SPRINGFIELD, MA ~ 1917
Now an open-air parking lot, 1 Extract Place was one of the only structures built on this Springfield dead-end street.
Demolished in 2013 at nearly 100 years of age, the 40,000 square foot brick and wood frame building was home to a facility of the Baker Extract Company, which manufactured nationally-distributed food flavorings. The flavoring extracts, which became a household name, were packaged and sold in small glass bottles. Today, the bottles are collectible items valued as bits of Americana and a 'simpler time'.
Two stories of the Baker's Extract Company building yielded tens of thousands of board feet of Southern Yellow Pine decking, in two different width planks. The reclaimed wood was salvaged carefully and loaded onto a truck for delivery to our Berwick, Maine mill, where much of it has been milled into tongue-and-groove reclaimed Lobolly Pine flooring.
The decking was over-the-top heavy-duty, as was typical of this era and style of construction. At nearly 3" thick, the tongue-and-grooved planks boasted a single bead on one face, and a flat surface on the opposite. 3/4" or 4/4" factory flooring was laid on top of the decking for a smoother, more finished working surface.
our photographs of the demolition process
Flooring milled from salvaged decking
