WebUrbanist » 7 (More) Abandoned Wonders of America: From Deserted Breweries to Famous Auto Factories

7 (More) Abandoned Wonders of America: From Deserted Breweries to Famous Auto Factories

American Abandoned Building
[Image used with Permission of Photographer Ben Willmore]

Much of America’s little-remembered history can be found in largely unknown structures scattered across the United States, some of which are silently falling apart. Many of these have amazing claims to fame and set records in their time - the world’s first auto assembly line or the largest brewery in the US - while others represent outdated building types that recall decades past or even generations before our time. Also be sure to check out parts one and two of this series! Also note: there have been a few (good) format-related comments so just a heads up: scroll past the images to get a description of each structure!

Abandoned Beer Brewery Buildings

Deserted Beer Brewery Buildings

Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Once the largest brewer in America, the Pabst Brewery was opened in the mid-1800s and closed its doors over a century and a half later in the mid-1990s. Over the course of its existence the complex bottled millions of barrels’ worth of beer. For some time the city considered demolishing all associated structures though a compromise was reached and funding was found so renovation for new uses has begun on some of them.

Abandoned Childrens Insane Asylum

Deserted Mental Institution

Waltham, Massachusetts: Perhaps the only thing more disturbing than the many abandoned insane asylums spread across the United States are those scattered few asylums dedicated to children. The Gaebler Children’s Center was opened in the 1950s as a place to separate children from adults in the mental health system. As mental hospitals closed down homelessness and incarceration increased in adult populations so too has this closure led to increased juvenile detention.

Largest Abandoned Building Alaska

Alaska Abandoned Building Interior

Whittier, Alaska: The Buckner Building was once the largest building in all of Alaska and housed virtually the entire population of the area. In the 1960s an earthquake rendered it unsafe to occupy and it has been abandoned ever since. So why not demolish it? It is quite simply more effort than it would be worth: the only way to remove the debris would be by a very limited-capacity tunnel or by sea.

First Auto Assembly Line

Abandoned Ford Auto Plant

Highland Park, Michigan: A little-known building on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan, was once home the to the first automobile production facility in the world to feature an assembly line. Ford’s claim to fame began in the Highland Park Ford Plant in the early 1900s in this revolutionary building that now sits essentially abandoned. Currently the structure is used to house assorted documents and artifacts.

Abandoned Military Academy Buildings

Deserted School Building

Augusta, Virginia: Founded at the end of the Confederacy in 1865, the Augusta Military Academy (originally the Augusta Male Academy) remained open for nearly one hundred years before closing its doors forever in 1954. The building remains relatively intact and was even used for an episode of Fear on MTV though the name of the school was changed to deter ghost hunters and urban explorers.

Abandoned Drive In Theater

Hartford, Connecticut: There is nothing like the demise of an entire building type to usher in a new form of ubiquitous urban abandonment - and the Hartford Drive-Through movie theater is no exception. With the slow decline of such establishments few have found ways to reuse large rural parking lots with small and awkward associated buildings and big outdoor screens so many, like this one, simply sit deserted.

Deserted Chapel Building

Abandoned Chapel Building

Torresdale, Pennsylvania: Eden Hall was once a proud French Gothic Revival church developed in the mid-1800s as part of an early boarding school complex including classrooms, dormitories, a library and a gymnasium - most of which were destroyed in a fire in the late 1970s. Unlike other abandonments featured here this deserted building was unfortunately recently destroyed by fire just a few years back.

Want More? Check out These Other Amazing Wonders of the World:

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Posted by Urbanist March 18th, 2008
7 Wonders, Abandonments, Architecture, Travel
Comments: 36

Comments

Comment from Tom
Time: March 19, 2008, 12:38 pm

I think one of the hardest things to realise is that sometimes, however great a building is, it needs to be knocked down so people living today get a better quality of life.

Comment from Spammer
Time: March 19, 2008, 12:52 pm

These pics give me goosebumps…

Comment from jeremy
Time: March 19, 2008, 12:52 pm

i think people posting these kinds of curious tidbits should keep in mind that web pages scroll down. info should go above the picture set, so we can read about what we’re about to see. slightly annoying. still a nice collection.

Comment from Brian
Time: March 19, 2008, 1:02 pm

Shocked to see Waltham, MA make the list, usually these locations are primarily in Rust-belt states. Waltham was a tech epicenter of New England before the dot-com crash. I hope Waltham preserved the offices of Lycos, SGI, etc so that our grandkids can one day see an Abandoned Wonder of our generation.

Comment from Chris
Time: March 19, 2008, 1:09 pm

I want to echo Jeremy’s post. These are really interesting and should be given a little more consideration in the formatting department. The relevant header and copy should be above the photos. Some type of separation should exist between each item as well.

Keep up the great work, I am going to attempt to visit the Gaebler Children’s Center this weekend.

Comment from Jennifer
Time: March 19, 2008, 1:39 pm

Awesome images. Keep up the good work

Comment from MDubb
Time: March 19, 2008, 2:50 pm

Can’t help but wonder how misleading these images are…the Hartford Drive in is gone now(replaced by condos), but that’s not the point. The point is that everything else around the drive-in was still bustling, and I’d bet that the photographer was dodging traffic on the Turnpike when taking some of the wide shots. And who the heck was mr. b?

Comment from MDubb
Time: March 19, 2008, 2:51 pm

And there used to be flea markets at the Hartford Drive-in on weekends.

Comment from Karan Goyal
Time: March 19, 2008, 2:55 pm

Wow….this is interesting and your post made it to the Digg Homepage. Congratulations :). Good collection. Where did you get those pics from ?

Comment from Steve
Time: March 19, 2008, 3:02 pm

That childrens hospital in Waltham is crazy, Looks exactly like that in person, Try going there at night and having the watchman who guards that place chase you around thats what Bentley kids did for fun… Fuxin NUTS!

Comment from Peebers
Time: March 19, 2008, 4:07 pm

Wow..I don’t know if alll of those buildings qualify for great historical sites, however I must give some hugggee props to the photographer!! There are some beautiful and incredibly intruitging shots

Comment from BC Planning
Time: March 19, 2008, 7:50 pm

Pours out some beer for all of the departed breweries

Comment from Will
Time: March 19, 2008, 8:42 pm

Please don’t publish the names and exact locations of these buildings. I’ve been in several Kirkbrides that have been smashed, covered in spray paint and every artifact has been removed once the word got out you could get into them. These are historic 100+ year old asylums that people cover in tags. Sure, publish the photos as they are good, but if you want them to look anything like that in a few years leave the locations out.

Comment from Urbanist
Time: March 19, 2008, 8:52 pm

Will- good point. Still, all posted locations are public knowledge - and some of them are still vague enough to prevent anyone who doesn’t already know from finding and vandalizing them.

Comment from Billy Barule
Time: March 20, 2008, 5:03 am

The Hartford Drive-In has been demolished. Toll Brothers is in the midst of a 76-ish unit development of “Luxury Townhomes”.

Comment from Ed
Time: March 20, 2008, 7:33 am

Sad to say but the Hartford Drive in has since been demolished and town houses have been put up in its place.

Comment from bearfoot
Time: March 20, 2008, 10:28 am

How so, Tom?

LEt’s knock down this condemmed building which houses several dozen homeless people, albeit in an unsafe manner, and put up 800 dollar a month apartments they can’t afford!

That’lll improve thier quality of life!

Comment from Al Ebaster
Time: March 20, 2008, 2:08 pm

We not only have an abandoned brewery in PA I need to check out (pre-1776!) but a couple abandoned drive-ins as well. There’s also an asylum for kids that was abandoned in the ’80s, called Pennhurst, which is super creepy from the pictures I’ve seen.

Good stuff, as always!

Comment from Ado Machang
Time: March 20, 2008, 2:11 pm

What a waste - could’nt these buildings be used for the homeless?

Comment from KangoInOH
Time: March 20, 2008, 6:07 pm

These are truly amazing. I had never heard of most of them, despite being fascinated by such historical sites. Sadly, we just razed our old drive-in here in my home town. Heartbreaking, but inevitable.

Comment from Maggie
Time: March 21, 2008, 4:18 am

Beautiful. I love abandoned wonders. Hoping to get out there myself and do the same thing

Comment from Guy
Time: March 21, 2008, 3:17 pm

The thing I love about these structures is how they seem to keep the memory alive. I really love how they look after years of abandonment.

Comment from Gary
Time: March 21, 2008, 3:53 pm

The Buckner Buildiing was in perfect shape aquired by the City of Whittier. They just let set there and rot.

Comment from Kristal L. Rosebrook
Time: March 22, 2008, 12:41 am

This is absolutely amazing. Sad they are not being used more effeciently.
Kristal Rosebrook

Comment from Telkom
Time: March 24, 2008, 4:23 am

The kids’ insane asylum looks cozy, perfect for a sleepover :P

Comment from Max
Time: March 24, 2008, 9:39 am

I echo the comments of Jeremy and others :