Farewell Pioneer Mills....

I adjusted some of the structures on the layout design, making Pioneer Mills and the Fitzgerald warehouse full size in O scale. When I do that I realize that Pioneer Mills is just too big for this layout. The revised drawing shows Pioneer Mills in full size O scale (122 by 112 feet footprint). I think it is better to have a couple medium sized buildings that were actually along Union Street than to try force a shrunk-down and improperly placed Pioneer Mills building into the layout.

 On the plus side, the G.A. Baldwin building is a cool looking building with some neat signs.  Even these three and four story structures at about 12 to 15 inches tall in O scale should create the urban canyon effect we are shooting for.

The Corn Exchange building which sits across Union Street from the Fitzgerald Warehouse was built in 1871, too late for the ACW. I will need to do a little more research to try to find out what the Civil War era building at that location looked like. The Ramsey Building is kitty corner to Fitzgerald and is still there and currently a furniture store with the Fish market restaurant next door. It's neat typical colonial era brick building without any fancy architectural embellishments. The fourth corner now houses the Torpedo Factory art colony. The Torpedo Factory was built in the 20th century.  The Baldwin buildings were replaced by a new building called "The Strand Building."  In summary, two of the four corners have structures still standing from the Civil War era.

It is interesting to note that Wales Alley, the narrow alley between Fitzgerald Warehouse and the smaller warehouse south of it is currently (2012) the scene of a huge legal battle between the Dominion Boat House, who claim an access easement on it, and a the city, who granted a restaurant permission to use the alley for outdoor seating.