Winsted's Union Pin Company: Highland Lake and Pins Still in the Soil

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Photo courtesy of the Winchester Tax Office Pins in the Brook: The Last Ruins of the Union Pin Company J and I came at it through the trees. No path, just tall standing trees and the kind of undergrowth that swats at your shins and grabs your laces, until the canopy thinned and we found what was left. A turbine, tall and rusted, rising out of the woods beside a brook in Winsted, Connecticut. A small generator sat on top of it, also rusted, also still. Beside that, set back from the tree line and facing the residential houses across Lake Street, a sealed and boarded building held its ground. It was August 2019, midday, the kind of heat that slows everything down. We photographed the turbine carefully, then picked our way downstream along the slippery rocks of the brook that fed toward the Mad River past Boyd Street. What J never mentioned, and what I never thought to look for, was the hydropower outlet tucked behind the thick trees just off the path we'd taken. And neither of us eve...
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T Uniform



🔥 Update: May 3, 2026

The former Temco Uniforms facility—anonymized as "T Uniform" in this early exploration—was destroyed by fire on May 3, 2026. These photos are now part of the historical record of a site that no longer exists.

📖 Read the full historical write-up and environmental investigation here.


Not much I can say about this little gem nestled next to a bridge other than it is heavily polluted. A nice little fun exploration. The boiler and electrical rooms were neat little surprises. Sometimes you find various equipment from all over and even in some cases defunct factories or mills where you have already explored products right up in your face. I nearly went in through an open window but decided against it since I saw an opening while walking up the bridge surveying the property for any viable entrances.

A full historical writeup when I reveal its true name.

Enjoy!


















vacant open space business warehouse



large silver pacific steel boiler



dirty maintenance boiler room










📖 Full History: This location is the former Temco Uniforms Company facility. Read the complete historical write-up and environmental investigation here.

🧥 Did You Work at Temco Uniforms?

Were you employed at the Temco Uniform Company in Rockland County before its 2002 closure? Or at Modern Filters before 1985? Do you have photos from when the factory was operational, uniform samples, or memories of this Samsondale Avenue facility? With the building now lost to fire, your firsthand accounts are more important than ever.

Drop a comment below or contact me directly. Full credit given to all contributors.

📸 More New York Industrial History

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