Some new photos from Fort Wayne

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Here's another photograph of the Unhappy Chair sitting in front of the fire station at the corner of North Anthony and Crescent Avenue in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Don Goss was my art teacher at Elmhurst High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I made this portrait of him in the school's main gym during a final tour of the school given to alumni in 2017.

The school, which opened in 1929, was closed by Fort Wayne Community Schools in 2010. In 2017, they sold the building and land to Hanson Aggregates, which owns the huge limestone quarry next to the school. They plan to demolish the school soon.

I graduated in 1994; when I was a student, Mr. Goss encouraged me to go to art school. I am one of many of his students who went on to become fulltime professional artists.

Mr. Goss is himself an Elmhurst graduate. After he graduated in 1949, he went to the army, then college. After finishing his education, he returned to Elmhurst as a teacher, and remained at the school for 56 years! He retired in 2010 when the school was closed.

He is 86 years old. I made this portrait last Saturday. November 10, 2017.

 

[Paulbe]

Chris--an excellent, powerful and touching photo--
Thanks for posting...
Paul

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Chris--an excellent, powerful and touching photo--
Thanks for posting...
Paul

Thanks, Paul.

Here's what Mr. Goss looked like back in 1994 right before I graduated from high school.

His classroom was awesome. The walls covered in art, some by Mr. Goss, some by his current and former students. It was a huge room full of art and creative kids. Launching place for so many of us.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

All of the lockers at Elmhurst were painted red or gray; the school's colors. The door on one of these was unlatched, so I opened it to see if anything was inside. There was a McDonald's coffee cup and a plastic drink bottle, probably left behind by the last kid who used the locker.

This is one of the photos I made of the inside of my old high school, Elmhurst High School in Fort Wayne, when it was open for alumni to tour last week. As I noted in earlier posts, the school is going to be demolished soon. It opened in 1929 and closed in 2010.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is one of the trophy cases in the hall outside the doors to the main gymnasium at Elmhurst High.

The trophies won by Elmhurst's sports teams over the decades were all removed when the school closed. The photos, newspaper articles, and other memorabilia on display were loaned by Elmhurst alumni for the farewell tour.

This is one of the photos I made of the inside of my old high school, Elmhurst High School in Fort Wayne, when it was open for alumni to tour last week. As I noted in earlier posts, the school is going to be demolished soon. It opened in 1929 and closed in 2010.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is a clock in the English Department hall at Elmhurst High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I photographed it during a final tour of the school given to alumni in 2017.

The clock, like every clock in the school, was stopped at 2:49. The time when all of the clocks were shut off on the last day of classes when the school closed in 2010.

 

[tbhv55]

This is a clock in the English Department hall at Elmhurst High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I photographed it during a final tour of the school given to alumni in 2017.

The clock, like every clock in the school, was stopped at 2:49. The time when all of the clocks were shut off on the last day of classes when the school closed in 2010.

There's something rather poignant about all the clocks being stopped at the same time - even though it's perfectly obvious that they would stop when the power was cut.

Is it possible to rescue the clock in the picture, and find a use for it somewhere? It seems a pity to see it scrapped.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

There's something rather poignant about all the clocks being stopped at the same time - even though it's perfectly obvious that they would stop when the power was cut.

Is it possible to rescue the clock in the picture, and find a use for it somewhere? It seems a pity to see it scrapped.

Stuff like that in the school is going to be sold before demolition but i won't buy anything, i am barely surviving now and have no money. Even if they only charged me $5 for it, I couldn't even do that. I suspect it will be sold for far more.

 

[tbhv55]

Stuff like that in the school is going to be sold before demolition but i won't buy anything, i am barely surviving now and have no money. Even if they only charged me $5 for it, I couldn't even do that. I suspect it will be sold for far more.

Sorry that you're not in a position to buy any of it, but at least it's good to hear that some of it will be used and enjoyed by someone.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A drinking fountain at Elmhurst High School. Most of the school's halls have one, and most of them were full of dirt or garbage.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

More photos from my old high school, which is going to be demolished soon.

The Band Room, where music classes were held. I was in the school band, playing alto Sax, all four years of high school.

The hallway outside the Band Room. All band members had their lockers in this hall.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This three-car pile-up was in the front yard of a house on State Route 2, southwest of Hicksville, in rural Defiance County, Ohio. The drivers of the wracked cars are all skeletons!

This was a Halloween decoration; one of the few interesting Halloween displays that I saw in 2017. There didn't seem to be very many people decorating for Halloween this year.

 

[css9450]

More photos from my old high school, which is going to be demolished soon.

Demolition might be preferable to the alternative, which in this picture is a school which has sat abandoned since it closed in 2009. Its been ravaged by vandals and scrappers. A beautiful brick 20s-era building too, such a waste and very sad to see. Actor Karl Malden graduated from this school. Imagine coming back as an alum and seeing this!

[/end thread hijack]

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Demolition might be preferable to the alternative, which in this picture is a school which has sat abandoned since it closed in 2009. Its been ravaged by vandals and scrappers. A beautiful brick 20s-era building too, such a waste and very sad to see. Actor Karl Malden graduated from this school. Imagine coming back as an alum and seeing this!

[/end thread hijack]

That's true, but Elmhurst should never have been closed. The school district had spent millions adding on to it and renovating it just a few years before it closed. A disgusting waste of taxpayer dollars.

The worthless superintendent of Fort Wayne Community Schools is paid three times what the mayor of Fort Wayne is paid, and nearly four times what the governor of Indiana is paid. If they needed to cut the budget, that would be the first place to go in my not so humble opinion as a former teacher in that deeply corrupt school system.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Here's one from my backlog of work I am working through.

Two kids slide down the Fun Slide, a giant three-lane slide at the 2017 Three Rivers Festival. One of the boys had turned around on the way down and ended up on his stomach by the time he got to the bottom!

The Three Rivers Festival takes place for 10 days in July at Headwaters Park in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana.

I always loved sliding down these giant slides when I was a kid.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

More photos from my old high school, which will be demolished soon.

The Gym. It was full of tables and chairs so that people could socialize during the farewell tour for alumni earlier this month. Mr. Goss, who taught art and photography for 56 years at Elmhurst High School, held court at one of the tables both days the school was open.

This is the classroom where I took English and US History from John Houser in 11th grade. When I became a teacher myself, at South Side High School, Mr. Houser was the assistant Principal at South Side. He is now the principal at Wayne High School in Fort Wayne.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving. Here's a patriotic house that I photographed in Fort Wayne a couple weeks ago.

This house in on Rivermet Avenue in the historic Lakeside neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, and is filled with beautiful old houses like this one.

This one has a giant American flag covering most of the house's second story front facade. I photographed it on a rainy fall afternoon during a short lull in the rain.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

This chair with a frowny face painted on it sits in front of the Fort Wayne Fire Department's Station #10 at the corner of Anthony Boulevard and Crescent Avenue.

It has had an interesting history. I photographed it the first time back in 2010, when it had a happy face painted on it. One of the firemen who worked there at the time told me that one of the men had painted the face on the yellow chair.

In 2011, the chair was painted over with a dull flat brown paint, with no face. It stayed that way until fall of 2017, when it went back to yellow. This time with a frowning face wearing glasses!

I made this photograph yesterday afternoon.

Nice photo!