Mystery Monday (11/7)

Posted on 11/07/2011 by Lance Roper in Mystery Monday

Its officially November, and why not kick off the first Monday of the month with a great Mystery photograph?

If you’ve been playing for a while, then you know how it works. If not, be sure to read the guidelines below.

As always, the more descriptions and observations you leave, the more fun Mystery Mondays are!

Here are the guidelines:

  • If you can correctly identify the photo with a link to Google Maps showing where it is, or should be, you win! Leave a comment here on the blog or on our Facebook Page.
  • Whoever identifies the photograph and posts a link to its correct location first wins!
  • This week’s winner will receive a $50 coupon for any framed print, or simple bragging rights! Whichever you prefer!

If you know of anyone else who would enjoy this blog (or perhaps someone who would be a great competitor,) please send them here!

Let the games begin!

Visitor Comments

The name on the left building looks like MARALF, can anyone else make it out? Are those septic tanks?

I read MA B/R A/O LF. So either: MARALF, MABALF, MAROLF, or MAROLF. No immediate Google results on any of those :/

They are definitely some kind of tanks. Looks like they come out of plant wet and then dry in curved wooden forms. I initially thought gas tanks, but septic is also a good guess. Cool shute coming out of the warehouse building, could be for porcelain / concrete fragments or just scraps in general. Some really unusual trucks in the lot, I'd say similar to this 1960s drill rig: http://inlinethumb33.webshots.com/447... So this could very well be a well digging company that also installs septic tanks.

I would say warm climate since the warehouse door is wide open, and the tanks are sitting outside exposed to the elements. Terrain and vegetation not much help.

Is this Custom Precast Company in Cascade, Iowa? Address is 995 Monroe St. NE, Cascade Iowa.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Cascade....

No it isn't! But that's a great guess! I can certainly see the similarities.

If I had that big a back yard, I wouldn't place the kids' swing sets right next to that fence.

Except for the (presumed) customer area at the front corner, the MA{B/R}{A/O}LF building has no windows or any source of cooling other than the roof vents. I suppose there could be a cooling unit behind the building; but the open door leads me to believe that perhaps they don't need cooling often enough to justify the cost. That building does appear to have skylights.

I'm not getting a very strong vibe about the climate from the vegetation, though it does appear this area gets a fair amount of precipitation.

The vehicles look 70s or early 80s to me; but, without any strong feeling as to location, the date doesn't really help. The only personal vehicle we can see the front of appears to have a front license plate -- assuming the vehicle is local, that narrows it down to just 31 states :)

Does anyone have a guess on the state yet?

A state that touches at least one Great Lake??

That's correct! What else do you know? :)

Nothing specific, actually. That was just a semi-educated guess based on finding some Maralf's in Wisconsin, the flatness of the terrain (at least what little we can see), the fact that it isn't heavily wooded in the unused land in the background, etc.

Oh, and I ruled out Gulf Coastal states because none of them require front license plates. For that matter neither IN, MI, nor PA require front license plates either; so that might narrow it down to NY, OH, WI, and MN.

Ohio is the state!

There are too many scanned rolls in Ohio!!! My eyes are going bonkers!

You win this week, Lance. Where is this?

The best I could do was this list of septic tank manufacturers in Ohio:
http://www.thomasnet.com/northern-ohi...
http://www.thomasnet.com/southern-ohi...

Some likely candidates on the list, like this place, which has a chute like the picture.
http://bit.ly/tOufuM

Tough one!

Is it in Greenville, Ohio?

Actually, this is in Sylvania, Ohio!

Is it Independent Concrete Pipe? http://www.icpipe.com
This must be a precast concrete plant, but not just septic tanks. Those might be storm sewer collector boxes.
On the other comments, the newest car is mid-70s. Trucks are late 50s (although the Ford c-series was made to about '88) and are not drill rigs but are used to off-load the castings. They must have a high volume with 4 delivery rigs (unless they are all junk and only one runs). The forklift is about 20-25,000 pound capacity without an overhead guard, hence, no OSHA visits.

I'm not sure what this business was when this photo was taken in 1970; but for information on what's there now (and an accurate locator map), see the photo's page at http://vintageaerial.com/photos/ohio/...

Good fine Tony, Looking at the streetview, the main entrance looks like it matches. That's an area that's undergone considerable redevelopment, no wonder we couldnt find it!

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