A gas station from the past

There is something romantic in a whimsical sense about an old 1960's gas station sitting empty on an old country road in the middle of nowhere Georgia.

This was once a full service shop with a single bay, unlike what you see today. Pay at the pump did not exist, you had to make human contact for a gas transaction. Needed to use the phone, it cost you 10-cents to utilize what hung on the side of a pole about 50 feet away from the pumps. Buying a single candy bar and a glass bottle of Coca-Cola while using a credit card... unheard of.

"Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days." - Doug Larson

Urban Decay Somewhere in Florida

They quietly sit empty in Florida on a small and shallow lake. Urban decay somewhere in Florida. 

"Without publicity there can be no public support, and without public support every nation must decay." - Benjamin Disraeli

A little creepy

This is an old deserted home I came across recently. It was a little creepy, lot's of dolls lying around in the rubble. 

While I realize this was once a home, I could not get the thought out of my mind about all the waste we have in our heads. I know that sounds weird, but I saw the comparison with this house. Years of debris like the doll I found with the head ripped off... I don't think I will be back to visit this place. 

"If you leave the smallest corner of your head vacant for a moment, other people's opinions will rush in from all quarters." - George Bernard Shaw

It was once Beautiful

Detroit has more than 10,000 abandoned homes and is labeled as having the highest crime rate in America. However, it was almost poetic seeing architecturally beautiful 19th century homes falling apart in fields all throughout Detroit. It was like walking through a graveyard of vast wealth that no one kept up with.

This home, probably 5,000 square feet in size, was missing the entire back wall.

"Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo da Vinci

Empty neighborhoods a mile long

A neighborhood street in the downtown area of Detroit. 

"Downtown Detroit has more vacant buildings over 10 storeys than any city in the world." - Meg White

Built in 1967

This small building was built in 1967. It sits behind a shuttered Detroit Fire Station that still has a 1980’s model fire truck sitting in the rear parking lot.

The building, once covered in graffiti, was pressure washed and nicknamed “Dzale’s House of Faith.” That was over 10-years ago and I have no clue as to who Dzale is or where he might be? I can say for sure, he was not in his house of faith.

Today, it sits empty.

Empty Places: In the mountains of East Tennessee

An empty house in the mountains of East Tennessee sits alone and overgrown with dust. Papers are in place as if someone left their life out the front door. Canning jars were filled on shelves with newspapers dating back 50-years or more. 

"Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it."  - Theodore Roosevelt

Empty Places: The Packard Plant in Detroit closed in 1958

The Packard Plant sprawls multiple city blocks in Detroit and measures in at 3.5 million square feet. The Packard Company opened the plant to build luxury automobiles in 1903. At the time, the plant was considered to be the most modern automotive manufacturing facility in the world.

Inside the multi-level structure, cars were moved from one floor to another thanks to massive elevators. Each floor included a large workforce to manually build different sections of the Packard automobiles. Most of the buildings are still completely intact thanks to the brand new application of steel-reinforced concrete in the early 1900’s.

The Packard cars manufactured in the plant were no stranger to new ideas or inventions. In fact, Packard was the first company to build a working 12-cylinder engine and to provide air conditioning in a passenger car.

Detroit resident Henry Bourne Joy bought an Ohio made Packard in 1900. He was so impressed by the car that he helped to bring the company to Detroit, thanks to a group of investors. On October 2, 1902, the Packard car, which was manufactured under the name Ohio Automobile Company, changed their name to the Packard Motor Car Company.

In the 1940’s, Packard switched from cars to the war production of airplane engines. The conversion proved to be extremely positive giving the company millions of dollars in reserve. However, bad management decisions and struggles with Ford, GM and Chrysler in the mid 1950’s destroyed the company.

Packard closed their doors for good in 1958. Other businesses rented the massive property from time to time for storage, but that completely ended for all but one of the buildings in the 1990’s. A company called “Chemical Processing” stayed in one of the many Packard structures until year 2010.

Empty Places: Northville Psychiatric Hospital

The Northville Psychiatric Hospital opened in 1952 in the Township of Northville, about 30-minutes from the City of Detroit. The massive structure was built on 453 wooded acres and had 20 buildings that included a movie theater, a swimming pool, gymnasium and even a bowling alley. It was once known as a premiere psychiatric hospital with top notch care that utilized art and music to aid in treatment.

By the 1970’s, budgets for such hospitals were drastically cut and Northville’s high standing in the medical world started to collapse. The number of patients soared from 650 to 1,000+. To make matters worse, the hospital was designed to hold only 650 beds, so the bowling alley and gymnasium looked like a shelter for storm victims by 1971 filled with cots.

As medical staff was cut, doctors ditched music and art related treatment for the mentally ill and focused only on medicine. The Detroit News reported in the early 1980’s that patients were found sleeping in hallways, rape and assaults were common and some patients even died while fighting with staff, other patients died from alleged medical malpractice, as seen in past lawsuits filed against Northville.

The facility eventually closed in the early 2000’s and has sat vacant ever since. Problems selling the property revolved around medical waste, arsenic, barium and lead being dumped on the once pristine 453 acres of land.

The hospital has been deemed as one of the most haunted places in Michigan by some.

Empty Places: The National Theater in Detroit

The National Theater of Detroit Michigan is the oldest theater in the city. It was built in 1911 and closed down in 1975. The structure is labeled historic, so it cannot be torn down. The theater sat 800 patrons during nearly every performance.

The theater opened with comedy acts, song and dance in 1911. In a strange twist, the theater closed in 1975 with multiple showings of adult films (pornography). Reports indicate the adult films hit the National in 1970 and continued up until their closing date.

The theater was sold in 1976 for $35,000 and never reopened. The building was later sold again in 1977 to a man who wanted to turn it into a restaurant. The idea never materialized as the theater had unpaid back taxes.

In 1999 the theater was sold again, but plans for turning it back into a theater died when it was learned it would cost between $12 million and $20 million to renovate.  

Today, the theater sits empty and boarded up. 

Empty Places: Waiting rooms for death

Documenting History: The building sits in a somewhat undeveloped area of Nashville, Tennessee. It was built in about 1913 and was used by the Tennessee Masons as a group home of sorts for widows and their children. The money to allow orphans and their mothers to stay in the property came from a fund that was developed in 1886. At one point the four story home and two other buildings on the campus had 400 residents that included widows, their children and the elderly.

In 1941, the State of Tennessee used the massive structure that looks like a mansion as a hospital to treat patients with tuberculosis. In the 1900’s, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in the United Stated. It was known as The Great White Plague. Those who suffered were isolated from society in homes or hospitals like the one pictured. Structures like this one were known as “Waiting rooms for death.”

The building was later used as a health department office in the 1970’s through about 1994.

61 Drive-In, Memphis, Tennessee

The Drive in that was once a part of a growing Memphis, Tennessee area opened with a single screen in 1958. It is located on Highway 61 and was called the 61 Drive-In. The theater closed down in 1965, but later reopened in 1968 as the Southwest Twin Drive-In with two screens, which was owned by Malco. The drive-in closed for good in 2001.

During the better times, the drive-in saw up to 850 cars per night. It was one of two drive-in’s located in Memphis.

Actor Forest Whitaker stated, “When I was a kid, the only way I saw movies was from the back seat of my family's car at the drive-in.”

Empty Spaces: Chattanooga Foundry and Pipe Co.

A look inside the old Chattanooga Foundry and Pipe Co. that was built in 1882…

The company was built by a man named David Giles. The massive factory that had a medical office on site, was once alive with well over 1,000 employees during its heyday.

In 1899, the company was incorporated into the United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Company. It was one of 12 companies in 8 states to receive a new name under the umbrella of U.S. Pipe. Of the original company that was part of the 1899 corporation, only two are in operation today. Those two plants are in Alabama and New Jersey.

In the 1900’s, the plant in Chattanooga cranked out not only pipes, but also brakes for some of the first cars in the United States along with cast iron fittings, valves and hydrants.

By 2003, the plant announced plans to fire 243 of their 345 workers. The firing came just two weeks before Christmas. In 2006, everyone was let go and the plant closed for good.

The massive structure is now a graveyard for outdated rusty machinery, soot, and metal shavings.

Empty Places: Tennessee State Prison

The infamous Tennessee State Prison is located near downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The massive structure first opened in 1898. As you walk around the now silent grounds, you will see towering rock walls that were stacked by hand. On top of the wall that surrounds the prison are three wires that were once fueled by a small electrical substation to make them deadly to the touch. In fact, only one prisoner survived a climb over the live wires after he wrapped them in sheets. That prisoner did not walk away, but instead was transported to medical with serious burns all over his body. 

The prison had a death row area that included solitary cells for troubled inmates on the row. Death row also had an electric chair for the final days of some inmates in Tennessee.

The prison, which closed in 1992, is now overseen by the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission. However, the grounds are still cared for by the Tennessee Department of Corrections. In other words, you may still see inmates walking the grounds. 

Today, the deserted prison remains under the watchful eye of a 24-hour guard and staff. The interior of the structure is off limits to the public due to the large amount of asbestos inside. 

Empty Places: The overlooked vacant structure

This large building stands in a heavily used area of Chattanooga, TN yet has stood vacant for decades. It has been tagged and pillaged, but remains untouched by viable occupants. I use the word pillage, only because of all the broken windows and doors that vagrants, vandals and explorers have used as access points. Doorknobs and other small items are missing. 

The building is next to an outdoor market / pavilion, a baseball field and a dog park. What could be here? Local residents have voiced the idea of art studios, a brewery, loft apartments and more.