Black and White Photographs of the Abandoned Wheland Foundry in Chattanooga

Fine art photographer Keith Dotson was granted access to the vast, historic foundry in its final days prior to demolition

Photographer Keith Dotson managed to secure permission to photograph the abandoned Wheland Foundry in the South Broad District of Chattanooga in its final days.

Endangered Buildings

Built in 1936 and abandoned since 2003, the Wheland Foundry building has long been considered a nuisance and an eye sore by many in Chattanooga, while others consider it to be an important part of the city’s history.

The plant manufactured auto parts for the Detroit auto makers, and contributed to the war effort in WWII by making parts for the military. For many years, it operated around the clock, paying a good wage with benefits to Union workers in dirty and sometimes dangerous conditions. 

For Keith Dotson, the massive and menacing specter of the abandoned building had long been a focus for fascination, but a place he had never managed to photograph.

Many plans for reuse or redevelopment of the site have fallen-through over the decades. But in early 2024, approval of funding for a new mixed-use development project assured the demolition of the massive plant to make way for a new stadium for the Chattanooga Lookouts — a double-A minor league baseball team affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds.

According to a press release, the deal will mean redevelopment of 140 acres of Chattanooga's post-industrial South Broad District, including Wheland Foundry and also the nearby U.S. Pipe site, another abandoned mill.

It appears that some of the historic structures will be preserved, including Wheland's brick Power House building, but the industrial sites are considered brownfields and will need substantial environmental cleanup and demolition work in preparation for the new development.

History of Industrial Pollution

Chattanooga's industrial history brought with it much environmental contamination. In 1969, legendary American news anchor Walter Cronkite called Chattanooga the dirtiest city in the country.

The city was once home to 50 metal foundries churning smoke and soot into the air alongside the Tennessee River. 

One former employee of the Wheland facility who worked in the payroll office, called the facility "a dirty, nasty and dangerous work environment," even for the office workers. He described the air as filled with hazardous chemicals and toxic odors, and said you could see metallic particles floating around, flickering in shafts of sunlight. He said that even though he worked in an office, away from the most toxic production areas, the desks would be covered every morning with a thin layer of soot that had somehow seeped around the locked office door. 

Since those days, Chattanooga has come a long way in cleaning up, but some polluted industrial areas like the Wheland site still remain.

Turning Industrial Ruins into Art

As a photographer, Keith Dotson's goal was to somehow turn the brooding industrial ruins into art, and to do it quickly. He only had access to the site for a short window of time.

Black and White Photographs

All of these photographs are offered as museum-quality fine art prints in a wide variety of sizes, from small to mural size, on the very finest art papers available.