explore everywhere

Four years ago I first shared photos of this abandoned factory located on the east side of Cleveland. Built in 1917, it became one of the largest machine-tool manufacturers in the United States. Eventually the company began to suffer due to competition, the recession, and corporate inefficiencies. They restructured, cut the workforce in half and continued to have lots of ups and downs for the remainder of their years. Eventually in 2002, the factory was completely abandoned after years of only a portion of the building being utilized.

A few weekends ago I finally went back and reshot the building. While a good portion of the 570,000-square-foot building is full of trash (literally FULL of trash! Between 30,000 and 40,000 tons of it!!) there are still so many photo opportunities. The wood brick flooring that has expanded and made waves across the ground. The old computers, piled up on the second floor. The peeling paint! What would definitely be a health hazard in the summer heat sure is beautiful in the cooler months.

Check out the ‘abandoned‘ tag for more beautiful decay.

Four-ish years ago, this is where my soon-to-be husband took me on our very first date. For that reason alone this rotten old building is kind of special to me. I’ve been back a few times since but not any time recently. It’d been on my list of places to reshoot for one small yellow reason…

One of my favorite abandoned buildings I’ve ever photographed is the ‘rubber duck factory’. My photography has improved tenfold but the subject matter is just too good. Hundreds of rubber ducks! Back in 2015, just a few days after what would become my final visit, the building housing all those ducks burnt to the ground. The ducks had been disappearing at a rapid rate before the fire but I was sad to think that any of them burnt. Not that I think dirty old rubber ducks are anything special, or worth saving but darn, they were an excellent photo subject.

A few months after the fire I started to notice photos of the ducks popping up on social media. Luckily I’ve got a pretty good eye for detail and can easily determine which building is which from a single photo. I immediately recognized that some of the rubber ducks were in the masonic hall.

There were a few failed attempts to go and check it out (still mad at the dude who kept circling the us on a bike, and waving!) but it wasn’t a huge priority. Located in a not so nice area, it really is better to be safe than sorry. Finally, last week, we got back inside. Funny thing is, I had completely forgotten about the ducks so I was more than pleasantly surprised to stumble upon them.

As you can tell from the photos, I didn’t actually find very many of the rubber ducks. Judging from photos that I can find, there were definitely more of them in here at some point. Guess they’re off on another adventure, or perhaps just hiding somewhere a bit more sneaky in this building.

It’s really fun to think of the ducks as playing their own little version hide and go seek with any willing explorers. Makes me wish I had taken a few to hide around other buildings too. Maybe I’ll find more the next time I’m back here, or stumble upon them somewhere I’m really not expecting them. I’ve got my fingers crossed!

A few related posts;

The Rubber Duck Factory
The Rubber Duck Factory revisited
Masonic Hall (2014)

The very first abandoned building I ever shared photos of on The Dainty Squid was a church. That church is now long gone, and I’ve got a few more under my belt since then but they still haven’t lost their charm to me. Next to schools, I think they might be my favorite type of abandoned building to explore and photograph. Just something special about them!

Feeling like we’ve seen everything abandoned there is to safely see in Cleveland, we haven’t been getting out too much to explore lately. It definitely felt good to discover this hidden gem! An empty church* is always exciting but finding one with so much left behind was a real treat. Hymnals, empty offering envelopes complete with names and amounts written on them, and service programs littered the church. The pastor’s office was especially full of interesting items including a portrait of him and his wife (which if we’re being real here seems a little rude of him to leave behind, right?)

I don’t really have any information on this church or why it closed, all I can offer you today are some pretty photographs…

*Beautiful empty church shot can be found here.

Check out the ‘abandoned‘ tag for more dilapidated buildings, ghost towns, and forgotten cemeteries.

We’re already ten days into the new year but someone’s super smart brain just remembered a few end of the year round ups they forgot to do. For the past few years, along with the thousand other round ups I do, I share my favorite 10 abandoned spots of the year. You can find all those linked at the bottom of thi post! This year was probably my least active exploring year but I still took more than a handful of photos I’m really stoked about. Since I didn’t share full blog posts on all of these places, I thought it might be fun to make a list of my favorite ten photos from abandoned places taken in 2017.

This shot is definitely one of a couple that inspired me to write this post. I’ve shared many photos of the abandoned trailer park on The Dainty Squid over the past few years but this is easily my favorite shot! That is just such an intense cobweb. It looks like something straight out of a movie set. I really hope no one disturbs it and it only continues to get creepier.

An abandoned train car Jeff and I stumbled upon while out driving around one day. This was such a fun find. We parked the car at a random park, hiked through the woods, hopped over a stream, and crossed a huge field before finally reaching it. There wasn’t much to see but I think the journey was worth it for this photo.

An abandoned mill in Utah. The views this spot offered were incredible! I’m pretty pleased with all my photos from here but I’m especially fond of this one. Having Jeff in the shot just helps show how massive these ruins really were.

A local spot that I only managed to get a few photos I liked of during our short visit. Seeing this shot again though makes me wish I had shared the rest instead of just burying them on my harddrive. Maybe I should just revisit…

Such an epic find! While the church itself was fairly empty just being able to see something so grand in this state was truly a wild experience! More photos from this little adventure can be found here.

It was hard to choose a favorite from the abandoned china factory. I took a lot of photos there that I truly enjoy but this one really sticks out to me. Such a waste. I can’t believe the amount of stuff left behind here.

The abandoned rubber factory – yet another spot I had lots of photos from that I really loved. Yet this time, choosing a favorite was easy. I don’t know what it is but I am always drawn to collections of things. I’m also super intriqued by the number of shoes found in abandoned buildings. This photo shows off both those things.

A random shot of Jeff in one of Cleveland’s most popular abandoned buildings. It’s easy to get into and there isn’t much left but boy, do I love this shot!

This abanonded hospital, where I shot haphazardly, never once setting up my tripod, yielded a ton of great photos. I feel like I really captured just how grimpy, damp, and sort of creepy this spot was. Nothing beats a spooky staircase!