Fields Building and Baptist Hospital news
No surprise here. The former Fields Building in downtown Ashland, Kentucky, once containing a Sears Department Store, was condemned on May 1 after grandiose plans to restore the six-story building failed to materialize. Although it is unlikely that the building will be demolished due to the high expense, it may expedite the developers willingness to find new sources of funding to renovate the structure into apartments and retail -- or their willingness to sell the property to another interested party.
Meanwhile, asbestos abatement is scheduled to begin on the former Southeast Kentucky Baptist Hospital in Corbin on May 12, with structural demolition beginning on May 26
DuPont Junior High School to be demolished?
The Charleston Daily Mail reported on May 1, 2008 that the former DuPont Junior High School in Belle, West Virginia could soon be demolished. Closed in 1999 when DuPont and East Bank high schools merged into Riverside High, the former point of pride of the region has fallen on hard times: remnants of broken windows scatter the grounds, and the general appearance of the building leaves something more to be desired.
The building is still used for storage for the school system. Demolition at the earliest would not be able to begin until after the next fiscal year which starts on July 1, and even then, the prospects of securing financing for asbestos abatement, interior cleanup and demolition is grim due to the high costs.
T.W. Samuels Distillery and Eastern State Hospital
Abandoned's updates for March 2008 include a former distillery and a mental institution from Kentucky.
The first, T.W. Samuels Distillery, was a precursor to the famous Makers Mark brand that resides in Loretto, Kentucky. The T.W. Samuels Distillery dates back to 1844 and operated continuously until Prohibition. It reopened after Prohibition was repealed, although new, cheaper methods of production were being investigated.
In the early 1950s, the company eliminated the use of mash tubs that were used in the production of their spirits and began to use a continuous cooker. This increased efficiency and output, however, the taste was more bitter and had a burnt flavor. As a result, sales dropped drastically and production ceased in 1952.
A little further east is Eastern State Hospital, the second-oldest psychiatric facility in the United States and the first west of the Appalachian Mountains. It's roots date to 1816, and although it has had numerous expansions that all but ended in the mid 1950s, it is still in continuous operation today. A new, state-of-the-art facility is slated to be constructed in the next few years at Coldstream Research Park.
Don't worry. The former hospital structures will mostly be preserved. Although a few are abandoned, they are relatively minor in comparison to the main wards and administration offices. A deal is in the works to renovate the buildings into a mixed-use property containing a community college.
Historic Lincoln Hotel collapses in Gassaway, W.Va.
The historic Lincoln Hotel partially collapsed on February 5, 2008, according to the Charleston Daily Mail.
The three-story building was constructed in 1923 and was in operation as a hotel until the mid-1960s. It featured a restaurant that served up 'good old-fashioned homemade food' and was described by the West Virginia Writers Project in 1942 as a 'modern hostelry well known for its hospitality and homelike accommodations.'
The building has been vacant since the early 1990s, and deterioration led to the roof collapsing in 2004.
A state hospital and a five-and-dime
I neglected to inform everyone of two substantial additions to Abandoned! The first covers Huntington State Hospital in West Virginia. Although it is still active and has been considerably modernized, it was a much bleaker picture only fifty-years ago when severe overcrowding was only mirroring conditions in mental institutions nationwide. An exhaustive historical perspective into these social issues has been added.
Elsewhere, the F.W. Woolworth five-and-dime store in downtown Lexington, Kentucky was substantially revised with more text that covers its history from its early beginnings to the building's demise only a few years ago. Today, the lot remains a parking lot, a huge blight upon a downtown that is seeing a strong uptick in infill redevelopment.
I've also added some new links to other web-sites!
Old St. George and Stearns and Foster updates
I have rewritten the Old St. George Church article, with new information in regards to the February 1, 2008 fire, and have added new photographs of Stearns and Foster being partially demolished.
Keep an eye out for more new developments and photographs!
St. George's Church, post-fire (UPDATE 3)
There are reports of a three-alarm structural fire at St. George's Church at Calhoun and Scioto streets in the Clifton Heights neighborhood near the University of Cincinnati campus.
Additional updates will be provided in the future.
UPDATE 1: The left steeple collapsed at 7:44 PM, with the remaining steeple fully engulfed. Embers are falling to the street below.
UPDATE 2: The fire has been contained, with major fire damage extending on the two steeples.
UPDATE 3: I have added post-fire damage photographs.
A casual drive
A casual drive through the Kentucky backroads has revealed some long-forgotten abandonments. The Frenchburg Presbyterian College is one such example, having sat idle for several decades in a community a little larger than 500. This institution, however, was the first high school in the county, and offered a broad and comprehensive education for fifty years.
Mt. Sterling is only a thirty minute drive from Frenchburg and is a more visible county seat, a picturesque community with a revitalizing downtown and charming Victorian-inspired houses. That's why it comes as a surprise as why the former high school has not been reused, given that it is located on a major roadway into the heart of the town. The first of the complex was constructed in 1889, and expanded in 1912, 1922 and finally in 1938. It later housed a middle and elementary school, and the numerous buildings contained auditoriums, gymnasiums, classrooms and a cafeteria. The three-story structures were abandoned in the 1990s when a new school was constructed on the outskirts of the town.
Not all news is as depressing. A great example of reuse has taken place in rural Bourbon County. The Ruddles Mill School was last used in 1989 and remained disused for over a decade, although it is now being restored into apartments. Elsewhere, the Mt. Sterling Baptist Church, which was previously featured on Abandoned as a neglected church whose building dates to 1916, has been saved and reopened headed by a youthful pastor and congregation. To conclude this Christmas update session, the Utica Elemntary School in southern Indiana is seeing some positive news after being closed and relocated in 2000. Work is slowly progressing on restoring the school building that dates to 1936 into a community and senior center, although much funding is still required.
Have a safe and merry holiday season!
Sherman Cahal, author of Abandoned
Variety of updates
Abandoned welcomes the month of December with a variety of updates!
The first relates to the Military Institute which closed in the summer of 2006. Included is an in-depth historical view into the school's past dating back to the 1850s when it was better known as the Male and Female Collegiate Institute. It later merged in with a county high school but relocated to its own facilities where it remained until just recently. Declining enrollment and a sharp reduction in funding led to its sudden closure, where papers that need to be signed are still scattered across the President's desk, where beds are in top condition ready for am inspection that will never come, where milk and other foods occupy refrigerators that would have served an eager student body.
Not far from the Institute is the now-deceased John Graves Ford Memorial Hospital that was located in central Kentucky. This was one of the first abandonments I stumbled upon when I first came to the University of Kentucky in Lexington. The hospital stood abandoned for many years near the center of Georgetown, and it was a pretty stark derelict. Broken windows were galore, and boards lay on the ground, ripped by vandalizing teenagers looking for a cheap thrill of potentially finding ghosts and goblins. And the infamous homeless rapist that was so scrawled on the walls. Inside, infant incubators lay about in an orderly fashion, along with pill dispensing equipment, stoves and patient records. It's all gone now, along with the original 1917 front, the 1952 north wing, and the 1972 west wing.
Nothing stands in its place today.
Renderings of a 1972 addition and additional text relating to the hospital's tenure have been added.
Of local interest is the Morehead State University Natatorium in Kentucky. Closed to the public in 1988, the Natatorium is slated for demolition after preservation architects deemed the building to be unusable. It was once billed as the 'epitome of swimming pools.' History and some historical photographs have been uploaded.
In West Virginia, Barboursville Brick has been demolished and is being prepared for new development.
And finally, overlooking neglected pastures and hay fields, a Federal-revival mansion stands outside a city whose goal in the 1990s was quite paramount: historic preservation. Unfortunately, this gem was overlooked and it stands abandoned, with furniture resting against the walls on the inside, appliances still plugged in in the kitchen and curtains that flap in the wind. It was last used in 1963.
Odds and ends
Abandoned welcomes the holiday season by introducing the Knox County Poorhouse, with photography for this location completed by Craig Moyer. Additional historical writeups were completed for the Lexington and Covington Railroad Depot in Paris, Kentucky and for Farmers Bank in nearby Clintonville -- once home to a robbery in the 1920s that made newspaper headlines throughout the state. To conclude, a photograph montage was completed of the William Tarr House, a Federal-style house that was completed before the Civil War. Italiniate-trim was added later in its life, along with several additions, and the residence was abandoned in 1987. Inside this impressive two-story house is an antique and rare player-piano, various kitchen appliances, some furniture, beautiful wallpaper and ornate plaster trim. Hopefully this stunning house can be saved from demolition by neglect!
Back to the ammo plant...
Corbin says good riddens to the Southeastern Kentucky Baptist Hospital, after two decades of abandonment and neglect. Deemed an eyesore and a safety hazard in a residential community on a hill overlooking the city, the three-story facility has seen better days, with copper thieves and ghost hunters making up the better part of its patients. A new photo gallery, titled 'Last Chance,' was uploaded to Abandoned. You can also check up on the exhaustive, yet confusing history of the hospital on the location guide as well!
Elsewhere, Ironton High School is nearing demolition. Air conditioning units have been removed, along with many ornamental fixtures and some connecting buildings. Some new exterior photographs have been uploaded, which show off its massive size and grandeur. And of course, new galleries and dozens of photographs have been posted of the XXXXX Army Ammunitions Plant.
You can also find many photographs from abandonments, such as the Southeastern Kentucky Baptist Hospital and the XXXXX Army Ammunitions Plant on Michael Hamilton's Flickr account here!
Arson at Haldeman
There are two unfortunate news to report. One is the arson that occured at Haldeman Elementary in Haldeman, Kentucky, that demolished the 1936 Works Progress Administration-era building. The original school was stoned-faced, the hallways lined with hardwood floors and large windows that let in the morning light to the thousands of students that wandered its halls and classrooms.
Another bit of news came into my inbox the other day from The Ironton Tribune. River Valley Hospital in Ironton, Ohio will soon be demolished, but not after a celebration that includes dinner. The hospital closed several years ago after financial troubles, and the facility remained vacant with most of the equipment intact. Years of decay and mold, however, have put it out-of-reach to all but security, and after reuse hopes all but diminished, the three story structure will soon be another piece of Ironton's history.
Prison goodness
Located in the heart of a major city, the Tennessee State Penitentiary was closed to all prisoners due to its unsafe housing conditions and general lack of maintenance. Today, several film production companies utilize it, along with other smaller industrial businesses. Constructed of 800 single-occupancy cells in two cell-blocks, it also housed an administration building, offices, warehouses, and two factory structures. Outside of the prison walls was a working farm. Upon its opening in 1898, it housed 1,403 inmates, creating instant overcrowding issues. Throughout the prison's life, it was the home of numerous staged mass escapes and riots, the last being in 1985. Mass overcrowding, inadequate facilities, poor ventilation, and 'hellish' conditions earned it a class action lawsuit. The suit (Grubbs v. Bradley - 1983) stated that the Department of Correction was to never admit any new prisoner into the walls of that state prison due to its severe overcrowding, inadequate facilities, and non-existent ventilation. In 1989, the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution opened its doors to house incoming inmates. The state prison, once hailed for its hellish and barren conditions, closed its doors in June of 1992.
Ammunitions Plant
The XXXXX Army Ammunitions Plant was one of the largest ammunition plants in the Industrial Operations Command, containing 1,401 structures on 9,790 acres. It was constructed in only two years, in 1940, as three separate facilities, before being combined into the Indiana Arsenal in 1945. Three main manufacturing facilities in the plant included a smokeless powder plant, a rocket-propellant plant, and a bag-manufacturing/loading facility that was used for artillery, cannon, and mortar ammunition. The rocket-propellant plant was never completed and was only in production for one month. In 1945, the facility was placed into standby status as World War II came to a close. In 1952, the plant was reactivated for the full-scale production of ammunitions for the Korean War, only to be placed off-line at the end of the war in 1957. In 1961, the plant was partially reactivated to produce 105mm artillery charges, smokeless powder, and cloth bags for the Vietnam War. In 1972, ICI America Incorporated, a subsidiary of Imperial Chemical Industries PLC, took control of the ammunitions plant. During this decade, the facilities were modernized that allowed it to manufacture black power more efficiently.
In 1978, a new Black Powder Manufacturing Facility was constructed but never utilized as the Vietnam War was drawing to a close; overseas operations for the United States was also dwindling, reducing the need for such a factory. In 1992, production ceased and was put into inactive and modified caretaker status. In 1994, the Army plant commander's office closed its post, sealing the fate of the plant for good.
Today, it is a protected and well-guarded facility. The ammunitions plant that employed up to 22,000 at its peak during World War II and the Korean War mostly stands vacant today. A pickling company and a few smaller businesses remain inside the derelict abandonments that number in the hundreds. Some of the more stable and reusable structures have been turned into business and industrial incubators.
Ironton, Ohio High School: 1922-2007
Ironton, Ohio's High School, constructed in 1922, will be demolished soon. A new three-story school, to be built essentially in the same footprint, will replace this grand brick classical building. The reasoning is that the existing school, which lacks central air throughout portions of the building, would require expensive upgrades. The three-story structure has many novelties and graceful moments. From gorgeous oak hardwood floors to a two-tiered auditorium to the maze of corridors and stairwells, it will be very sad to watch this school be razed. The new building will definitely be a marked improvement on most fronts; at the very least, the front entryway, with its grand staircase, will be saved and used as the main entrance for the new building.
Eastern Kentucky
Also of interest is the Mt. Sterling High School. Abandoned in the 1990s, this historic structure has remained vacant. Unfortunately, the owner has no plans for the building, so it remains neglected and open to the elements.
Since discussion seems to be revolving around schools, then the historic Olive Hill High School might be of interest! Closed for good in 1994, it was on the brink of disaster when a 22' snowfall caused the gymnasium roof to collapse. The interior had been stripped of its former glory, and it seemed as if it was deeded over to neglect and vandalism. Thankfully, a former mayor of the city purchased the building and then proceeded to deed it over to a historical society. The gymnasium has been rebuilt and the property is being slowly renovated.
Finally, we end with the gallery from the Mt. Sterling Baptist Church. The congregation, relocating only a few years ago, has abandoned this historic church in this eastern Kentucky community.