Abandoned New York: Fort Edward School

Union School Building in Fort Edward, NY. Early 20th century. Click for source.

The Village of Fort Edward is located on US Route 4 between Hudson Falls and Glens Falls in Washington County, NY. The Hudson River forms the western boundary of the town, and Delaware and Hudson Railroad (now the Canadian Pacific Railway) runs through town. Historically, Fort Edward was known for being a portage between the Hudson River and the Champlain Canal. You wouldn’t know it today, but Fort Edward was once the third largest city in North American after Boston and New York City (18th century).

In the 19th century, paper mills, foundries, and sawmills sustained Fort Edward’s economy. Some companies included International Paper, Marinette Paper Company (bought out by Scott Paper Company then by Kimberly Clark), then Irving Tissue. Read more history at Lakes to Locks. General Electric (GE) opened a plant in 1942 to produce selsyn motors during WWII, and post war produced building capacitors. The plant closed in 2013 when operations relocated to Florida for cheaper labor. (Unfortunately, GE polluted the water and air in Fort Edward for decades.)

You can see the former prosperity of Fort Edward as you drive through the village. Due to the suffering economy and other typical factors of the late 20th century, finding an abandoned school was not surprising.

Fort Edward School, 1915. Click for source. (And thanks to Suzasippi for sending the image!) Note that in this postcard image you can see the adjacent buildings (still standing).

Built as Union School, the building housed the grammar school and the high school until 1923, when the new high school was completed. Later known as the Florence E. Powers School, it housed the elementary school until a new elementary school wing was added to the high school in 1970.

Agway occupied the building until it moved further up Main Street, and since then it appears that the building has sat empty, decaying, and in need of major repairs soon. Take a look around with me.

Changes to the Union School: Corrugated metal façade and paved up the to the foundation.

Union / Powers School.

Altered windows, boarded up windows, and soffits in need of repair.

Agway ghost signs. The corrugated metal will make you cringe, knowing that it covers the historic windows beneath.

Neglect is evident in the brickwork.

The holes in the roof need to be repaired in order to save this building!

Another view of the side. Look at the brick detail!

Through the front door.

Adjacent to the school – an old freight depot perhaps?

Another freight building / storage building.

The entire complex is abandoned.

Internet searching revealed little, other than as of 2013, the Renaissance Plan for Fort Edward included a plan to develop the Agway Complex into a multi-use complex. Hopefully that comes to fruition.

Readers, what do you know about this Fort Edward school? I’d love to hear more.

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The Worthy Inn of Manchester, VT

Abandoned Vermont: Manchester Inn is one of the more popular posts in the series. The inn was the subject of debate when it closed and  then again when it was scheduled for demolition to make way for a new hotel. While there was much concern about the new hotel, the architecture fits in with the historic district setting. Have you seen it? What do you think? If you haven’t, take a look at website: Taconic.

The inn has had a few names. Here’s a quick list:

• 1907: opens as the Orchard Park Hotel
• 1919: bought by Julia and James Brown, renamed The Worthy Inn
• 1945-1986: various owners, name remains The Worthy Inn
• 1986: bought by Ann & Jay Degen, name changed the Village Country Inn
• 2009: Inn goes into foreclosure

A reader, Gregory, kindly sent some postcard images that he thought fans of The Worthy Inn / The Village Country Inn would enjoy. Take a look!

Real photo postcard. 

Worthy Inn dining room, real photo postcard. 

Worthy Inn lobby, real photo postcard. 

Thank you, Gregory!

 

 

A Note

The Wells Richardson block in Burlington, VT.

It’s been a rough week of news. It breaks my heart to see our country so divided. I’m not going to provide a political commentary right here. I am tired of reading news and hearing politics non-stop, so much so that I deleted Twitter from my phone to give myself some breathing room.

If you’re in the Cultural Resources world, there are two big events you should mark on your calendar:

• The National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference is this week in Houston, TX. I’m not attending this year, but I plan to attend virtually when I can (or catch the replays). Find the info here. And if you are in Houston, have a great time. I look forward to hearing your recap!

 

• The CRM Industry In the Age of Trump – this is a free webinar on 11/28/16 (2:00-3:00pm EST) hosted by the American Cultural Resources Association “ACRA”, and all of us should attend. We don’t know exactly what the next four years will bring, but we may need to up our advocacy and outreach efforts to Congress to preserve our laws and regulations, which govern much of our professional work.

And with that, please suggest something non-political for us to read or hear. It would be much appreciated. Thank you.

November morning in Burlington. #presinpink

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The lath behind the plaster. #presinpink

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With Your Coffee [Monday Edition]

 

Brandon, Vermont.

Welcome daylight savings time. It’s going to be dark about 4:30 p.m. in Vermont, so it’s time to be extra cozy in the evenings and find a new round of documentaries, or at least turn on the Netflix fireplace, for those of you who are fellow small space dwellers. And hope that this election season isn’t the end of us all. Fingers crossed.

A few links from around the web for your enjoyment.

• The winter in Vermont (the snowy ones that is) usually causes a handful of deteriorating barns to collapse under the snow load. It’s an ongoing dilemma as people generally do not have the money to maintain these large structures. And it’s one we’re not sure how to fix. But, start with these barn-saving tips from the National Trust.

• A new barn documentary. Add it to the winter list!

• The New York Public Library’s Last Secret Apartments.

• Awesome bike lane and sea monster.

• The Bermuda Triangle in Vermont. Sounds like a good exploration for next summer.

• Route 66, not loved by all. And for good reason.

• Are you counting down the days to Gilmore Girls? I am, not surprisingly.

• Let’s be honest. Tomorrow, YOU can vote for a narcissistic racist misogynist and live in that type of world, or you can vote for someone who has fought for people and policies her entire life, and is truly tough. It’s about common decency, people. And that’s it. This is beyond politics. Listen to Michelle Obama. Make the right choice, America. 

Linoleum rug. #ihavethisthingwithfloors #presinpink

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Social Media in the Modern Age of Preservation

Social media. Let’s talk about it. Are you into it for personal reasons? Professional reasons? Documentation reasons or disappearing conversations?

My, how different it is today than the days of AOL Instant Messenger (“AIM”) and Myspace. Who in the 20s-30s age range does not have fond memories of IM’ing your friends and your crush to all hours of the night and creating the perfect away message?

I love social media, to a certain extent. Sometimes it feels frivolous and ridiculous, but so be it. There are benefits, too. I love blogs and Instagram and Twitter, but gave up Facebook years ago and don’t care to learn Snapchat. To each her own, right? Social media has helped to grow my professional career within preservation as well as my preservation friendships and passion.

Instagram is my favorite.

Because preservation is a lifestyle, so to speak, our personal lives and our “personal brands” often include our professional life. How do you handle that on social media? I’m interested to know as to what you decide to share on your public social media accounts?

Preservation in Pink, the blog, has always been visible to the public, sometimes with more personal details than other times, but nothing that I would feel weird about if my employer read, for example. (Actually, my firm is very supportive of my outside-of-work preservation endeavors, for which I’m grateful.) Twitter @presinpink often gets my personal opinions (re: politics and policies) and the other sides of me (USA Skeleton, running, gymnastics fan, #btv topics), and Instagram for @presinpink is pure preservation (okay, sometimes the cats pop in to say hello).

However, I’m a documentation addict, so I use a private Instagram account to document my personal life (and then send it to Chatbooks for automatic photo albums. I love them.) Snapchat doesn’t seem to make sense to me, or Instagram stories. Why would want your pictures to disappear?! asks the preservationist. Someone explain this to me.

Preservationists and non-preservationists, do you use social media apps for professional or personal reasons? Do you use it for documentation? How do you decide what to put on which platform? Do you think preservation is one of those fields that warrants blurring the line between personal and professional?

Some days I have awesome field adventures. Other days, I’m stuck behind a desk. Preservation is often a lot of report writing and paper work!

And, a general social media warning, because it seems to me that combination professional and personal accounts are becoming more common: comparison is the thief of joy. Everyone has good and bad professional days: days stuck under paperwork and those in the field. We all have normal, rainy weekends and beautiful “instagrammable” vacations at some point. We all have successes, failures, struggles, and happiness. Just keep doing what you’re doing.

(Okay, off my soap box of social media. Please, chime in!)

Seasonal Buildings: Union Church in New Haven Mills

White, gable-roofed churches with tall steeples are anchors in Vermont’s villages, historically and visually. Small towns often have more than one church, speaking to a time when people attended churches and community meetings in greater numbers. In modern day Vermont, these large buildings remain in the same small villages, whose populations and budgets are fading. As you can see in Abandoned Vermont posts, some are empty, and others are used only seasonally:

• Clarendon Church (vacant)
• South Ryegate Church (status unknown, but sold in 2016)
• Simonsville Meeting House (seasonal use)
• Bloomfield Church (recent comments indicate it’s now a music venue) 
• Highgate Falls Church (seasonal use)
• Hubbardton Church (storage only)

Seasonal churches are used in the summer when the building does not need to be heated and lack of electricity, perhaps, is not a hindrance to use. Buildings closed up for the winters are not uncommon in the colder climates; many summer camps and cottages are winterized and sit alone for the winter months.

Union Church of New Haven Mills, VT, built 1851.

Union Church in New Haven Mills, VT is one of the seasonal churches. For decades it was used once per summer month for a church service, and the occasional special event.

View through the window. Front entrance to the right.

Union Church was constructed in 1851 as a church and meeting house to accommodate the growing community of New Haven Mills. Local craftsman Eastman Case constructed the building; his study of Asher Benjamin is evident in his design. Union Church is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a well-preserved example of a wood frame Greek Revival style church with features that including the temple-front gable entrance, corner pilaster, full entablature and pediments, oversized windows, and interior details. The Queen Anne style belfry was added ca. 1880.

Greek Revival details.

Interior details: pews, plaster, tin ceiling.

The 20th century brought floods and fire to the community, which led to the demise of the town and its lumber industry. The church sat empty throughout the 1930s, until Burt Rolfe, a Middlebury College student, took on the role of caretaker and preacher. Mr. Rolfe died in World War II. Neighbors, Langdon and Colleen Smith began taking care of the building and holding one monthly summer service for the next 40 years. When the Smiths died, neighbors continued to maintain the building. The church survived because of the neighbors and the community’s efforts to host events, raise money, and preserve the building. (Read the project file here for additional info.)

Through the window: failing plaster throughout the church.

The Preservation Society of the Union Church of New Haven has continued repairs as part of the long-term preservation project since the 1990s.  In 1997, the Preservation Society applied for and received a grant from the Division for Historic Preservation to stabilize the foundation and paint the building. In 2011, the Preservation Society received another grant to repair the 20/20 double hung windows.

New roof, 20/20 windows restored. Greek Revival details: pilasters, wide frieze, cornice returns, gable temple front.

In need of exterior maintenance.

It’s a beautiful building in a striking setting, overlooking the small village of New Haven Mills and set adjacent to the Lampson School. However, buildings are meant to used and if they stand in year-round communities with only seasonal use, there is lost potential. Keeping a building seasonal allows the greatest amount of preservation. No wiring is needed; the building needs to be maintained, but not altered or disturbed. However, in our cold climate, that limits the months. And what a shame to not be able to use this building all year round. Perhaps minimal modernization and addition of systems would be worth it in order to use the building.

The view as you approach from East Road. To the right is the Lampson School.

View from the Union Church, looking to the Lampson School and a farmstead.

It’s a good preservation theory discussion. What do you think? If there is use, keep the buildings as-is for the warm seasons or disturb them for year-round use?