The Abandoned Cement Factory (and History) of Cement City

I remember in my younger days when a few buddies and I would make a trek to Cement City, just to explore the old cement factory, abandoned since 1961.

That place, to us, was SO cool...it had underground mine shafts (yeah, we went through 'em, not realizing how dangerous it was to go down there), steel & cement "towers" to climb and more buildings to explore.

I have never heard of anyone that experienced anything creepy at that site but we had a weird experience there. We went there after midnight, flashlights in hand...there had been rumors of workers who had fallen into the huge vats of cement and were unable to be retrieved; therefore, they were still encased in the cement. The moon was bright.....and for some reason, we stopped talking.....a few seconds later, we heard what sounded like feet running down the steel staircase that wrapped around one of the buildings, as if coming after us. Needless to say, we split fast...

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The best way to get to the deserted factory was to park your car down one of two dirt roads, walk down the railroad track, over a bridge, and you were there. It was dangerous but it was still thrilling to investigate that creepy old factory.

Cement City originated in the 1830's as Kelley's Corners. The name was changed to Woodstock, and later split in two - the right side as Woodstock, the larger left as Cement City. The whole area finally settled on 'Cement City', thanks to the factory built south of town by the Peninsular Portland Cement Company of Jackson in 1899 (the first factory in the world to be powered by electricity). Hard to tell nowadays, but the town had a blacksmith shop, hotel, general store, depot and post office among other businesses.

When the factory shut down permanently in 1961, the sudden unemployment affected the population of the town, as many moved to seek jobs elsewhere.

Finally in the 1990's, after 30 years of sitting empty & being a source of thrills for adventure-seekers, it was all razed in a half-hearted attempt to do something different with the property...but it still sits bare to this day.

It's a hidden-away village, rarely visited anymore by out-of-towners, which is a shame...it's an extremely historic little town that you should take a few minutes to drive through. Check the photos below to see a few buildings.....also the grounds from where the cement factory once sat.