This may belong in the rookie forum, mods, please move it if you feel it does.

In the town next to mine, sitting directly on a fairly major road/rotary, is an abandoned building. Given its location next to the road and being surrounded by a variety of other buildings (including a housing complex for seniors, who I assume are always sitting at home staring out their windows, calling anything unusual to the cops) I'm guessing it would be a very difficult building to get into unnoticed.

However, I've been trying to do some research anyway, and my first question beyond "can I get inside" is "what _was_ this place, anyway?"

I'm finding it surprisingly hard to figure out the best way to dig into that sort of question. The most recent news I can find that might refer to it is a newspaper article from 15(!) years ago about a local college considering buying it as a possible dorm conversion. That article merely lists it as a "school" with no additional info.

So....assuming you have an address (which I don't yet), what's the best way to go about digging up historical information on locations? I could walk into the local library, but would have no idea what to ask them or how to begin digging. I like history, I like abandoned places, so it is not surprising that I'm finding myself curious about the history of the abandoned places I want to visit.

Thoughts? Also, if you're in the Arlington/Medford/Somerville MA area you probably know the location I'm talking about. Feel free to PM/IM me with any historical info you may have.

This is a great question and I'm not sure if it's covered on any other thread. Personally I find that the historical investigation can be as much fun or even more fun than the explore itself (this is especially the case with old houses).

There are often times a ton of sources for historical investigations even on the most mundane of locations. The local historical society is usually my first stop after the Internet. These guys usually have newspaper articles, documents and old photos already on hand.

Most counties also have tax records of the place and can give you the names on those tax records. This is useful if you want to research the owners. If the property is still in the family you can even call up the current owner and get them to tell you about the place.

Neighbors are a great source of information. They almost always know something about the place and in your particular case you have a goldmine right next door. Rather than worrying about them calling the cops go talk to them. Old people are lonely and want someone to talk to and are tremendous sources of information that you will never find in any book. if you explain your hobby they will probably give you encouragement and even some information on where to find other locations!

This may sound counterintuitive but local law enforcement. Chat up a cop at the McDonalds, hell buy him a cup of coffee, and ask. I always ask cops about abandoned buildings in the area and 90% of the time they're happy to help. A couple of weeks ago I was in Tyler, TX and I had a motorcycle cop give me an escort to a location - lights and siren too! When we got there he showed me a POE and wished me luck!

People of all sorts are the best sources of information - don't be afraid to ask and don't get stuck looking through books and the web. Historical research is an explore unto itself and the journey can lead you to very unexpected places - like the subject of a police escort!

And if you're still worried about the old people calling the cops, just do your explore after 8pm - they'll all be asleep by then anyway!

Sanborn Maps, the library, local historical society, archives...

I also completely agree with Peptic about taking to the neighborhood.

No need to move to Rookie, good question and lots of good experience right here.