City News & Updates
Krauskopf, Kevin
The City of Huntington has made modifications to grant documents regarding the proposed mitigation and demolotion methods for the former H.K. Porter industrial site. A public comment period will run from March 28 through April 11.
The documents, also available below, can be reviewed in the Community Development and Redevelopment office.
Located in a residential area in the eastern part of Huntington, the former manufacturing facility used what are now known to be hazardous materials in the production of automotive parts for much of its operational history.
The facility operated in Huntington for several decades. It opened in 1919 and expanded several times over the coming years, employing hundreds at its peak. Operations ceased in 1999, and then-owner Friction Materials declared bankruptcy the next year.
Original owner Rapid Rim Co. sold the facility in 1924 to the Asbestos Manufacturing Company, which began making brake pads and clutch facings there. The facility continued producing automotive parts while operating as H.K. Porter starting in the late 1940s and Friction Materials from the late 1980s until its closure.
Until the city acquired it more than a decade later, the property remained under private ownership following its purchase at bankruptcy auction in 2001. It has been vacant since 2008 when the Indiana Department of Environmental Management hauled away hazardous materials that had been transported from other locations and stored there.
Vandalism at the site has been a regular occurrence, and an April 2022 fire that was determined to be arson left the building with significant structural damage.