Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

I was close to Benton, IL this morning and decided to drive by and take a look at the old Mariah factory building. It was a bit sad seeing the once thriving business with a for sale sign out front. There was a "Godfrey Marine" sign on the warehouse section of the building. We drove through the gate towards the back where the boats once came out finished. There were a couple of people there and apparently at least the warehouse / manufacturing part of the building is being used for something. The front office section looked pretty deserted however. I wondered what things looked like when my Shabah came out of there in 1998.............

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

:( Too bad you didn't snap some pics I'd like to see it, sad as it may be. Do you happen to have the address?

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

These were either posted, or emailed to me last year, I can't remember which member sent them, but they drove by and took these... Kudos to the photographer! :wink_thumbup:

These were taken on August 13, 2009. Pretty empty and desolate, even back then!

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Dredd,

I believe the address is 2853 Industrial Park Road, Benton, IL 62812. Sorry I didn't have a camera with me. Thanks for the photos, Chris- it really hasn't changed at all from these photos.

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Thanks for the address. I wanted to see if I could look at it from Street View.
Thanks for the pics, Chris and whoever took them.

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

The credit goes to member drnil73, he mentioned back in May of '09 that he passed by the old plant everyday so he was kind enough to take these pictures for the club. I believe he was a past Mariah employee as well.

WetWilly

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

I will be stopping by the old factory on my way back from Florida at the end of June. I'll make sure to take some pictures to share with the club.

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

:wink_thumbup::wink_thumbup:

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

That address is a little out.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@38.01...4K3X06abNw!2e0

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Street view is pretty cool! Looks like the house right across the road is abondoned also.

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

I always imagined it would back onto a lake not an airport!

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

If you look at it on google maps on the satellite view, follow the railroad track to the back half of the factory, and there's molds and what even looks like a gigantic boat junk pile... Wonder what all of that is? Hopefully not Mariah leftovers....

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Wow that pile of boats is crazy. Wonder if I can sneak back there... There are quite a few trailers scattered around also. Probably break Jimmy's heart if he had to see it like that.

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Please do....and take your camera with you!

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

I'm confused?
Did Mariah have 2 yards???
Because the factory pictured is not the same as the factory unit with the boats that ShabahZ280 is referring too....

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

The photos appear to match your Google Maps link but not the listed address on Industrial Park Dr.

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Here's what I mean,

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

The address I have on my 2001 brochure is
10231 Sugar Creek Road, Benton, IL 62812-5300

The factory pictured is defiantly the one in the pro mo vids :-)

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

The photos posted earlier match the description of the bldg that was bought by Godfrey Marine back in 2003. News reports indicated that they bought 'the old Mariah factory'. Godfrey's address was shown as 10231 Sugar Creek Rd in Benton. Looks like Google Maps calls it North Central Street now... Bldg is just south of Petroff Rd.

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Ah! I wasn't looking at the old Mariah factory. What company would that be then? Didn't Crownline open up down the road when Mariah closed? I would have figured it was closer to Rend Lake also.

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Celebrity, Godfrey Marine, Bombardier, Chariot trailers, Prestige Trailers & Heritage Trailers used to be in Benton and i think that Crownline & Mark Twain plus a couple of others used to be in nearby West Frankfort.

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Crownline was started around the same time as Mariah, (around 1989-1990). Jimmy Fulks (Mariah), and Fred Claxton (Crownline) both worked together at Celebrity until 1989 when they both left to start their own boat companies. Crownlines are built in West Frankfort, IL, which is roughly about 10 miles away from Benton, where Mariahs were built.

Interestingly enough, Crownline reportedly laid off 206 employees in June of 2013 due to a slow market... Which sounds very familiar... Foreshadowing???

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Ive heard some people at LOTO complain about Crownline quality over the last few years. Ive never owned one but they seem like a nice boat. It sure would be nice to see Mariah back in full swing someday... Seems like all the quality products fall by the wayside and the not so good keep on keepin on...

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Here is what I can contribute. Crownline was based West Frankfort and they (Crownline) built a new plant in the mid 90s on the south side of the same-Iwalked through this building just before construction was complete. Mariah ended up running some operations out of this abandoned Crownline facility after Crownline got situated and setup at their new location. My cousin worked in small parts for Mariah Boats operations in W. Frankfort, which was on Industrial Park Road by the Mc Donalds/KMart.Oh, W. Frankfort is 6 miles from Benton. Celebrity was about 2 miles east of Mariah's Benton location. Many of the hulls you guys are talking about laying around the building were scraps placed there before the end of production, nothing more. Drove by the old plant about a month ago...looks the same.

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

"Unit with boats" that Andy's picture points to was Celebrity boats that was later bought by Bombardier.

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

hmmm... i wonder if that had any bearing on Bombardier being one of the potential buyers of the Mariah name from Sea-Fox a couple of years ago?

Goner... anything else you can tell us about the old plant / operations?

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Attached is the photo of the small parts location that I mentioned in West Frankfort. Production numbers were in the low teens (12ish per day) in the summer of '94 and the place was miserable and not prepared for. Production may have maxed out around 15 (per day) that summer.

Remember, production facilities go to areas like Southern Illinois, so they can exploit the human resource via low wages. Coal mining had fallen off many years before and the entire area was left with almost nothing. Now locals are screaming what a great thing coal is because it is the only thing they have to look forward to, despite the environmental impact. I digress. Imagine...$6.50 per hour (min. wage was $4.25 then/there), 95-100 degrees, fiberglass (known carcinogenic) EVERYWHERE. I think Admin gave the employees a few days notice when the plant was to stop operations. I was told they didn't want to give employees too much notice, so they could finish up business operations before they left. If you were smart you would learn quickly to get an education after working there... some were so motivated they went to law school as a result ;)

Crownline was generally perceived to be a better boat of the three local companies. I guess 20 years later Mariah is a memory and Crownline is still making boats, thus true?

Happy Boating!

Re: Drove by old Benton Mariah Factory today
 

Interesting. And i dont think most of us ever thought it was all 'wine & roses' working at the Mariah facilities. ;)

Crownline makes some very nice boats but i suspect that they simply did a better job of managing their business and their financing along with the relations with their employees. I'm not sure their boats were 'better' than Mariah boats though. I suspect both companies, with being so close to each other, were competitive and Mariah's management simply gave up the battle when they figured they would lose control of their employees once they became unionized. Just 'conjecture' on my part though....