The Cleveland, Ohio Cedar Avenue substation was constructed in 1917, and was the first automatic substation completed for the Cleveland Railway Company. It was closed in 1948.
Abandoned Posts
If the weathered facades of the industrial structures lining Ashland Road in Cleveland, Ohio, could speak, they would regale us with tales of a rich and multifaceted history. Despite the paucity of readily available information and the occasional misinterpretation stemming from firsthand accounts and urban exploration, the complex’s narrative proves more intricate and captivating than initially envisioned. Though a wealth of materials has been uncovered, certain gaps remain unresolved, adding an air of mystery to this chronicle.
In the annals of Springfield, Ohio’s industrial heritage, one edifice stood as a towering exemplar of human ingenuity and ambition – the Ohio Edison Mad River power plant.
Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to bike the former Hocking Valley Railroad River Division (HV) near Gallipolis, Ohio. The Gallia County Hike and Bike Trail was completed from Logan to Gallipolis in October 1880 for the HV. The tracks were abandoned in 1992 and dismantled a year later.
Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to bike the former Hocking Valley Railroad River Division (HV) near Gallipolis, Ohio. The Gallia County Hike and Bike Trail was completed from Logan to Gallipolis in October 1880 for the HV. The tracks were abandoned in 1992 and dismantled a year later.
Freight depot
The Chickamauga Creek crossing, built in 1903 by the Mt. Vernon Bridge Company of Mt. Vernon, Ohio.
The Little Chickamauga Creek crossing, built in 1903 by the Mt. Vernon Bridge Company of Mt. Vernon, Ohio.
The rail-to-trail ends near the US 35 freeway, but continues again from Kerr to Bidwell.
These are further north past Minerton and were taken during the winter, but show the excellent condition of the right-of-way and tunnels that would make for an ideal rail-to-trail.
In the annals of West Virginia’s architectural heritage, the Cottrill Opera House in Thomas is a testament to the enduring legacy of design.
Among the myriad of sites explored during Downtown Mansfield Inc. and Preservation Ohio’s Forbidden City Tour in Mansfield, Ohio, one notable stop was the building located at 98 North Main Street.
With profound gratitude extended to Downtown Mansfield Inc. and Preservation Ohio, the public recently gained access to explore the former Charles Schroer Mortuary.
With profound gratitude extended to Downtown Mansfield Inc. and Preservation Ohio, hundreds of residents were afforded the opportunity to delve into Mansfield, Ohio’s rich history through a series of guided tours encompassing five significant sites within walking distance. The first installment of this five-part series spotlights the City Mills Building.
If you have watched the Shawshank Redemption, Air Force One, Tango & Cash or Harry and Walter Go To New York, then you have at at least previewed parts of the now-closed Ohio State Reformatory. Designed by Levi Scofield, a Cleveland architect, th
If you have watched the Shawshank Redemption, Air Force One, Tango & Cash or Harry and Walter Go To New York, then you have at at least previewed parts of the now-closed Ohio State Reformatory.
Designed by Levi Scofield, a Cleveland architect, the Ohio State Reformatory was constructed from 1896 to 1896 in the Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Anne architectural style – in a manner as to encourage those inmates to turn away from their sin-filled lifestyle and to repent what they have done wrong. Comprising more than 250,000 square feet, the prison contains the world’s largest free-standing steel cell block.
Ohio State Reformatory closed on December 31, 1990 and is now open for general tours seven days a week.
- But on June 30th, a special Ohio State Reformatory Tour for Photographers, hosted by Abandoned will be held from 9 AM to 1 PM, with gates opening at 8:30 AM.
- The price for the event is $75 for four hours, a 50% discount that is normally offered.
- A minimum of 20 participants is required for this event.
- The location is at 100 Reformatory Road, Mansfield, Ohio.
- The event fee of $75 will be paid at the door. Cash and credit cards are accepted.
Tour the historic San Francisco, California Armory for just $28 for two, now listed on Groupon. Constructed in 1914, the 220,000 square-foot armory hosted the National Guard until 1973 and then remained vacant for three decades. It was purchased in 2
Tour the historic San Francisco, California Armory for just $28 for two, now listed on Groupon. Constructed in 1914, the 220,000 square-foot armory hosted the National Guard until 1973 and then remained vacant for three decades. It was purchased in 2007 and then subsequently rehabilitated for adult film sets by Peter Acworth, owner of Kink.com.
The tour lasts 90 minutes and includes the armory’s five floors and includes both historical and risque trivia. The walk includes the preserved shooting range and the subterranean Mission Creek that flows through the basement. It also includes… a tour of a plush lounge and dungeon, along with props, and perhaps a peek at a live filming if it is in progress.
The tour is of course being protested by War on Illegal Porngraphy and Morality in Media, who claims that the armory is not family friendly nor educational. Both groups oppose pornography and indecency, and have called for a boycott on Groupon over the deal. WND has the scoop on the protest, which apparently has not affected sales.
Well, if you are interested in the tour, it is just $28 for two, a good 57% discount.
Further Reading
To be offered beginning in June, the Indianapolis, Indiana Catacomb tours will take the public beneath City Market into mostly unknown catacombs that date to 1886. The cavernous walkways, featuring brick archways and columns of limestone, encompass more than 20,000 square feet and were part of Tomlinson Hall, a structure along Market Street that burned in 1958.
To be offered beginning in June, the Indianapolis, Indiana Catacomb tours will take the public beneath City Market into mostly unknown catacombs that date to 1886. The cavernous walkways, featuring brick archways and columns of limestone, encompass more than 20,000 square feet and were part of Tomlinson Hall, a structure along Market Street that burned in 1958.
Having been mostly unused except for storage in recent years – and as an emergency homeless shelter during a winter storm of 1912, the tours will open up a part of the city that has been unseen by most, and spark some ideas on a future reuse for the catacombs. Suggestions for reuse include an underground park or nightclub, but a study conducted in the 1990s estimated a cost of more than $7 million just to bring the catacombs up to modern safety standards.
City Market and Indiana Landmarks will offer tours on Saturdays beginning on May 26. In July, tours at midday will be held on Wednesdays. The cost will be $10 per person.
More information on the tours will be posted soon.
Further Reading
Among the iconic abandoned structures that dot the landscape of Detroit, Michigan, Lee Plaza poignantly embodies the city’s descent from prosperity to urban blight in the latter half of the 20th century.
In a distant chapter of my life, I was granted the privilege of exploring the Lafayette Building, a towering edifice that once graced the heart of downtown Detroit, Michigan.
Located in the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, King Solomon Baptist Church’s facility at Marquette and 14th Street was best known as the first African American church to be located on a major thoroughfare.
Located in the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, King Solomon Baptist Church‘s facility at Marquette and 14th Street was best known for becoming a popular venue for influential black leaders.
The Gothic-styled church was completed in 1920, and housed Temple Baptist Church from 1934 to 1951. Temple was a conservative, pro-segregationist church that barred African Americans from attending, and boasted a congregation of 5,000. In 1937, an Art Deco-styled auditorium was completed across the street from the church.
Like many churches, it was home to a corner pharmacy which helped pay off the construction bonds of the building, and to help cover future maintenance costs.
After the black community began to dominate the demographics in the neighborhood, Temple relocated to a large facility on Grand River Avenue where there was a sizable white population. But after the neighborhood became more mixed demographically, Temple once again relocated to West Chicago Avenue near Telegraph Road.
King Solomon relocated from Delmar Street to Temple’s vacated facility at Marquette and 14th in 1952, which soon became a popular for influential black leaders. It was also where Malcolm X delivered Message for the Grass Roots, where he attacked the non-violent civil rights movement and called for a “black revolution.” It was also where he criticized the 1963 March on Washington and noted that all black Americans had a common enemy: white people. The church also hosted other leaders, including Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall, who was the chief council for the NAACP and later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Johnson. Marshall oversaw the landmark Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka case.
On March 22, 2011, the Detroit City Council designated King Solomon and another church within a historic district. Today, King Solomon Baptist Church survives with a much smaller congregation across the street in the auditorium.
Further Reading
Detroit’s Eastern Catholic High School, despite its blown out windows and scrapped interior, was still breathtaking and beautiful.
Driving down Gratiot Avenue in Detroit, Michigan late night in the summer of 2011, I came across the former Eastern Catholic High School. The obviousness of its abandonment, with its blown out windows and the hulking structure contrasting to the vast, empty lots surrounding it, made the four-level school all the more interesting to enter and photograph.
But the state of the school was not always so dim. From its closure in 2005 to 2010, the building was minimally maintained, enough that the windows remained intact and the interior in decent condition, probably with the intent of reopening the building for a charter school or for another use. But costs of maintaining the building, constructed in 1926, dogged the diocese, and the church stopped all maintenance. Within weeks, all of the windows, which were fairly new, were busted out and the building stripped of anything of value.
The first trip inside was nothing short of a shock. Books from various classrooms lined the hallways, some giving instruction on computers, others on English literature. Test tubes and other chemistry equipment were unbroken and in good condition in a storage room. And the library was fully stocked, the materials neatly lining the bookshelves awaiting for the next guest to come check out some publication. The floors were relatively clean, sans some debris left over from scrappers, and it appeared that the building was salvageable for reuse.
I eventually entered the 1923 auditorium and was enamored at the quality of construction. Cast iron decorative pillars, some of which had completely rusted away, adorned the plaster walls. Some detail work along the ceiling was still intact, along with the retro lighting. It seemed that the auditorium had not been used for quite a while and based on reports from some alumni, had been used for storage for the past few decades.
The history of the school was linked invariably to that of St. Anthony Catholic Church. The first school was built in 1865 and expanded in 1882. A grade school was started in a building near the church in 1896, followed by the completion of the first high school in 1918 at the corner of Field and Frederick Streets. An auditorium, pictured above, was constructed across the street in 1923, with classes held in the basement and first floor. Three years later, a larger high school structure was completed as an extension of the auditorium, adding 13 classrooms and laboratories.
A gymnasium was later built in the 1950s.
Enrollment peaked in 1927 at 1,040. Despite the school’s great academic and athletic record, the number of pupils continued to decline, hitting a low of 125 in 2005 – the same year that the diocese pulled the plug on Eastern Catholic.
More interesting is the nice folks who were setting foot into the school when I arrived on my last trip to the complex. The group, some from Los Angles and San Francisco, California, had come to Detroit to investigate various historic properties to purchase. Their desire was to create an artist work-live environment, but unfortunately, the school was too far gone to be saved and had already been abated in preparation for demolition. L. Rooney, Adrienne and others pose for a photograph below (lost some names).
I gave them a brief tour of the school before I encountered another group – alumni from 1971! D. Spoutz, Linda and C. Lorenzetti pose for a photograph below.
All in all, it was a great and fitting ending to my final trip into Eastern Catholic.
Further Reading
For those entranced by the enigmatic allure of urban decay, the Packard Automotive Plant in Detroit, Michigan, has long reigned as a preeminent destination. This colossal complex, spanning a staggering 3.5 million square feet and dominating the vistas from all directions, has borne witness to the inexorable ravages of time, underutilization, and the incursions of scrappers.
Several years ago, nine schools in Cincinnati, Ohio were auctioned to the highest and most qualified bidder. The McKinley School was one of those.
Spurred on by an impromptu excursion to photograph a collapsed bridge in western Kentucky, I decided to visit a part of the state that I had not yet fully explored. From Owensboro to Paducah, from the isolated Land Between the Lakes to dense streetscapes, I toured the back roads in hopes of finding something new to write about and to photograph. Then, I came across Cairo, Illinois. What the hell happened here?
After a recent drive through Cairo, Illinois (article forthcoming), and seeing the effects of decades of racial segregation and violence, and then economic decline and population loss, I wondered what other major and minor cities in the United States has experienced such steep and dramatic losses? Besides Cairo, Detroit and Wheeling, I asked my Facebook readers of other examples.