And who's this Orson Welles fella with all that crazy talk on the radio last night about Martians?

There was one in Columbia, SC, when I was a kid. It smelled like a skunk.

No, I'm not referring to the St. Louis Cardinals of 1934, although I understand they got their nickname due to the fact that these large storage tanks were a fixture in many Eastern cities up to the 1950s.

When I was a child, our neighborhood had one that was at least five times the size of this one. I recall it must have been the height of a 30 story building. To call it gigantic might have been an understatement.

Its size always intimidated me; it was an imposing landmark that could be seen for miles around. Up close it made the wooden utility poles beside it look like little toothpicks. The superstructure had pulleys that would allow the tank to expand upward or contract down as the volume of gas increased or decreased.

With the advent of natural gas coming east, these structures became redundant and largely disappeared from the urban landscape.

I've been looking for photos of these tanks; thanks for posting this one.

[Very interesting. So where was it? More pix here and here and here. - Dave]

You made me laugh out loud.

(Unlike this picture, which is SO depressing...)

Looks like Camden has been the worst place in the world for a good while now.