick chimney notably visible from the Kennedy or Edens expressways the history of this facility  dates back as far as the late 19th century as Chicago continued to grow as a city creating  the need for an organ sized water distribution system to pump water from the Chicago River many  plans were devised and construction began in 1913 but it wasn't until five years later that the  Mayfair pumping station was officially opened this pumping station was so revolutionary for its  time that similar stations were built around the world replicating mayfair's design one of the  pumping station's defining features includes an eight-mile tunnel that connects Lake Michigan to  the main pump room which is 236 by 60 feet and can handle 150 million gallons of water ironically  the 180 foot tall Smoke Stack is usually the most distinguishing characteristic of the pumping  station to an average Chicago citizen especially those who only see the station as they pass by it  on the expressway and yet the smokestack has been out of commission since 1946 having been closed  down after internal changes to the vast array of steam pumping engines but at the moment the  Mayfair pumping station overall is still in use playing a crucial role to Chicago's water system  while its smokestacks May no longer be practical there don't seem to be any plans of demolition  hence it shall remain a defining landmark of the city what chimneys and smoke stacks tell us  about the past is a story it's a story of social change and evolution by looking at the history of  something as simple as a chimney we can witness a long timeline going back thousands of years  from a relatively inefficient method of removing smoke from homes to the further technological  advancements that brought us the world we know even today as smokestacks are not as essential  to production or manufacturing many still stand as simple relics of the past each telling a  unique story within themselves and if you have more stories on this topic to add please do so  in the comment section below otherwise I thank you all very much for watching and until  next time this is Ryan so cash signing off