The Scranton Lace factory operated from 1890 to 2002 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Despite being added to the National Register of Historic Places, it was demolished in 2018, because as we’ve learned before, that resister means fuck all. This is just a gallery post, for more history (and better photos) go to Abandoned America. To support my work and see new comics, go here. To buy books, original artwork, merch, and more, visit my website store. Follow me on instagram.
Willard State Hospital was an asylum in Willard, New York that operated from 1870-1995. Currently, some of the buildings house a residential drug treatment program, but many have been left abandoned. There have been many efforts to preserve the memory of Willard and its patients, so instead of writing up a history, allow me to direct you to the book The Lives They Left Behind, as well as this amazingly comprehensive PDF of the history […read more…]
Note- this is a photo gallery post with only minimal historical info provided (unlike my longer posts) For more context, visit After the Final Curtain or Cinema Treasures. Loew’s State Palace Theatre opened on Canal Street in New Orleans in 1926. Over the decades it saw a number of changes, such as being divided into three separate screening rooms, being temporarily closed due to damage by Hurricane Katrina, and becoming a concern hall in its […read more…]
Note- this is a photo gallery post with only minimal historical info provided (unlike my longer posts) For more context, visit the NYT. St. Paul’s School was built in 1879 and operated as a boy’s school until its closure in 1991, due to bankruptcy. Visit Preservation Long Island for the latest renovation plans. Disclaimer: If any information is incorrect, if you have more info, or if you’d just like to tell me something, feel free […read more…]
If you used to read this blog, please forgive my nearly seven-year absence. I left NYC, (I did the bulk of my exploring on the east coast) moved home to California, and had a kid in 2020. Exploring abandoned places was sidelined, but I’ve managed to get out there a little in the past few years and I’d like to start posting again. I still have a backlog of dozens of places I haven’t posted, […read more…]
Although trespassing and other legally dubious methods of accessing abandoned places are half the fun of exploring, it’s a welcomed relief when I occasionally have permission to be in said places. Earlier this summer, my friend Matt Lambros and I got permission to photograph the Paramount Theatre during the last leg of our road trip through the south. I never get tired of exploring, but I do get accustomed to it, which is why I […read more…]
Essex County Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. It was demolished and replaced with condos and a park in 2017. It began in 1896 as an overflow for Newwark Hospital but was converted into a mental institution in the 1920s. I’m not delving into more history here, but I will say that Essex was a site a lot of urban explorers derided, but I loved it. However, during one of my […read more…]
Disclaimer #1: All current photos (1998-2018) were taken by me, Julia Wertz. I’ve been photographing the Napa Soda Springs ruins since I was in high school. Many of these photos appear before and after a fire in 2007, as well as the devastating Atlas Fire of 2017. All historical images are from common-use postcard images, the Napa Library, and the Napa Historical Society. All timeline quotes are from Wine Merchant. See the end of the post […read more…]