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Just by chance, in December I met Chris Daugherty of The Necessity for Ruins through Brad Maule (phillyskyline.com). 
Chris writes a fascinating blog about the forgotten and decaying parts of Philadelphia, and having heard about the impending implosion of the Tidewater Grain Elevator, was in the process of researching a way to get inside for some final photos.
Originally built in 1914 as the Girard Point Grain Elevator, the structure served the city during the decline of Philadelphia's days as a grain-exporting power. Recently, its fate was sealed by a failure to secure the proper permits for enormous advertising banners, the last possible use for the building. Its history is discussed in detail in The Necessity for Ruins and Jessica Chiu's excellent narrative in The Philadelphia Independent.
A few days after I met Chris, he had worked out the details and set up a visit for Wednesday, December 19. Five slightly-nervous explorers met at 8:00 AM with Harry Hagin, site superintendent for Camden Iron and Metal, the property's owner. A few minutes of off-road driving in decidedly non-off-road vehicles led us to the foot of the enormous tower. With a few safety admonitions, but the general attitude "You're big boys, don't kill yourselves," we were set free to explore. Awesome.
Click to the second part, where we go inside... then, contrary to self-preservation instincts, all the way up to the roof.
The interior ground level exposed us to the first of many literal pitfalls to come. Holes at our feet showed dark floors and machinery twenty feet below, which, according to The Philadelphia Independent, are the rumored homes of "dog-sized rats."
After a few minutes on the first floor, we went back outside for some fresh air, but the attempt was a failure due to the sludge smell from the nearby wastewater treatment plant. Brad and I noticed Chris and another visitor couldn't be found. We figured they had gone upward, but we hadn't seen any stairs. It turns out we just hadn't looked in the right place: there was a haphazard staircase, which appeared to be an afterthought, in a support column.
Heart pounding, I ducked into the stairwell. The stairs were covered with concrete debris from previous strikes of the wrecking ball on the walls above, making the stairway difficult to climb and our sanity easy to question.
The challenges continued after the pile of concrete, including a missing stair (shown in the end of the first half) and a broken one. Above these hurdles, the spiral climb seemed endless, and before we reached the first level, we were well above 100 feet up.
Avoiding more holes in the floor - these providing the fastest way back down to the ground level - we worked our way toward the north wall. As we approached it, we found that there was no wall to be seen, only a decaying floor framing views over Philadelphia. Tentatively shuffling out to the edge, we grabbed our photos of the amazing views, then backed away in search of the next stairway.
Finding it, we ascended four or five more staircases, each of a different variety and in a different location. Although not quite as rickety as the spiral staircase, it's doubtful the fall-protection would've met today's safety standards.
Before we could get to the roof, one more challenge remained: a rusty 20-foot ladder to an exit hatch. The ladder was only connected on one side at the top, and it swung but held strong as we climbed. It made us nervous enough that we both forgot to photograph it.
Once on the roof, 250 feet above South Philadelphia, there was nothing left to do but rest our legs and enjoy the views.
For those interested in a more thorough tour, eighty-seven photos from the exploration are available on my website. These photos, and those of the day's four other explorers, are the last to show the interior of this amazing structure. The Tidewater Grain Elevator was imploded on December 23, 2007.
Photos by author, SkyscraperSunset.com, December 19, 2007.
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I am frightened for you just checking out these babies. Doesn't look so solid. Thanks for the shots. HughE
These are spectacular. When I saw the blog entry about the implosion on the ruins site, I was upset that I hadn't gotten any photos of the place. This makes it all better. Good job.