DEFUNCTSITE

Yes, it’s the obligatory post-abandoned-trade-school-fire blog post…

Last night a four alarm fire ripped through the old Washburne Trade School, gutting the last remaining building of this once massive complex. Other sections have been demolished over the past several years, but due to a lack of funds or initiative (or both), the massive former factory building has stayed put. Lately I’ve been watching the place for signs of activity, wondering if and when it would get torn down. Now I assume that the answer to those questions are “yes” and “soon, probably”. So of course I went there after the fire to grab a few photos…

It seemed like a good idea earlier in the week, meeting at 5am so that we could get into the vacant building without being seen by dog walkers and nosy baby carriage pushers. But as I forced myself out of bed at 4:30, I wondered if maybe we were being just a bit too cautious. I met my sleep deprived friend in the park across the street, and together we started looking for an entrance. We wanted to go to church.

…a friend mentioned something about some abandoned schools, and soon I found myself in the passenger seat of a car speeding past a sewage treatment plant with a large sign that read “WELCOME TO GARY INDIANA”.

A man dragging a garbage can full of pipes stopped to glare at me. “Hey,” he spat, “you takin’ pictures of people?” I shook my head and muttered something about just shooting buildings. A look of disgust crossed his face. “What, like this place?” he asked, nodding towards the abandoned school. “Sheeeeeeeit…” I waited until he went around the corner before ducking underneath the fence…

About a month after part of the abandoned Brach’s candy factory complex was blown up for the filming of The Dark Knight (which I have yet to see), some friends and I decided to take a tour of the site and look at the damage done.

Hey, you know that house in Pilsen, at 21st and May–you know, that one with all of the crazy found object art stuck to it’s walls and fence? Statues, wagon wheels, weird signs…The place has been an artwork in progress for as long as I can remember, except now the house is vacated and boarded up, and most of the found objects have been removed…

I haven’t checked on this place in a while, so allow me to once again present to you a few current photos of Washburne Trade School. If you are wondering when I am going to stop blathering on about this place, well…don’t hold your breath.

Some think the abandoned and soon to be demolished Brach’s factory on Chicago’s west side “is the place that can represent a world-class site for a high school.” Others disagree.

Thanks to Chuck for pointing out the articles linked above.

“…the (Block 37 CTA subway) ‘superstation’ will be left unfinished, unusuable, and unopened. No one appears to know just how much more it would cost to complete, so…it will be sealed to stop the bleeding. Kind of like Tut’s tomb…“

Related article HERE.