The Fairmont Creamery in the Old Market
1204 Jones Street. Omaha, NE
A Global Food Empire (1906–1975)
While the Fairmont Creamery Company was founded in Fairmont, Nebraska, in 1884, it moved its headquarters to Omaha in 1907 to sit at the center of the nation's rail lines. The massive brick and concrete complex at 12th and Jones Streets was the beating heart of a global empire. By the 1950s, Fairmont was a Fortune 500 company and a pioneer of the "Cereal City" era, famously credited with inventing the first refrigerated ice cream delivery truck in 1920. The building’s thick walls and cork-lined insulation were engineered for massive cold storage, creating the cavernous, heavy-duty interior that still exists today.
The Post-Industrial Void & "The Asylum" (1982–2000s)
The plant officially shuttered in 1982 after the company relocated to Houston. For the next several decades, the building lived a fragmented life. In the mid-90s, the lower levels were famously used as a haunted house called "The Asylum" and later the "Dungeon of the Damned." For urban explorers, this era left behind a surreal layer of "fake" horror-creepy theatrical props and maze-like plywood partitions - resting atop the "real" industrial decay of rusted cooling pipes and crumbling insulation.
The Tale of Two Buildings (Present Day)
Today, the Fairmont complex is a study in preservation versus neglect. The western portion at 1209 Jackson Street was successfully saved and transformed into Hollywood Candy and the Fairmont Antique Mall, a vibrant space housing one of the world's largest PEZ dispenser collections. However, the eastern portion on the corner of 12th and Jones (the "Seven Oaks" side) has remained in a state of terminal decline. In early 2024, news broke that Bluestone Development had purchased this vacant section with plans for a major renovation, but for now, the building remains a shell of broken windows and graffiti - a silent, industrial giant waiting for its second act.
So please enjoy looking through my photos. The only way I know to protect these buildings is to remind people they even exist.
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