if you take a trip south of Casa Grande down Thornton Road you'll eventually spot a series
of incredibly bizarre structures rising from the desert sands of Arizona these abandoned
domes more reminiscent of the designs of a UFO and other buildings from sci-fi
media than typical manufacturing plants are certainly one of the most puzzling sites in
the entire State even today these domes remain at the center of many rumors and
urban legends from tourists and locals alike perhaps stranger still is the method that
workers used to achieve their iconic shapes today we discover the hidden mysteries of
the Lost domes of Casa Grande I'm your host Ryan sokash and you're watching its history
story of the domes begins with that of Casa Grande a bustling City often referred to as the
crossroads and heart of Arizona in keeping with both its location between Phoenix and Tucson but
also its previous history as a railway town Casa Grande started as a micro Village comprised of
three buildings and five people though it soon after took its humble beginnings and developed
into a small town as it grew railroad Executives decided to rename it to Casa Grande the city was
nothing less than resilient Through The Years first thriving as a railroad thanks to the
mining industry though it was later taken over by agriculture at the end of the 19th century
though fires raised the town twice within its first decade it remained and developed into the
Casa Grande that many arizonans are familiar with today boasting a population of around 57
000 it continues to grow and develop moving forward to the early 1980s a circuit board
manufacturing company called intercon technology quickly recognized the area's potential as a place
to expand the company's operations it wasn't long before the company's owner Patricia Zeb made plans
to transfer headquarters to Arizona and construct a new Factory plant initially housed in Mountain
View California and Incorporated in 1968 the company was one of many that were all vying for
the same thing success in the mini and personal Computing Market especially given the large
amounts of business this particular Market saw in Silicon Valley as such the domes were commissioned
and groundbreaking for the project began not long afterward before work on the structures
could commence however two main problems needed to be addressed one was the fact that construction on
one let alone all seven of the planned buildings would be incredibly expensive the second was the
simple fact that the Arizona heat would make finding a way to keep them all cool during the
hotter months of the year crucial it may sound unbelievable but the two concerns were solved
At Once by the incredibly unique construction method used to build each Dome let me explain
workers on the project used a form of construction known as thermal shell construction how it worked
was simple yet incredibly effective the foundation was set as usual and afterward a
massive balloon-like tarp was mounted on top of it this balloon-like tarp was then inflated and
provided support by a set of Steel trusses each Dome was built from the inside workers sprayed
a thick three-inch polyurethane foam coating over each side of the tarp then layered it with a three
inch layer of concrete reinforcement with metal fibers and added rebar these layers served to
form these structures themselves and provided a form of passive insulation against the desert
heat once the foam and the concrete hardened the tarp and Truss system were removed leaving behind
the hollow space that manufacturing assembly lines would presumably occupy this unique construction
method took just six weeks for each Dome and as such significantly cut the cost for each building
a series of narrow tunnels were constructed underneath the site's Eastern end to be used
as conduits for ventilation and piping fluids used in the manufacturing process these tunnels
while closed remain until this very day during construction many people held high hopes for the
future of the company's new location with hopes of expanding into the manufacturing of quartz watches
and large computers once complete the group of large segmented buildings would be used for
manufacturing the larger saucer-shaped structure would serve as the main office building and
headquarters for intercon but as you might imagine from these desolate images something went wrong
well the company that built the domes is still around today and has built domes in many different
states and over 50 foreign countries curiously the tarp used to create the largest Casa Grande Dome
was later reconfigured for the monolithic dome institute's headquarters in Italy the initial
four buildings cost around 150 thousand dollars each to construct and once they were completed
intercon's owner offered the following remarks in an interview quote I am happy but I am scared
there's still a lot of work to do so I'll be glad when I see the first board come off the planting
line sadly this work would never be finished as the foundations were laid out for three
additional buildings they were never completed as the company went bankrupt just a year later and
as we will see in a moment the dome's uniqueness both set them apart and doomed them you see its
unique structure made it near nearly impossible to repurpose and after intercon declared bankruptcy
it along with the rest of the company's assets were assumed by the union of California and left
unfinished and unused the concrete continued to erode as the years passed and the buildings sat
eternally empty though they were purchased Years Later by Casa Grande residence Daniel and Karen
Pierre in 2016. unfortunately at the same time the EPA deemed the property unsafe due to the
presence of toxic chemicals in the groundwater under the site then in 2016 the back of one
of the domes partially collapsed and caused a call for demolition the property owners settled
an agreement to clean up the area in exchange for leaving it standing as it had since become
something of a hotbed for legal dumping however this effort was more or less fruitless as in 2018
one of the domes fully collapsed and as a result they were once again ordered for demolition yet
despite the second order the remaining domes still stand today however it should definitely be noted
that the remaining structures are condemned for their lack of safety thanks to a feature on the
Travel Channel's popular show Ghost Adventures the domes saw a surge in interests both for artists
and those who were itching to see if there was any truth to the myths surrounding them in the past
others have also rented them out for various types of gatherings though the owners have tried to put
the property up for sale multiple times over the years they have thus far been unable to find any
buyers as of now it is undoubtedly best to admire the domes from afar seeing as structural Integrity
aside the property is still owned privately trespassers without permission and who have not
paid the entry fee face prosecution by local law enforcement along with potential arrests and heavy
fines but still will the domes themselves sit long abandoned they have ended up an unexpected
contributor to the artistic scene for example boots and la-based artist who stenciled her
poetry onto one of the walls of the domes had this to say the domes are dreary but have a sense of
hope their oddness alone is appealing random tomes in the middle of the desert have become a tourist
attraction though the domes were abandoned before their story could truly start it is fascinating to
wonder just how successful they might have been if they were completed and put into use but I suppose
this kind of recollection doesn't even matter as fate called on them to stand as a bizarre mystery
in the middle of Arizona's desert which is perhaps a fate even more legendary than that of a factory
let me know your thoughts in the comments section below and feel free to send me episode request
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miss our playlist on Arizona history until next time this is Ryan silkash signing off