All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.Hidden.America.S02E02.1080p.WEB.h264-CBFM_track3_[eng]

[narrator] Abandoned
structures hold the secrets

of America's past.

A ghost town that
fed the nation's
war machine.

[Jean] The sinkhole out
by the school swallowed
like three or four houses.

That made
big news.

But it certainly hasn't
kept me away.

[narrator reading] A factory
born out of history's most
deadly global pandemic.

[man] The giant
cup was like
a beacon.

It's like the
thing which was
most synonymous

with people that
lived here.

[narrator] And a
family-run hotel

reveals the truth
behind the origins
of rock and roll.

[Zelena] I would
come down here

with my mom
or my dad.

And my grandmama
always would be
sitting out front

greeting everyone.

[narrator] Scattered
across the United States

are abandoned
structures

and those who
know their stories.

These forgotten ruins
reveal the past of
this land

and its people.

These are
the secrets

of Hidden America.

In Tornado Alley,

a town that answered
America's call for war

is paying the
ultimate price.

[Dr. Corina] We're near
the border between
Kansas and Oklahoma.

This is a place more
associated with corn
fields and cowboys.

But we're very close
to Interstate 69

which used to be
the legendary
Route 66.

You can't get more
Americana than that.

[Dr. Sascha] In the
middle of the fields,

there's a very
strange town.

There are a
few buildings,

but what really
stands out

is row after
row of empty
foundations.

[narrator] Trees and
grass sprout among
the splintered concrete.

[Dr. Greg] Though
nature is trying to
take back this town,

the plants look
sickly and awful.

You've got bark
that looks like
it's rusting.

It's almost like this
town has a veil of
death over it.

[narrator] One clue
might lie in the
surrounding landscape.

There's these
white mountains
everywhere.

[Dr. Sascha] Perhaps
the most sinister thing

is that these mounds
are completely lifeless.

[Jean] They
condemned
that place

but the children
used to sled
down them.

We took
car hoods

and that's what
you slid in.

[narrator] Once,
this town fed America's
war factories.

[Summer] Pretty much
every battle American
soldiers fought

in World War I
and World War II

used resources
from here.

[narrator] But
what caused
it to thrive,

eventually drove
the people away.

[Dr. Sascha] This place
became known

as "the most
polluted town
in America."

[Jean] It is sad
to see it like
it is now,

because this
is home.

This is where
my heart is

and will
always be.

[narrator] Jean Ann
Ellick is returning
to the place

she lived for
over 40 years.

[Jean] This is the road

my childhood
home is on.

This is where
we suntanned right here.

All of us.

All the girls.

I'll always
be that girl.

[narrator] For
Jean Ann,

these empty plots
and crumbling walls

aren't just relics
of childhood
memories.

They're a ghostly
reminder of America's
golden age.

[Jean] In
the heydays,

there were three
movie theatres,
two skating rinks,

JCPenney's
was in town.

It was a good
place to live in.

It was a good place
to rase your kids.

You didn't...
you didn't worry
about anything.

Everybody knew
everybody.

[narrator] Long
before Jean Ann
lived here,

in the early
19th century,

this land was
populated by
the Quapaw nation.

Henry Ellick
is a member.

[Henry] The Quapaw
people relocated

and this is where
we were put.

[narrator] But just
a century later,

they found their
land in demand.

[Dr. Sascha] In
the early 20th
century,

huge deposits of
zinc and lead

were found in
this locale.

Almost overnight,
corporations were pouring in,
wanting a piece of the pie.

[narrator] The Quapaw
were pushed aside

and mining companies
began pillaging the land

for lead and zinc,

all backed
by Washington.

They were so
successful that
in 1913,

a town was built
to support the
budding industry.

This is Picher.

This is where my
house used to be.

It was a
ranch-style house,

had, uh,
three bedrooms,

a living room,
a kitchen

and dining room
combination.

This was the
stairs and, uh,

that was
the garage.

[narrator] Within
a decade of
being founded,

the town's population
swelled to over 10,000,

with nearly all
the men working
in the mines.

[Jean] I'm proud
that they were miners.

They died young,
you know?

My... my mother's
dad died at 32

and my...
my dad's died,

I think about
when he was 36.

That's not
very old.

[narrator] But the early
deaths didn't stop the
greed of the corporations.

At its peak,
the town had
over 200 mills,

processing 10 million
pounds of ore a day.

It provided the
raw resources

for America to
swing the balance
of both World Wars.

[Dr. Corina] During World
War I, zinc and lead were
crucial for making bullets

and building trucks
and tanks.

[Dr. Greg] Some would
say that without
Picher's mines,

the entirety of
the 20th century

would have worked
out differently
for America.

[Dr. Sascha] It's
estimated that 50%
all the bullets fired

by American soldiers
in the first and second
World Wars

were made with
metal from
these mines.

[narrator] Yet Picher
didn't just come to
America's aid

during times
of war.

[Dr. Greg] Lead
and zinc mined
from Picher

helped in the late
20th century in the
great industrial boom

that allowed for
affordable housing
and expansion.

[narrator] As
the town grew,

white mountains
began to appear

across the flat
Oklahoma skyline,

made up of the
remains from
the mine,

also known
as chat.

[Summer] The
chat was left
on the surface

at the request
of the Federal
government.

They just thought it would
be able to be used for
driveways and roads

and... and to be
able to be sold as
a gravel.

[Jean] The chat piles
were a gathering place
for people in Picher.

All of our Fourth of
Julies were spent
on the chat piles,

because that's where
we lit our firecrackers
and roast weenies.

Right here, my kids
just waked across
the street

and they were at
a chat pile.

This was
their playground.

[narrator] No one
suspected that this
boom town

was about
to go bust.

In 1967,

the metal
ore ran out

and the mines
shut for good.

[Summer] When
the mining
companies left,

it looked like
a moonscape.

Approximately 500
million tons of chat
was left on the surface.

The tallest one
was several hundred
feet tall.

Everyone thought
it was safe.

[narrator] Unknown
to the townsfolk,

around these chat
piles where
children played

a catalog of
disasters was
lurking.

[narrator] In 1970,

the boom town
of Picher, Oklahoma
had gone bust.

All that was left
from mining
operations

was millions
of tons of tailings,

piled up in
white mountains.

And soon the
horrors hidden
inside would escape.

[Dr. Sascha]
In 1973,

it becomes apparent
that the toxins from
the chat piles

are leeching into
the groundwater.

[Jean] I think the
first thing that...
that got us

was once the water
turned orange.

You know we had
rust in our water,
in our drinking water

We drank a
lot of pop.

[laughing]

[narrator] Yet pollution
in the drinking water was
just the beginning.

The town was also
smothered in a cloud
of deadly dust,

blown from
the chat piles.

[Jean] Well,
it was a concern,

the wind brining
in the lead.

At that time there
wasn't much we
could do about it.

[Jean] My kids
took two or three
baths a day.

[narrator] Things got so bad

that a decade after
the pollution was
first discovered,

the environmental
agency stepped in.

They declared
the town a
Superfund site.

[Dr. Greg] A
Superfund site

is when companies
make an absolute mess
of the environment

and then the government
is left to clean up the wreck.

[Dr. Corina] Well, the bizarre
thing is that this area was
called a Superfund site

while people were
living here.

[Henry] I didn't know how
to take that.

We've always lived here.

We didn't see a
lot of change,
you know?

And when that
became a
Superfund site,

we were bewildered
with it actually.

[narrator] But the
environmental agency
was too late.

In 1996,

the town's worst
nightmares came true

as 40% of
Picher's children

tested positive for
lead poisoning.

[Dr. Greg] Lead
poisoning is especially
bad for children

because it affects
the entire central
nervous system

and all of its
development,

and it can lead to
much lower IQ,

it can lead to
behavioral issues,

even coma
and death.

[Dr. Sascha] In
just a few decades,

the town of Picher had
gone from epitomizing
the American Dream

to an environmental
nightmare.

[narrator] Despite
poisoned groundwater

and toxic dust,

the majority of
Picher's residents

still wouldn't leave.

This is where you live,
this is where your home is.

And if you don't have
very much money,

you can't go
anywhere else.

[narrator] But
underneath their feet,

yet another horror
was brewing.

Something witnessed
firsthand

by environmental
scientist Summer King.

[Summer] This
is a sinkhole.

It's about a hundred
feet across,

and about a hundred
or hundred and fifty
feet deep.

A sinkhole is...
is simply a hole

where the rough
of the mine

couldn't hold
itself up.

[narrator] The mining
companies left around
14,000 empty shafts

below the town.

They totaled three
and a half billion
cubic feet,

the equivalent volume
of 40,000 Olympic
swimming pools.

No one was safe.

The sinkholes did,
uh, swallow up
several houses.

One was completely sunk,
probably 40 or 50 feet.

[Jean] It was
really scary,
you know?

We... we worried
about it.

But, I... to tell
you the truth,

I don't know that
I lost any sleep.

But those people
that were asleep there

and woke up
and went outside

and they were,
you know,

20 feet deeper.

I'm sure

they were pretty upset.

[narrator] However,
these sinkholes were only
the beginning

of the terror
beneath the town.

In the early 2000s,
the US Army Corp of engineers
came in and did a study

and found that the entire
town of Picher could
collapse at any moment.

[narrator] With Picher
on the brink of disaster,

the government offered to
but out the residents.

We moved in September of 2007.

They gave 55 dollars
a square foot.

[narrator] But for those
slow to leave,

Mother Nature was about
to run riot.

[narrator] The town of Picher
had provided America
with the raw resources

to win two World Wars.

And the scars of mining

had sent
most of the residents fleeing.

But for those left,
things were about
to get worse.

In 2008, an EF4 level
tornado struck the town.

[narrator] The tornado
ripped through Picher,

destroying over
one hundred homes
and killing seven.

It looks like
an atomic bomb went off.

[Jean] The tornado
was horrible.

It was absolutely horrible.

I mean, that pretty much
decimated the town.

It was just a mess.

[narrator] In the aftermath,
the final residents left.

And on September 1st 2009,

the town that had given
America so much,
officially, ceased to exist.

Despite still being dubbed
America's most polluted town,

today there is
hope for Picher.

As control
of the poisoned land

has been returned
to the original landowners
to clean up.

[Summer] Quapaw Nation
has remediated

more than five and a half
million tons of chat

off of approximately
500 acres.

I would ballpark us
at approximately 10%
through the clean-up.

[narrator] While the process
is still decades
from completion,

there is optimism that
one day this will be
fertile land again.

Picher will never be
able to be residential

but Quapaw Nation
has plans for this area.

[narrator] The tribe are
hoping to return Picher

to pastureland
for their cattle

and create
a wildlife refuge.

[Henry] I'm proud of what
Quapaw people have established
and created,

an ongoing renovating
the area and making it safe.

And it is a
great accomplishment.

[narrator]
Despite the cleanup,

today the story of Picher
has become

infamously connected
with corporate greed.

[Dr. Sascha] Picher has served
to deliver a really
important lesson.

We should hold corporations
responsible for the damage
they do to the environment,

the damages they do
to our communities.

[Dr. Greg] The poorest
are always going to suffer.

There has to come a time
when we can regulate things

before it gets to this point.

[narrator] Although
all that's left is a handful
of crumbling buildings,

and rows
of concrete foundations,

some won't let Picher die.

[Jean] It makes me sad that
the mining companies

didn't hold up their end of
the bargain and clean up
their mess before they left.

I still go to Picher
two or three times a week,
drive around.

Yeah. Picher...
Picher has my heart.

[narrator] In the deep South,

a building that offered
a safe haven to
America's downtrodden,

changed the course
of music history.

[Dr. Kyle] We're in
Clarksdale, Mississippi

right next
to the Great River Road.

A roadway that runs
from the Southern
United States

all the way to it's very
Northern tip.

Thousands of people
drive by here everyday
without knowing its story.

There's a lot of history
here in Clarksdale.

A lot of people
don't take it to heed.

And I think that

of all the things,
we should not let it go.

Because once we lose
our history, our past,

we don't know our future.

[Dr. Kenya] On almost
every street,

there's an abandoned building.

[Linda] There's this big old
abandoned school.

There's a movie theatre
that looks like it's closed
some time ago.

There are even rusting
train cars on the tracks.

[narrator]
Among the disrepair,

one structure's story
stands out.

[Dr. Kyle] This place seems
to fit in with the rest
of the buildings around town.

It's dilapidated.
It certainly seems like
it's seen better days.

[narrator] It's where
one woman nurtured
multiple revolutions.

My grandmama understood
during that time
it wasn't easy.

She was recognized
as being the mother of blues.

[narrator] In Clarksdale,
Mississippi,

one building lies quiet
and almost forgotten.

But not to Zelena Ratliff,

she is keeping
its traditions alive.

[Zelena] When you come into
this building...

you're walking
on the footprints

and the history
of the great legends.

[narrator] The structure's
humble beginnings

date back to the dark days
of Jim Crow,

the age on segregation.

[Zelena] This building
was the only Black hospital

that was located here
in the Delta.

It was built in 1914.

[narrator] Despite Mississippi
having a Black majority,

racism in healthcare
was rife and most hospitals
turned away Black patients.

The Black Hospital,

was all that we
as Black people, had to go.

It might seem very small
but it decent enough.

[narrator]
Although this building
only had eight rooms,

in 1937, events here
would hit national news

when musical royalty
turned to this hospital
in her time of need.

♪ That man got a heart... ♪

[Zelena] Bessie Smith was
the Empress of the Blues.

She had a bad car accident
between Memphis and
coming to Clarksdale.

So, of course
they brought her here.

She had lost a lot
of blood

and she'd nearly severed
her entire arm.

[narrator] On September 26th,
1937,

Bessie Smith died here.

And shortly after,
the hospital closed
its doors for good.

But no one could predict
what would happen next,

as the building fell into
the hands of a woman
ahead of her time,

Mrs. Z. L. Hill.

[Zelena] She was a lady
that was determined
not to work for the White man.

She was determined
to own her own.

She walked in the door with
my daddy. At that time,
I was four years old.

And grandmother said,
"This could be
something special."

[narrator] Mrs. Z. L. Hill
added 20 rooms

and in 1944
with construction completed,

the building opened
it's doors again.

This is
the Riverside Hotel.

[Zelena] This hotel
opened up for Black people
who were travelling

and they could come here
and be safe.

[Linda] One of the biggest
challenges that faced

Black travelers
was finding accommodation.

Not only did many hotels
refuse them service,

but there was also an
estimated 10,000 sundown towns

scattered across the country
where all non-White people

had to leave town by sunset.

[Dr. Kenya] If an African
American found themselves
in a inhospitable space,

they could be assaulted
or even killed.

[narrator] Yet it wasn't until
the groundbreaking guidebook

brought Black travelers
straight to the hotel's door

that the business
really boomed.

[Linda] The Green Book
was a famous guide
for Black American travelers

detailing, cataloging
safe places to sleep, eat,
get gas across the country.

The Riverside Hotel
was one of the very few
places in Mississippi

that was listed in this book.

[Zelena] So while
you're travelling,
you get the Green Book

and then you'll say,

"Okay, if I'm going down
to Clarksdale where
can I stay?

Oh! They've got
a Riverside Hotel,
well, let's just stay there.

[narrator] Despite
the Green Book
bringing patrons

from all across the country,

a revolution that began
in Clarksdale

would firmly write this hotel
into American Folklore.

[Linda] Clarksdale is said
to be the birth place
of the blues.

This artform originated
in the plantations
around this area.

[Dr. Kyle] It's the place
where Robert Johnson

came and met the devil
at a crossroads and
sold his soul

to become the greatest
guitarist of a generation.

[narrator] The Riverside Hotel
became a heaven for visiting
blues musicians

as the owner offered them
so much more

than just a place
to lay their heads.

[Zelena]
My grandmama was the type
of woman who understood

the struggle of
that blues guy.

And then by having them
she became a part
of their family

and they all called her mom.

[narrator]
Some of the industry's
greatest legends,

like, Muddy Waters,
Sonny Boy Williamson,
and Howlin' Wolf

all called this place home.

[Zelena] This is
John Lee Hooker room.

John Lee Hooker used to love
playing for my grandmama
out front.

And she'd say, "Johnny,
aren't you tired yet?"

And you know what he'd say?

Mom, I love playing for you.

So, you see the love was here.

[narrator] But these walls
did far more than just
sing the blues.

In 1951, the Riverside Hotel,
shook the world.

[Zelena] We gonna
walk into the room
in which Ike Turner stayed.

[Linda] Ike Turner had had
a long standing relationship
with this hotel.

Living there kind of
off and on from the 1940s.

One day he and Jackie Brenston
was jamming on the front porch
of the hotel

when they came up
with a revolutionary
new sound.

[narrator]
According to legend,

a broken amp had created
a distorted buzz.

A sound that the world
had never heard before.

[Zelena] They came
running down.

They said,
"We got something here.

We finna go downstairs
and get it together."

And guess what?
That was "Rocket 88".

[narrator] It was the moment
that the world was introduced
to rock-and-roll.

[Dr. Kenya] Ike Turner went on
to record "Rocket 88"
in Memphis.

So to this day,
Memphis claims to be

the birthplace
of rock and roll.

But I think it's fair to say

that rock and roll was
conceived in the
Riverside Hotel.

[rock 'n' roll music playing]

[narrator] But just a
few years later,

this hotel would find
itself at the heart
of another revolution.

One that would split America.

[narrator] The Riverside Hotel
in Clarksdale, Mississippi,

changed music with
the birth of rock and roll.

But it would also play
a part in changing
American society.

[Dr. Kenya] In the 1950s
and 60s,

African Americans increasingly
were using their voice

to call for the end
of segregation.

[narrator] During this time
Clarksdale attracted

some of the nations
greatest civil rights heroes.

[Dr. Kenya] People like
Ralph Abernathy,
and Fred Shuttlesworth

came to Clarksdale.

And Martin Luther King Jr.
came to Clarksdale twice.

So of course when they arrived
their followers came in droves

and they needed
a place to stay.

[Dr. Kyle] It's incredible
to think about the kinds
of conversations

that would've happened
in these rooms

amongst those involved
in the civil rights movement.

[narrator] In 1964,
the voice of those
who stayed here

was finally heard.

[Kenya] Congress passed
the Civil Rights Act

which made it illegal to
segregate any public space.

[narrator]
But in an ironic twist of fate

desegregation slowed business
for the hotel

as Black travelers had
more choice of where to stay.

Until a decade later when some
unexpected visitors breathed
new life into the hotel.

[Linda] In the 1970's
the Riverside Hotel

began drawing tourists from
faraway places like
Japan and China.

[Zelena] These people
back then
were searching for the blues.

And if you're searching for
the blues, you gotta come
to Clarksdale.

And then whilst you come to
Clarksdale, who do you need
to see?

My grandmother.

[narrator] But the good times
wouldn't last.

In 1997, tragedy struck

as Zelena's grandmother died
aged 88.

[Zelena] My dad told me

one day we were sitting
in the office

and he said,

"You know, your grandmama,
she did it her way."

[narrator] Over the following
decades the family fought
to keep the business alive.

But in April 2020,
during the COVID-19 pandemic,

the hotel shut its doors
for good.

Today there is hope this hotel
will open once more.

[Linda] The Riverside Hotel
is currently crowdfunding
to restore and preserve it

and it's even received
a few historic
preservation grants.

[Zelena] The day that
The Riverside Hotel
will reopen,

and I'm using that as a plus
because it will reopen
one day,

will be the best feeling
in the world to me.

There's so much
beautiful history that is
laid upon this place.

And I want other people
to take part and feel it.

[narrator] On the edge of
the Rust Belt,

there's a relic of an
American icon

which transformed
public health
and saved countless lives.

[Bill]
Coming back here was like
seeing an old friend.

I missed this place.

I really honestly did.

'Cause everybody
loved working here.

This was our bread and butter,
this was everything, y'know?

We're in Easton,
in the heart of Pennsylvania's
Lehigh Valley.

This used to be one of
America's biggest
economic hubs.

And traces
of its former glory are
dotted all around the area.

[narrator] Among the remains
of heavy industry

one derelict structure
catches the eye.

Interesting things
happened here
that are historic

in the United States
and around the world,

manufacturing of a critically
important product.

[Jim] This is a classic
early 20th century
industrial building.

High ceilings,
enormous floors,

everything held up
by massive concrete columns.

But there aren't
a lot of clues as to
exactly what was made here.

[narrator] Yet on the roof

there's a remnant of
the building's past.

Could be the largest cup
in the world and this cup
literally saved lives.

[narrator] Today this building
is cold and empty,

but when Bill Adams
first came here aged eleven,

to him it was more like a
Willy Wonka wonderland.

[Bill] First time I walked
through this factory

was October 7th 1970.

They had a family night,
we walked through the plant.

All I remember was
the cups going through
the shoots.

Flying everywhere.

For a little boy,
yeah, it was magical.

[narrator] Bill was witnessing
the manufacturing
of an American institution.

[Rob] It's fair to say that if
you were alive in America
during the mid-20th century

then it's pretty likely
you would have
drunk out of a cup

made at this factory.

[narrator] At its peak

six million disposable cups
a month were made here.

This is the Dixie Cup Factory.

Yet its origins
can be traced back
to the early 20th century.

A time of death and disease.

[Jim] Throughout human history

people have been getting sick
and dying of diseases

without knowing
where they came from

especially as people started
to collect in big cities.

[Rob] One of the worst things
that was happening was
the sharing of drinking cups.

Literally hundreds of people
would drink from the same
glass or metal cup.

On trains, at schools or at
outdoor water fountains.

[narrator] To fight this
transmission of disease

a Boston lawyer called
Laurence Luellen

came up with a
revolutionary idea.

[Katherine] He realized that
the communal drinking cups

were a heaven
for the spread of bacteria

and to eliminate the risk,
you should have a disposable
form of cup.

[Jim] He tinkered and
tinkered with this idea

and he came up with a way
to fold a single sheet
of wax paper

in order to create
a leak proof cup.

[narrator] Luellen Christened
his invention
the health cup.

But there wasn't
a market for it.

Until...

America was in the grips
of the world's
deadliest global pandemic.

[narrator]
In the Lehigh Valley,

this factory was built
to save the lives
of Americans,

after over half a million died
during one of history's
greatest health emergencies,

the 1918
Spanish Flu pandemic.

The death toll

brought the newly invented
health cup

to the forefront
of public consciousness.

Everyone was very concerned
about catching the disease

and so the health cup
became enormously popular.

[narrator] Yet despite
the health cup's success,

its owners didn't want
to limit its market
to just medical use.

[Jim] In 1919,
the company changed
the name

and kind of oddly

the name was borrowed
from a popular line of dolls.

It would now be known
as the Dixie Cup.

They were trying
to make the cup seem
like something

sort of fun and innocuous.

[narrator] Demand boomed

and in 1921,

production moved to this
80,000 square ft. factory
in the Lehigh Valley.

Following on
from his father's footsteps,

Bill began working here
six decades later

aged twenty one.

I needed a job
so my dad said,

"Go over to Dixie,
they'll hire you."

Then I went and started
on night shift.

[narrator] But when Bill
was working here

the factory had become famous
for far more
than just drinking cups,

as the company
had taken advantage

of one of America's
favorite foods.

[Katherine] During the 1920's
America had a new love affair,
and that was with ice-cream.

In fact sales of ice-cream
went up 40%
between 1920 and 1929,

and Dixie Cup
wanted to get a slice
of this action.

[Jim]
When you look at a Dixie Cup

it seems like
the simplest thing

but the company realized
if that they made a slightly

shorter version
of their cup design

you could fill that little cup
with ice-cream.

[narrator] These one portion
ice-cream cups

took America by storm

thanks to a revolution
being kindled
in the offices here.

[Joseph] This is
the fourth floor
of the first wing.

When Dixie had it here
these were their offices.

The executives always had
wooden paneled offices.

[narrator] These walls gave
birth to some of the greatest
marketing campaigns

in American history.

[man on commercial]
With a little imagination

you can use a Dixie Cup
for practically anything.

A leftovers cup.

[Jim] These guys were geniuses
at marketing

they pioneered a lot of things
that we think
are common today.

[man on commercial]
A borrow a cup of sugar cup.

There are so many things
you can do
with disposable Dixie Cups,

you might not have any
left to drink out of.

[narrator] Yet perhaps
the real marketing genius

was what was printed
on the cups.

♪ Living Dixie style ♪

They featured Hollywood stars,
sports heroes,

and made children excited
to purchase them.

[Bill] When I started

you could stand down there

you could look up here

and you saw nothing but
Star Wars cups being made.

I'll never forget that.

[narrator] These marketing
campaigns dreamt up here

made the Dixie Cup
an American institution.

[Jim] It's one of
the only examples

where the product
became famous

not for the product,
but for the container
it came in.

The Dixie Cup.

[narrator] Despite the success

perhaps the most iconic
advertising idea
was on the factory itself.

[Jim] On the roof of
this building

where you would normally see
a large water tank.

You see a massive replica
of a paper cup.

[Bill] The giant cup
was like a beacon.

The thing with the cup
which was most

synonymous with
people that lived here,
even if you didn't work here

you knew it, when you
came down a highway

and you saw that bright cup
on top of this building,

they knew that was home.

[narrator] But no one

could have predicted
how the giant cup

would become
the town's savior.

[Rob] In 1955 Hurricane Diane
hit the east coast hard.

It caused more than
a billion dollars
worth of damage.

I remember cars being flooded
and submerged.

Seeing a house
coming down the river.

[narrator] The category three
hurricane leaves much of
the east coast

without power and fresh water.

For survival

the town of Easton turned to
the Dixie Cup Factory.

[Jim] Here was that water tank
on top of
the Dixie Cup Factory

that contained 50,000 gallons
of clean water

and that was a real resource
for the community
over the next couple of days.

[Rob] It's kind of ironic
that this giant replica
Dixie Cup

ended up doing exactly
what the original Dixie Cups
were intended to do.

Provide fresh drinking water.

[narrator]
Over the following decades

this much loved building

went from
strength to strength.

But near the end of
the 20th century

everything changed

with the emergence
of plastic cups.

Well they couldn't bring
the plastic machines in here

because the ceilings
aren't high enough.

So they decided
to move the stuff
to the plastic

plant up in Forks Township.

[narrator] In 1982

this factory produced
what would be

it's final Dixie Cup.

Today

all that remains of this
mecca of manufactory

are its concrete
columns and floors.

But these industrial features
are giving Joseph Readman

a chance to bring it
back to life.

[Joseph] The future plans
of the building

are to create a multi-family
apartment complex.

It could be 450 apartments.

Every unit

would have
ten or eight foot windows.

The hallways

would be defined
by the columns.

[Rob] The renovation of the
Dixie Cup factory
is an example

of how Lehigh Valley
is becoming an ideal
commuter town

for booming Philadelphia.

[narrator]
Perhaps, after the renovation

the building will once again

become the heart
of a community.

[Bill] We knew everybody.

We played football together,
we did everything together

back in the day.

The factory was like
the lifeblood
of this area.