Exploring America State by State

Category Archives: Buildings

Enger Tower

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Standing on a hill overlooking Duluth, Minnesota is a 80 foot tall stone tower that looks out over the city and the harbor. In 1920, an anonymous donor gave $50,000 to the city of Duluth to purchase land called Grand Mountain to build a park. Eventually people figured out that it was Bert Enger, an immigrant and local businessman, that donated the money. He operated a successful furniture store in Duluth’s West End. The park was named Enger park in honor of his generous donation.

Bert died in 1931, leaving two-thirds of his estate to the City of Duluth and the Enger Park area. He specified that the development should include a lookout tower surrounded by beautified grounds and footpaths. The tower was built in Bert’s memory and dedicated in 1939 by Crown Prince Olav of Norway and his wife Princess Martha.

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The Dubuque Shot Tower

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This tall tower stands near the Mississippi River in an industrial part of Dubuque, Iowa. The region had several lead mines and the tower was used for making shot for guns. The lead was heated until molten liquid and then poured from the top of the tower through perforated metal. as the lead fell through the air it was shaped into spears and cooled and then landed in a pool of water where the shot was then collected.

The Dubuque shot tower was constructed in 1856 and stands 120 feet tall. the first seven stories are made from Galena Dolemite stone and the upper stories are made from red brick. The tower operated during the Civil War making shot. With more efficient ways of making lead shot the tower was sold to Standard Lumber Company and was then used as a fire watchtower. In 1911, the tower’s interior staircase was destroyed by a fire and it sat abandoned for decades. It was saved from decay by a non-profit organization and has been undergoing repairs and restoration.

It stands as a reminder of early manufacturing and an ingenious way of making lead shot as long as you are not the person carrying the led to the top of the stairs.

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The Old Prisons in Joliet

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Photo showing the women’s prison in the foreground and the original prison in the background.

Interstate 80 travels a few miles south of Joliet. Traveling down the busy expressway with all of the trucks and their drivers that keep America running. I had to exit and check out the old prison where Elwood picked up his brother Jake in the Blues Brother’s movie.

The prison was first constructed in 1858 using blocks quarried from the site by inmates transferred from other prisons. In the early years, not only did it hold criminals but also Confederate Prisoners Of War during the Civil War. By 1872 the population had reached 1,239, a record number for a single prison.  The prison closed in 2002 and is now part of the Joliet Area Historical Museum and visitors can tour the historic penitentiary.

When I visited I was confused because there was another prison down the street that is ran as a haunted attraction. I figured out that it was the women’s prison. Originally women were in a separate cell block in the main prison. In 1896, A separate prison modeled to resemble the original one but with less cells was constructed to hold female inmates.

It was a rainy day when I visited and the exterior walls of the old penitentiary look rather ominous and foreboding. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be an inmate. I did not have time to take a tour but hope to get back some other day and check out the historic prison.

P.S. I know there is a lot more I could write about the famous, or should I say infamous, prison but I am thinking I will save that for my Lost In Illinois book

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The Hutson Memorial Chapel

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The town of Hutsonville sits along the Wabash River which makes up the Illinois and Indiana border. South of town is a group of log buildings that make up the Hutson Memorial Cabins to memorialize Isaac Hutson and his family whom the town of Hutsonville was named after.

Isaac Hutson and his family of six children came to the area in the winter of 1812. He built a log cabin not far from the current memorial cabins. In April of 1813, Isaac took a trip to the fort in Palestine. When he had returned he found his wife and children were massacred by local Native Americans. His cabin had been set on fire and burned to the ground. Isaac joined the army in Terre Haute and was eventually killed in battle near fort Harrison with one of the local tribes. A few decades later when the town was platted, they chose the name in honor of the slain family.

In 1967 the Hutsonville Chamber of Commerce was offered a log cabin by Wayne Brock that was built in 1892. The cabin was disassembled and moved to property south of town. Over time several other log cabins along with period furniture were donated and the cabins created a memorial village to remind people of the area’s history.

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The Prairie Observatory

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Deep within the Walnut Point State park near Oakland, Illinois is an old abandoned building with a large dome on the roof. It was the Prairie Observatory constructed in 1969 by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Department of Astronomy. The site was chosen because of the minimal amount of man made light providing for a dark sky. The observatory had a forty inch telescope that cost about a quarter of a million dollars. In 1981, the telescope was moved to San Diego State University’s Mount Laguna Observatory where it is still being utilized. The building was abandoned and sits mostly forgotten and is slowly being consumed by nature.

P.S. I just finished a 2700 mile trip through Illinois. I have lots of great stories and photos to share. I am working on my latest book, Lost In Illinois. I still have the northern part of the state to explore and I hope to do that next month.

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Molly Stark Sanatorium

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North east of Canton  Ohio is a county park. It is unlike most county parks because in the middle is a large abandoned building surrounded by a chain link fence. It was built in 1929 as a tuberculosis hospital. The Molly Stark Sanatorium was built as a place for patients to recover in a beautiful and natural setting. The Spanish revival design had open verandas, passageways and balconies for people suffering from tuberculosis to benefit from the fresh air. The disease attacks the lungs, and in the 1800s, it was sometimes called consumption because it caused the patient to lose weight and destroyed the body and organs from within. There were few options for treatment at the turn of the century other than providing fresh air and a clean place to live.

Patients at the sanatorium were moved to the fourth floor, and as their symptoms improved they were moved down a floor. When their health improved enough, they were moved to the first floor where they could wander the grounds and gardens. By the 1950s, antibiotics had dramatically reduced the number of people suffering from tuberculosis and the building’s name changed to the Molly Stark Hospital. The building continued treating patients, but over time the facility became outdated. In 1995, the hospital closed because it was not cost effective to renovate the old building. A few investment companies looked at converting the building to a nursing home or retail space. but the cost of dealing with the asbestos was cost prohibitive.

In 2009, the county’s parks board of commissioners purchased the property for one dollar. With a two hundred thousand dollar grant, the grounds were cleaned up and a fence installed around the building, and the Molly Stark Park was created. People are welcome to walk the grounds and marvel at the old architecture through the fence. The building is closed to visitors and tours, but hopefully one day a use can be found for this historic structure.

If you are wondering, Molly Stark was the wife of Revolutionary War hero General John Stark, known for the famous quote “live free or die”. During the war, Molly turned her home into a makeshift hospital and nursed her husband’s troops during a smallpox epidemic and attended to the wounded.

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The Abandoned Iron Furnace

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If you have ever driven past an old foundry or chemical plant and you thought it would be cool to explore, but you don’t because you don’t want to go to jail for trespassing, then this old iron smelting furnace in the southeastern United States is a place you should visit.  In the center of Birmingham Alabama is a complex of chimneys, towers and pipes and at rising from the core is a water tower with the word SLOSS painted across the top of it.

Colonel James Withers Sloss was one of the founders of Birmingham and in 1881 he began construction of the city’s first iron smelting blast furnace creating the Sloss Furnace Company. In 1886 Sloss retired and sold the company to a group of investors who reorganized it in 1899 as the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company. To boost profits they found a source of cheap labor by using convicts as slave labor. The local sheriffs would arrest mainly African-Americans on charges such as vagrancy and then they would be forced to work in the furnace to pay off their debt to society. It was horrific working conditions with molton metal, steam and sparks not to mention climbing to high elevations and the risk of falling. Several workers died at the facility and rumor is one man fell into the furnace and his body vaporized to never be seen again.

The area around Birmingham was abundant with iron ore and coal and could feed the huge appetite of the furnace. Around the time of World War 1 it was one of the largest producers of pig iron in the world. Pig iron got its name because workers would dig troughs in the sand near the furnace and then dig small pockets of the trough for ingots or iron to form. To the workers they looked like little piglets feeding on a sow so it got the name pig iron.

With the changing environmental regulations, and more efficient methods of producing, iron the Sloss furnace closed in the 1960s. The furnace and land was donated to the Alabama State Fair Authority for use as an industrial museum. Without funding they determined it would be best to demolish the complex. In the 1970s, The city of Birmingham raised funds to take over the historic furnace and clean up the site saving it from demolition. In 1981, The Sloss Furnace site became a National Historic Landmark and opened to visitors to explore its jungle of metal structures and piping. If you are traveling through Birmingham, it is worth a couple hours to stop and visit the historic furnace and explore its maze of equipment. Admission is free but you need to stop in the newly constructed visitors center and sign in and agree that you will not graffiti or climb on anything before you tour the site.

The Sloss Furnace National Historic Landmark is located at 20 32nd St N, Birmingham, AL 35222 you can find more info at their website HERE ( if you plan on visiting be sure to visit there website because sometimes they close for private events.)

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The Dungeon in Northern Ohio

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In downtown Fremont behind the Sandusky County Courthouse is an old sandstone building. From the front, it looks like a Victorian-Romanesque style house. From the side, an additional three story wing comes off the rear and has bars on the window. They are there because the old structure at one time served as the county jail and sheriff’s residence. When it was dedicated in 1890, the keynote speaker was former United States President Rutherford B. Hayes, who was a resident of Fremont.

President Hayes was an advocate for prison reform, and at the time the jail was built, it was a modern facility with cells designed with prisoner safety in mind. What lies underneath the building was far from safe and humane for early prisoners of Sandusky County. In the 1840s, during the beginning of Sandusky County, log cabins with iron bars on the windows were used to confine people who broke the law. The primitive building did not serve its intended purpose well because it had dirt floors and a few prisoners dug down under the wall and escaped. After a few years, it was evident that some other form of incarceration was needed. Instead of building up, they went down and dug a dungeon lined with stone walls. The prisoners were held in dank cells poorly illuminated by kerosene lamps.

The Dungeon was used for over a decade until a new jail was built on top of it. The old jail finally closed in the 1990s after a new jail, to meet current standards, was constructed. There was talk about razing the old building, but it was decided to use it as office space for the county. Over the years, people have noticed strange things happening in the old building. They have heard strange sounds and footsteps of people who were not there. In the middle of the night, the motion detectors will go off when nothing is on the video surveillance. I can’t say for sure if the old jail is haunted, but there were some tragic events that took place within its walls. One inmate in the old dungeon who had been arrested for murder had a visitor slip him a razorblade. He used it to commit suicide in his cell. On the third floor is an old gallows that was used to hang prisoners sentenced to death. The last hanging was done in 1883. John W. Radford was hanged for shooting and killing his wife.

If you thought this post was interesting you will enjoy reading my Lost In Ohio book available on Amazon HERE

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The Old Diner With a lot of History

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Gleaming in the sun are three old diners north of Rockford, Michigan. One diner stands out among them for its historical significance.  Rosie’s was used in the famous Bounty paper towel TV commercials with Rosie the waitress saying they are the “quicker picker-upper”  The commercials were filmed in this diner in the 70’s when it was the Farmland Diner in Little Ferry, New Jersey.

The diner was trucked to its current location in the 90s. It was a popular diner when it was operational and was featured in Food Networks Diners Drive Inns and Dives. The original owners retired and shortly after the new owners went out of business. It has been sitting empty for years. It is sad to see this historic diner sitting vacant. I hope someday it will be used again or saved as historical landmark.

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The Tower Tree

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Indiana has several historic and beautiful county courthouses. The old courthouse in Greensburg is notable not only for its architecture, but also the tree growing out of the top of its tower. The current Decatur County Courthouse was completed in 1861. About ten years later, people began noticing some branches sticking out of the roof on the tower. Five different trees appeared to be growing on the roof of the courthouse tower.

In the 1880s, a worker was sent up to the top of the tower for fear of damage to the building. Three of the trees were removed, leaving a pair to continue growing. One of the trees died and is now on display at the County Historical Society. The tower continues to have a tree growing out of the roof. Workers recently went up to the roof to check on the tree and trim back some of its branches. After being tested by Purdue University, the species was identified as mulberry. No one knows how seeds got up to the roof or how a tree has managed to survive for so long in such a strange environment, but people from all around stop in Greensburg to marvel at the tower tree.

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