My daughter and I watched a documentary a couple weeks ago about urban exploration. We were both fascinated. The part that appealed to us the most was the idea of documenting a location's last days. We both love old buildings and we've seen too many of them get torn down. And it's a great excuse for breaking and entering!

This is the old high school that's up the street from my house. It was built in 1915 and used until the mid-70s when the new high school was built across town. The building has been continually vandalized over the years. Last I heard the city was willing to sell if for $1 to anyone who could show they had the money to rehab it or tear it down. Most likely it will be torn down.

A rock wall starts across the street from my house.


You follow it about 100 feet and there's a stairway tucked into the wall.


As you get to the top of the stairs you can see a beautiful brick building.


One of two identical front entrances.


The building housed the community theatre for a short time until the entire building was condemned.


A view of the city from the top of the fire escape. It was scary!


We tried to find a window to climb through so we could photograph the inside. This is me an instant before cutting myself on broken glass.


We'll be sneaking back up there with gloves and a ladder soon.

That looks fun. Hopefully someone can save it.

Can it be petitioned to become a Historical Building?

It probably could if enough people care. In this town... not many care.

We'll be heading up to the ruins of an insane asylum in town next week.

Are you serious about the city willing to sell it for $1? Do you know how it is zoned? Could it be mixed (aka - business and residential?)

How much renovation would be needed? I'd would go for it as a mixed dance studio and research lab.

All I know are rumors from when I worked in the art department at the newspaper a couple years ago. Over a year ago there was a sign in front of the building saying something about it being the future home of high-end condos, but the sign has been gone for a while.

From what I've seen of the building I'd say that the exterior of the building is structurally sound but it would need to be completely gutted - possibly including rebuilding floors and interior walls. I have no doubt that every bit of plumbing and electrical needs to be replaced.

The rumor about the city selling it for a dollar stipulated that the buyer had to prove they had the capital available to rehab the building. It's been a while since I've had anything to do with a project that massive, but I'd guess it would take a minimum of $250,000 just to bring the building up to code.

Speaking of rumors.... I've also heard that there are secret tunnels under the building. How fun would that be?!?!

Oooooh --- tunnels.

If only there were a company grant. hmmmmmmm.

Call Extreme Makeovers. (or Bob Villa)

sarah..... is ur last name conner?

You are the coolest mom! Very interesting lil adventure you guys went on!

Phoe is def cool! But don't let the secret out!

dont forget flashlights youll need um trust me get some more pics of the inside i wana see lol im not gonna say breaking and entering is fun ....buutt its pretty cool in abandoned buildings we have a old castle where i live we used to go 2 at night really creepy when sober :p

Wow! That's an awesome and beautiful find. Just be careful if you go inside, and you may want to bring a surgical mask or at least a bandanna to put over your nose and mouth just in case you see any pipes with dry flaky stuff (asbestos) coming off of them. From the outside the structure looks pretty sound, but keep an eye out for any areas of the floor that look overly saturated or water damaged as they may be rotted through and you'll risk falling through.

By the way, a most awesome site you'd probably love: http://www.opacity.us/