Grain Elevators, South of Peoria

These massive grain elevators south of Peoria along the Illinois River are slated for demolition–or maybe they aren’t. They’ll probably sit around for a long time until they’re finally, or completely, demolished.

Vine Street Over to Race Street, Over the Rhine, Cincinnati

“Lord, on this day of thanksgiving, we thank you for our loved ones, family and friends. We also thank you, oh Lord, that Chris has almost run out of photos from his trip back in August.” Heading down the hill from Clifton, passing through some other neighborhoods, I reached what I call “upper” Vine Street…

The Flats, Cleveland

From what I understand, pretty much all of the lower Cuyahoga Valley, including Whiskey Island, is know as the Flats, which is the lowlands along the twisting course of the waterway that soon found itself clogged with boats coming to and from the many factories and distilleries crowding its banks. As you might imagine, it…

Other Fall Updates, Fires, Demolitions, Etc.

It finally happened, the Mullanphy Emigrant Home, which I last looked at back in June of this year, caught on fire and burned to the ground on the night of September 14th. There is certainly no grand conspiracy, but simply the fact that overnight lows reached 50 degrees, and a squatter’s fire probably spread out…

From the Vault: Gary, Indiana

Update: I went back in the summer of 2023. This is Gary, Indiana. A city only founded in 1906, which peaked at a population of 178,320 in 1960, an increase of 33% from the 1950 federal census. In the most recent census of 2020, it has dropped to 69,093, a drop of 61%. These photos…

Fort Atkinson, Iowa

At the same time Adam Lemp was founding his brewery in St. Louis, the US government was busy in Iowa removing Native Americans from their homelands and forcing them to live in new territory. Fort Atkinson was built in 1840 to supervise the government’s efforts as different Native American nations who were oftentimes traditional enemies….

Wells-Goodfellow, Early Summer 2023, Part One

Crossing over MLK, I headed to one of the more interesting streets in Wells-Goodfellow, the 5600 block of Labadie. After passing by the western end of the block, which is still somewhat inhabited, we get to those four-family apartment buildings, which have always fascinated me, but even more so now that I recently discovered a…

Fire at the Former St. Liborius, SK8 Liborius

The unthinkable happened late on the night of June 28. The former St. Liborius Roman Catholic Church, which had been closed in 1992 by the Archdiocese. It became SK8 Liborius approximately ten years ago. The people behind SK8 Liborius had been working tirelessly over that time to fix up the former church, and I had…

Family Farm, Late June 2023

Update: See the farm in August of 2023 for updates after the tornado. Two days after I posted these photos on March 29 of the family farm, a tornado struck, destroying several structures and trees. Thankfully, the historic horse barn, built in the late 1800s, survived with minimal damage, losing only a few pieces of…

A Foreboding Demolition, Gravois Park

Update: I discovered another nearby LRA property at 3643 South Compton in similar rough condition. I was shocked to discover a demolition occurring on the 3600 block of South Compton Avenue in the Gravois Park neighborhood. While the area is undergoing wild speculation from out-of-state buyers, it is also dealing with entrenched poverty and crime….