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 CDSbigsby
      
Location: Lancaster, Ohio
Gender: Male
 |  |  | South Bloomingville Elementary School - South Bloomingville, Ohio
< on 12/29/2007 4:52 AM >
|  | | | This building holds a lot of nostalgia for me...It was the elementary school I went to. And it was out in the middle of nowhere, a little nothing town called South Bloomingville, Ohio, that comprised of a gas station, three bars, and an elementary school, basically.
The district, however, did a pretty big revamp of their schools starting a few years back, and little South Bloom was deemed to be shut down. They built a newer, bigger, more technological elementary school with an upped occupancy probably five miles away from old South Bloom, and since then, this school has kind of been in limbo. It was proposed to be a community center, but for what 'community' does South Bloomingville need a center? For the first year or so after it was closed, South Bloomingville Elementary hosted a chinese auction or two in the gym, and since then has just been locked up and left to rot. It is now owned by the township, who do little more than screw plywood over the windows kids break and mow the lawns in the summer.
For the record, South Bloomingville Elementary comprises of two buildings. The first, considerably smaller building, housed kindergarten through third grade and one small bathroom in the center - with four doors. The second, much larger, building housed 4th and 5th grade as well as the cafeteria, gymnasium, library, principal's office, secretary/nurse's office, special education room, music/art room, two miniature sized bathrooms in the basement as well as a boiler room and two or three multi-purpose rooms, used for meetings and the like. Most of the bigger rooms have their own closets, as well, including a small pantry for the kitchen. The gymnasium and music/art room are padlocked shut from the inside as well as locked from the outside, and the entire smaller building is inaccessible.
I went with a friend that I met at South Bloom in kindergarten, and have been friends with since we were both six. It was a pretty nostalgic trip...Creepy, too.
We walked around the outside for a while first, trying doors and such, and were around back for a while, and finally found a way into the 4th grade classroom. Once we were in there, Accomplice froze over near the door with the dreaded "Did you just hear something?" We both stood still for a while and listened to the petrifying sound of footsteps in the hallway. After a good five minutes of standing in one spot, we determined that the school was simply not large enough for something to have been continuously walking around the building and not have found us yet, so we moved on. The 'footstep' sounds continued, and continued to freak us the hell out, though the popular opinion seems to have been the roof leakings' making a drum-beat on a metal table or something. (The sound was obviously coming from the locked art/music room or the gymnasium, which as I mentioned, were padlocked shut, so we never found out for sure.) I'm not the type to believe in ghostie stories or anything, but that was borderline terrifying.
Anyway, for all those who didn't take one look at this thread and think "tl;dr" and leave, I present to you my modest stash of pictures. The batteries in my camera died halfway through, though - Once Emily uploads hers in a few days, I'll add them. She has exteriors as well.
Our first look inside:
Inside the cafeteria, looking out towards the smaller of the two buildings:
A door, off its hinges for no apparent reason, in a hallway near the cafeteria:
Looking down the main hallway of the larger building, towards the fifth grade classroom.
Inside the special education room (Deemed necessary for our three special ed students):
The mustard-yellow coat closet/storage room for the special ed room:
The other end of the special ed closet (Taken simply to illuminate the room):
The closet of the secretary-slash-nurse's office:
Left-behind product manuals. I literally laughed out loud upon reading the red and white one at the back: "Instructions for operating for your new Mitsubishi Video Cassette Recorder machine"
Taking a picture of outside, from inside the secretary-slash-nurse's office, for no real purpose other than it has my lovable truck next to that awesome tree that I always got in trouble for climbing at recess:
Ethics be damned, if I find out they're tearing the school down, I'm coming back for this - the master clock of the school, in the secretary-slash-nurse's office, that controlled all the bells and such. I think.
So cool:
Obligatory lone chair shot. The stairs go up to the principal's office - that was the chair you waited in to get called in to see the principal. I hated that chair.
We weren't the first visitors since it'd been abandoned, obviously. Looks as someone has emptied this fire extinguisher.
Interesting decór in the principal's office.
Michael Bolton for America's libraries.
Looking down towards the main entrance. Going up, they lead to the principal's office, going down further leads you to the restrooms, multi-purpose rooms, and boiler room.
Going down:
In this little nook and/or cranny used to be an uncomfortable cot, where you laid and waited to get picked up by your mom when you were faking sick.
The largest of the multi-purpose rooms.
It's like a freakin' dentist's office up in here.
Heading into the predictably pink girls' restroom. Right about here, my batteries died, so this is the last picture I took. (Save for the very last one here, which was back at my house after I changed batteries) All the pictures after this one were before this, but out of order.
Fourth grade + accomplice = B&E: (She's looking out in the hallway, just now hearing the aforementioned 'footsteps' at right about this point)
The first 'look' out into the hallway from the fourth grade doorway, attempting to illuminate the scene as to aid in the search for the source of the 'footsteps':
The library. I didn't even notice that stack of books in the corner when I was there.
More of the same. It takes a community to protect a child, by the way.
Tiny little hallway leading towards the cafeteria, from the library:
Accomplice reading the menu in the cafeteria.
Instructions, lest the unthinkable occur:
The business end of the cafeteria, the kitchen. All the appliances were auctioned off.
The cafeteria pantry, where all the bulk gallon cans of ketchup and the like were stored. I didn't notice the notes while I was there.
Well, there's the end of my pictures...There's perhaps double that more waiting in Accomplice's camera, I'll post them when I get them from her, probably here in a couple of days.
Sorry I had so much description of the place...It holds a special place in my heart, so I couldn't help but to go overboard.
And by the way, UE'ing on a first date, awesome.
Won't you help me, Mr. Jesus, Won't you tell me, if you can
When you see this world we live in, Do you still believe in man? |
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CDSbigsby
Location: Lancaster, Ohio
Gender: Male
| | | Re: South Bloomingville Elementary School - South Bloomingville, Ohio
<Reply # 1 on 1/1/2008 2:44 AM >
| | | | My accomplice put her pics up. There are probably some that are close to doubles, but that's to be expected since we were in the same rooms at the same time.
I'll start with the exteriors I forgot to get, here's how the main building looks from across the road:
My truck, guarding the joint. In the background is the gym, which was inaccessible, as it was chained shut from the other side and had a table in front of the door.
The smaller of the two buildings. This one held kindergarten through third grade.
Always did love this tree. And as I previously stated, I got in trouble constantly for trying to climb it at recess.
The playground. After they closed the joint, they took out all the newer playground equipment - the jungle gym and slide, for instance. Those tires were gargantuan to an eight-year-old me.
Fourth Grade:
Library:
Hallway that runs from the library to the cafeteria. If I recall correctly, this was more used as a coat closet than a hallway.
Kitchen:
Cafeteria. See if you can find me!
Me, practicing my point-and-shoot technique on the kitchen's pantry:
Other side of the cafeteria. I like that, once shattered, the window loses its tint. Though I hate to think that some asshole shattered the window in my beloved school.
The main hallway.
My special head in the special ed:
My favorite shot of the trip. The bad kid chair, waiting at the foot of the principal's imposing (to an eight-year-old) staircase. Note the footprints in the dust leading up.
Ah, the principal's office. Good to be back.
My trusty point-and-shoot leading the way into the closet. A lot of the windows were open, throughout the school.
This poster deserves two mentions. "READ: Michael Bolton for America's Libraries"
Going down to the basement, looking towards the front doors:
The timeline they had posted for the move to the new elementary school, including a newspaper article with pics of the new school:
'Multi-purpose room'. You're looking out the doorway into the basement's hallway, where, when I was in 5th grade, they painted the walls light blue and let all the fourth and fifth graders paint undersea scenery on them. In case you were wondering about the castle and the squid.
Girl's bathroom.
My accomplice's contribution to the undersea-themed scenery from fifth grade:
Me and my friend Keith's contribution - a sunken ship, vaguely based on the Titanic. There wasn't any white paint left, which explains the gaps between the smokestacks. Though even I can't explain why the bow end is resting on a mysterious undersea heating vent grate.
Boy's bathroom.
Potty shot!
The trash can in the boy's bathroom. Tsk tsk tsk.
That awesome binder we found downstairs - the asbestos report binder. Here is the report from 1995. You can't read it for shit in the pic, but it goes: "Three Year Asbestos Inspection/ Building Inventory/ South Bloomingville School/ March 19, 1995. It then goes to list all the asbestos products in the school (all 'floor tiles', where they were at, how many cubic feet of said tiling, and the condition of it. I am happy to report all in 'good' condition. It closes with "No new suspect materials were found." All the same, we walked gently after this discovery.
The surprisingly well-condition PTA room. (Not bad photography - just the whole school is comprised of really small rooms. Well...Maybe a mixture of both.)
Handrails leading up to the main entrance from the basement
Back in the main hallway. Water damage all up in here.
The hallway leading down to the inaccessible gymnasium.
Going down towards the gym. We were looking forward to getting into the gym's storage room and seeing if there were any toys left 
A large-ish closet off the hallway to the gym. Random hunting stool.
Slightly disturbing looking handprint-smear.
Deeper back into the main hallway. That door ('14') leads to the art/music room, also padlocked shut. (above the frame). Weird thing is, you can get to the gym through the art/music room, so I think they must be storing some stuff in that room, or the gym, or on the stage, or something. Or, there was a party thrown in the gym a couple years back that got busted, leading to underage drinking arrests, so maybe they're trying to stop that happening again.
There's that padlock. You can't really see it in the pic, but the metal bar bit it bent out where people have pulled mighty hard on that door trying to get it open.
The water damage I was talking about before in the main hallway. I felt uneasy walking under this.
Fifth grade room. I don't remember any sort of 'home ec' sort of activities, but apparently there were, judging by the cupboards and sink.
Moldy ceiling in the fifth grade room
Checking the cupboards. I don't know what for, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Water fountain.
On the way out.
Well, that's it. That's been my first time back since it's been unofficially-officially abandoned, and almost definitely not my last.
Sorry about the double post, by the way.
Won't you help me, Mr. Jesus, Won't you tell me, if you can
When you see this world we live in, Do you still believe in man? |
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seicer
  
Location: New York
Gender: Male
| |  | Re: South Bloomingville Elementary School - South Bloomingville, Ohio
<Reply # 2 on 1/1/2008 3:01 AM >
| | | | Gah. I remember when this place was active, and it hasn't been that long ago Another school abandoned.
And what's up with the non-symmetrical front? That had me glancing back at the photo again and again.
You should share this at http://www.urbanohio.com . They would love to hear about the school and see it as well.
Abandoned |
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Snickerpuss
Location: Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada
Gender: Male
| | Re: South Bloomingville Elementary School - South Bloomingville, Ohio
<Reply # 3 on 1/1/2008 10:15 PM >
| | | | I wish you could have gotten into the gym ( you could have broken off the padlock you stick in the mud )
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CDSbigsby
Location: Lancaster, Ohio
Gender: Male
| | | Re: South Bloomingville Elementary School - South Bloomingville, Ohio
<Reply # 4 on 1/4/2008 11:21 PM >
| | | | In theory, sure. I also could've kicked in walls and broken windows while I was at it, but I didn't.
I have respect for locations, I'm no vandal. The only way I would snip off a padlock would be if I had another one with me to replace it once I was done. I might actually do that, someday. I really would like to see the gym again.
Plus, being caught with a pair of boltcutters is quite a bit more conspicuous than being caught with nothing but a camera and would compound the charges from simple b&e.
Won't you help me, Mr. Jesus, Won't you tell me, if you can
When you see this world we live in, Do you still believe in man? |
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