Empty Places: Deserted and trashed home

The walls were blank of family portraits, but it was clearly evident that this house was once a home to someone or some family. The house was on an empty street that was once crowded with homes. The City of Detroit bulldozed the other homes on the road to prevent arson, which costs the city money. This home, likely still owned by a family, was spared.

“Home is people. Not a place. If you go back there after the people are gone, then all you can see is what is not there any more.” ― Robin Hobb, Fool's Fate

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: Nuclear Power

In the middle of rural America sits an empty and deserted nuclear plant. Some may find that hard to swallow, but it’s closer than one might think to their backyard.

The Hartsville Nuclear Plant is located in Trousdale County, Tennessee, a county with a population of fewer than 2,400 residents. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) decided to build the massive nuclear plant on land directly next to the Cumberland River in the 1960s. The plan was to construct four General Electric boiling water reactors to generate electrical power. The plant would have heated water to the point of steam, which would then drive a steam turbine. The heat was to be produced by nuclear fission in the reactor core.

However, the Hartsville Nuclear Plant never materialized. Construction began in 1975 but came to an abrupt stop in 1983, with the project fully canceled in 1984.

Today, the plant sits empty and unfinished. The state later decided to use the site to build a 2,552-bed medium-security prison. The facility, known as the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, was built at a cost of $143 million.

Inside a vacant Detroit home

Inside a vacant Detroit home. Empty. Poetic to some, romantic to others and just plain vacant to the surrounding world. 

The Detroit Free Press

The 14 story Detroit Free Press building stands empty in downtown Detroit. It is the largest city newspaper owned by Gannett, the same company that owns The Tennessean and many more daily’s throughout the United States. The Detroit Free Press started about 184 years ago.

The paper left their large downtown structure in 1998 and moved into what they call their News Building. Gannett bought the paper in 2005 from Knight Ridder.

In 2008, they decided to cut distribution to homes and businesses to Thursday and Friday only. On other weekdays, the paper would continue to be sold on the newsstand, but it would be smaller than what Detroit residents grew up with.

In 2014 the paper moved to the former Federal Reserve building in Detroit where today they utilize about less than six floors. The operation is much smaller than their previous address of 321 West Lafayette Street where their original Art Deco building that was constructed in 1924 still stands today. Today, the once busy loading docks sit empty and bricked over. 

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.

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: The old Tennessee State Prison

This evening I journeyed back into the infamous Tennessee State Prison. Some call it the Castle while others simply label it a fortress. See my previous visit HERE.

The abandoned and decrepit prison is located near downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The massive structure first opened in 1898.

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 closed in 1992 and has graffiti on some of the cell walls that suggest some were released in 1990 as the prison began the shutdown process. Other inmate graffiti calls on help from Jesus. It is fascinating, sad and creepy all at the same time.

Empty Places: A visit to a Chattanooga factory built in 1925

This was part of an old textile company in Chattanooga, TN. In 2004, a three man demolition crew illegally removed asbestos from the property and created asbestos-containing dust that contaminated the area of 17th Street between Watkins and Dodds avenues. The men were later sentenced to four years behind bars in a federal courtroom. 

The company that owned the building was called Standard Coosa-Thatcher. It was founded in Piedmont, Alabama in 1891. The Chattanooga location was built in 1925.

Today, the old factory has been vacant for over 20-years. Reports indicate it may soon be developed into luxury apartments. 

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. 

Empty Places: An abandoned school in Georgia

I was able to walk through and photograph the John B. Gordon Grammar School with a man whom attended the school in the 1970’s. He had fond memories of every room, including the cafeteria, the auditorium / gym and of course the principal’s office. He pointed to the stage with a smile and said, “My very first school play was right there.”

The school opened in East Atlanta, GA in 1909. As you look through these photos, you will be able to see some of the vibrant colors of years past as lead based paint flakes and falls to the now dirt floor. You will also see that some years, the colors were dark or bland. Other years boast pastel greens and yellows.

The school was shut down in 1995 and later purchased by a development group with plans to turn the structure into loft apartments. That never happened and in 2009, the property was foreclosed on.

In April of 2014, the building caught fire. Today, it is a total loss and will likely be torn down in the near future to make way for development. When that will occur is still up in the air.

These photos were captured in June of 2014.