Jeff Brouws 216 pages hardcover
In 1906, America commenced a major railroad modernization project,
driven by massive industrial era investment and development. A lasting
symbol of this time in history remains today: the imposing coaling
towers that pepper the country and which once held the coal that powered
steam locomotives. Over the course of five years and 20,000 miles,
photographer Jeff Brouws documented these towers.
Silent Monoliths tells their story.
The towers, built of concrete, a modern material with historical
roots traceable to the Roman aqueducts, were constructed to replace
aging (and less fire-retardant and less efficient) wooden coaling
wharves and chutes. As the railroads transitioned from steam to diesel
in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, most of these coaling towers
slipped into obsolescence--some demolished, others "retired-in-place"
and left standing. As a result of the latter, many examples of these
sculptural, architectonic remnants of industrial brawn stand in silence
across North America--from Flomaton, Alabama, to the northernmost
reaches of Ontario, Canada; as far west as Glenns Ferry, Idaho, to the
eastern seaboard in New Haven, Connecticut.
Essays from industrial and railroad historian John Hankey and art
historian Marcella Hackbardt illuminate the significance of these
otherworldly relics. In the spirit of Hilla and Bernd Becher, Brouws'
photographic portfolio presents over 105 examples of these austere
monoliths, conveying their unique place in cultural history.
