Sounds like maybe it might have been cleaning chemicals used to disinfect. It wasn't today's science years ago. Houston had an American Can manufacturer that also had a special smell but it was always like that 24/7. One of those water treatment plants don't smell like a fresh cantaloupe for sure.
I think it was a meth-lab, and supposedly, I was right. We had some folks pretty close to our building get arrested for it, but I didn't see or hear of that happening. I can't begin to describe it as anything other than toxic waste
tell me about it and how many reports were turned in just by my neighbors in the apartment bldg. Only one of them guessed at what it was. Some would have believed a train had crashed near here if we had a railroad track You know how old people are, they worry bout every little smell
That is funny. I lived in Milwaukee long ago and you could tell what day it was by the smell in the air. There was a chocolate factory that could gag. Not candy but raw chocolate. The breweries did something with their yeasts on one day that was awful. But then there were the stockyards. I don't mind cow manure but this was much worse. Maybe decomposing animals are the worst. They lie on the side of the road and swell and then explode, stinking heavily for days. We used to have a pick up guy but we lost him years ago to cutbacks.
Years ago there was a big fuss about the smells coming from a pulp wood processing plant in a neighboring county here. They said it smelled like rotten eggs. I've never smelled a rotten egg. I should leave one out in the sun one day just to smell it. Like sulfur? It can't be that bad.
Another bad stink is in Argo, Illinois where Argo cornstarch is made. My mother in law lived in Argo and worked there almost her whole life. Whenever we visited her, I'd try to stay in the house as much as possible because of the weird smell outside from the Argo plant. Probably gases expelled from drying the corn or something. It smelled kind of rancid.
How could I forget commercial chicken houses?!! They are all over Georgia. If you are lucky enough to live close to one, the week they clean them out in the summer is overwhelming. Combination of dead meat and chicken manure. And it's in the air everywhere. Can't get away from it. At least it only lasts a week or so. If they spread it on a field nearby it last for another day or two.
People visiting the Houston area often comment about the petrochemical plant smells. I tell them, "smells like money."