Did you know that humans have been chewing gum for at least 3000 years, and that modern day chewing gum was invented on Staten Island? If not, it’s time to learn about the abandoned Wrigley Gum factory in Rosebank.
Thomas Adams, 19th-century American scientist and inventor, worked with William Wrigley Jr. to mass produce bubble gum. In 1917 Wrigley’s company built this factory in the rosebank neighborhood of Staten island. It remained active until 1949. It has apparently sat abandoned ever since.
In 1986, two large smoke stacks at the rear of the abandoned Wrigley Gum factory were determined to be structurally unsound, and were taken down via implosion. Only the smoke stacks were demolished, the rest of the building was left as is.
The decades of abandonment have taken their toll, in the form of a damaged roof, looting of all electrical gear and anything of value.
In 2003, a developer bought the building and began a residential conversion. Work quickly stopped, and the building went back into it’s previous abandoned state. In 2012, hurricane sandy flooded the lower level of the building, pushing out the front doors and leaving it more exposed than ever.
Serious graffiti artists eventually found this abandoned Wrigley Gum factory, and started creating murals inside. Today, this artwork and the building’s history are its main redeeming values.
It was eventually sold from one developer to another in 2013, though today it still sits empty.
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