See The Devastation at Charlestown Mall in Eerie Drone Footage

When a fire broke out at the abandoned Charlestown Mall in Utica, it spread quickly in the over-100-year-old building. Drone footage captures the extent of the damage.

The August 27, 2020 blaze, which partially reignited over the weekend, utterly devastated the building, causing most of the building to collapse into the ground, leaving just the brick exterior standing.

On YouTube, 'Railroading Rambler' posted his friend, John Ivory droned the site. "The old arms factory looked like something out of WW2 Europe. Thankfully, the buildings were not occupied; the entire structure appears to be a total loss."

The Charlestown Mall was once a destination outlet mall for shoppers, at one point housing 80 different vendors who sold goods at discounted prices. Its history dates back to 1902, when it housed manufacturing for Savage Arms, maker of the tommy gun.

Savage Arms left the property in the 1950s, and then a computer company moved in. The computer company eventually moved on and sold the building to Charles Gaetano, who created the Charlestown USA Outlet Mall.

Once the mall closed, the building would house a few individual businesses, but it was never cared for or maintained the same way again.

Steve Anderson also compiled drone footage of the site, shared by Made in Utica.