:: BerDerp™ ::

Journey into a forsaken place

Scenes from an abandoned silo in a Mid-Western city.  This particular silo was built in 1906, and is often considered one of the cities first skyscrapers as it rose up over 15 stories.

Silos of this type can often hold more than a million bushels of any type of grain.

If you’re interested in viewing more images related to the abandoned, decayed, and forgotten – click here for my ‘Exploration Collection’ on Flickr.

Capturing these images you see was a very moving and emotional experience for me, as this abandoned mental facility had originally opened in 1842 after a state bill was passed calling for a “State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum“.  By the 1870’s, overcrowding at this institution was a major issue, as local communities sent patients there who were often considered unwanted, or problematic, regardless of their diagnoses. One can easily surmise a lot of suffering occurred here.

..the overcrowding trend continued for another 75+ years as it often vied for the title of “largest psychiatric facility” in the world.

there are an estimated 20,000 – 30,000 unmarked graves here which were only identified by numbered poles — many of which have disappeared.

By the early 1970’s this facility was mostly abandoned. Many people believe these buildings and grounds to be haunted to this day.

You can view the entire Flickr set here.

An abandoned classic Beaux Arts train station that was designed by Jarvis Hunt of Chicago. Built in 1912. Holding its silence and waiting **** to breathe life once again.

You can see the Flickr set here.

A solemn and reflective place that holds memories and voices from those who once thrived and flourished here.

you can view the entire Flickr set here

Another scene from a previous Undisclosed Location.

as seen somewhere in San Francisco. A place with light, and history, once bustling with life, now mostly forgotten.

this place closed after a storm, and never re-opened. sitting idly as the city moves on. not as blithely as it had been for years. These images were captured last year.

you can see the entire Flickr set here: http://goo.gl/fMtcZ

lurking around in a sad, forgotten town in Northern Indiana, we stumbled into the abandoned shell of a former Methodist Church.

you can view the Flickr set here.

This particular building was constructed for the US Postal Service in 1936, and was designed by the Chicagoan architect Howard Cheney.  Cheney worked for the Public Buildings Branch of the US Treasury Department, and also designed buildings for the Public Works Administration.

His work was well known and he was the supervising architect for the construction of the Chicago Tribune Tower.

you can view the Flickr set here

Mark A. Lang helped design this 2-level train station that sits between the former Baltimore & Ohio (B&O), and, the South Shore & Michigan Southern Line rails. Lang borrowed heavily from the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition that had taken place nearly 15 years prior to the design and construction. Neoclassicism abounds. It was built in 1910, and by the 1950’s it was abandoned.

Dixie Square Mall opened in 1966, in Harvey, Illinois, but was only opened to the public for 13 years, before it finally closed in 1979.  This 800,000 square foot structure has seen much of its remains crumpling, or simply getting hauled off by scrappers. Harvey is a completely downtrodden economic area, and the area sits on the South side of Chicago, so there is not much hope for redevelopment.

Click here for an image of the former Dixie Square Mall store directory. Also for a brochure for the opening of Dixie Square Mall – click here.

View the entire Dixie Square Mall set here

{as recently seen in East Bay}

you can view the entire Flickr set here

another installment in the abandoned buildings/Urban Exploring Series

as seen in an undisclosed location

Fort Ord sits near Monterey, CA, on a 28,000 acre reserve that in its day was the place to go for infantry training in the US Army.  It began it’s mark in US military history in 1846 during the Mexican-American War.

The location finally became known as Ft. Ord in 1940, and in September of 1994 it was closed by the US Army.

But by the time of it’s official recognition as a permanent Army outpost, it had grown to cover more than 20,000 acres. It was a famous staging area for many famous fighting units and divisions. Such as the 32nd-Infantry Division, 6th Infantry and the 3rd Infantry Division

There’s also an 8,000 acre firing-range there, and apparently some unexploded ordnance if you know what I mean

Aside from the firing range there’s also a 6500 acre munitions area in which the Army has been attempting to get rid of for several years now.  Back in October 2003, the Army planned a control burn of 500 acres, but they wound up scorching about 1500! Yikes!

The Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1988 finally included Ft Ord as a target to reduce costs – overall, 120+ bases have closed since this act.

Ft Ord is just US military history now

See the Flickr set here.

stumbled onto this abandoned hotel that has been vacant now for a few years. It had worn the signature emblems of hotel chains such as Ramada and Holiday Inn during its prime

now it rests silently amongst a row of seafood restaurants and scattered bars

i’m really surprised there were no signs of squatters

Last weekend my friend and I took a step into some very trashed ruins of what was once the worlds largest outdoor pool — the Fleishhacker Pool. This behemoth opened in 1925, held 6 million gallons and could accommodate  10,000 swimmers. All that is left now is the 450 foot long pool house. The pool was paved over years ago by the SF Zoo.

(from TerraStories):

The year was 1921 and only a few years earlier, a grand scheme to bring water to the city of San Francisco came to fruition. Despite the protests of John Muir, the Spring Valley Water Company had succeeded in transporting fresh glacier water hundreds of miles from Yosemite to San Francisco. The Fleishhacker Pool was a final capstone in the symbolic “watering” of San Francisco, and the city of San Francisco had spared no expense.

“Spring Valley Water Company was the quintessential symbol of Pork Barrel Spending in post-Earthquake San Francisco. The company had used ruthless lobbying to derail John Muir’s efforts to save Hetch Hetchy. Spring Valley Water was so effective at reaping the rewards of politicians that they literally convinced Congress to turn what would become part of a National Park into the personal Bethsheba of San Francisco.”

“To this day, the city depends on the water of Hetch Hetchy, but it came at a cost – the valley was considered only second to Yosemite Valley itself before it was inundated by the waters of the dam.
None of this controversy takes away from the beauty of the pool’s grand construction. There was little public discussion of the kickback made to Spring Valley Water for the land “given” to the city.”

“the Fleishhacker Pool opened in April of 1925 to a crowd of 5,000. Butressing the edge of the the pool was the 450-foot-long Bath House — a Mediterranean, Italianate structure with three elaborate entrances, all surrounded by an Ionic order of pilasters. Inside were separate wings for men, women, and children.”

“These wings were naturally illuminated by 22 skylights. Upstairs was a grand restaurant that looked out to the 1000-foot-long pool on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.”

Throughout its five-decade history as a public swimming destination, Fleishhacker would be the setting of San Francisco’s most unique lores and legends; there was the story of the shark being sucked in through the 200-foot-long intake pipe coming from the ocean, a stove discovered in the deep end of the pool when it was drained for maintenance, and the disembodied hand reportedly found by a gardener, floating in the pool.

But the real amazing facts reside in the sheer size of the pool – 1000 feet long, over 150 feet wide, and 13 feet deep at its deepest point. The pool held 6,000,000 gallons of ocean water, continually cleaned once every six weeks by becoming completely drained and sweeped and pumped clean.

[back westerly side]

See the entire Flickr set here

today we continue (click here for part 1) our journey through the eerie history of an abandoned home known as Rispin Mansion.

and finally..

In this photo above I want you to focus on the main window above the steps — in this same window, in a 1931 picture appears the ghost of the Lady in Black — Click here for that image and see if you spot her. In that picture people say the Lady in Black is clearly visible with even bible in hand. Stories abound of her ghost roaming halls, unlocking heavily bolted doors and windows. Furthermore, other stories of a man in glasses near the fireplace were also passed down through the years.

it had been a lengthy passage of time since the last UrbEx series before yesterday’s “shell” posting – so let’s keep the ball rollin’ with an intro to Rispin Mansion. This abandoned structure sits on the banks of Soquel Creek in Capitola on 6.5 acres. It was built out of 500 tons of solid cement. 

Welcome to Drawbridge, CA.. one of Northern California’s few remaining ghost towns

Station Island was the home of Drawbridge, a small piece of land between two waterways, Mud Creek Slough and Coyote Creek Slough. The first building, was the bridge tenders cabin, built in Drawbridge (1876) for narrow-gauge Southern Pacific Railroad, and the second structure, Gordon Gun Club in 1880. In 1887 the railroad officially named the stop Drawbridge. A sign was placed on the bridge tenders cabin station formally recognizing Drawbridge.

George Mundershietz, was the first bridge tender of Drawbridge, and he stayed in the only structure on Station Island, a two-room cabin, just a few feet back from the track. He opened the drawbridge by hand crank, when boats blew their whistles to pass through the sloughs.

It was George who first started inviting his friends to spend the night at his cabin to hunt & fish. He charged them 50 cents a night for this privilege.

The railroad would stop to drop off, or pick up, exuberant hunters. This area was extremely popular with foul hunters. One method of hunting was purported to be very advantageous – loading a canon with chains, nails, buckshot, etc. and firing into the air as mass amounts of birds flew overhead; this “Market Hunting” allowed huge amounts of birds to be killed at once — which could then be taken to San Francisco to be sold.

By 1906 Drawbridge had grown to 79 cabins and two hotels. In 1926 Drawbridge was in full bloom with 90 cabins and 5 passenger trains a day. But by the late 1920’s tremendous amounts of water was being pumped by surrounding communities from the Southern portion of the bay, and like its neighbor, Alviso, Drawbridge began to sink. The railroad and the cabins were in constant need of “heightening”.

part two of this series — click here.

Yesterday we took a look at the 1st installment of my most recent UrbEx expedition at Bethlehem Steel Office. This large office building, and the entirety of Pier 70/Potrero yard complex was sold to the city for $1 on November 1st, 1982. Today BAE systems runs the shipyard with anywhere near 175 union workers on any average day.

(thanks Plug1 on this foto)

Over the weekend we took a bigger leap and put another notch into our belt under the category of Urban Exploring — this time taking an inside peek at the historical Pier 70 office for once prominent Bethlehem Steel Corp. During her heyday the company itself had nearly 300,000 workers; this office building, in once bustling Dogpatch, employed roughly 10,000 workers who helped crank out 72 ships during WWII alone (the company in its entirety was responsible for over 1000 ships across 15 shipyards). That said, Bethlehem Steel, founded in 1857, was once one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the world. Other major projects that the company helped complete include NYC’s Rockefeller Center, Madison Square Garden, and Golden Gate Bridge.

Nevertheless, this building has sat vacant since the 1989 earthquake, still showing off its classic 4 story Beaux Arts structure that features Doric pilasters and a grand marble foyer; it’s dark, tagged, trashed, long and vast inside.

Take a look.

This particular factory was closed down in 1963 after two botulism related deaths induced a nation-wide scare on tuna. Its shell has been sitting in this Bay Area location now ever since.

[note: today will just focus on the building. tomorrow, the graffiti inside]