Some new photos from Fort Wayne

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This old brick building is on the west side of Main Street, between William Street and Mitchell Street, in the small town of Kendallville, Indiana.


The storefront on the first floor is a store called Carla's 5 Bucks Antiques & Such (Yes, that's really the name of the store!). One of the second floor windows says: "Kendallville Camera Club." I didn't know that Kendallville had a camera club, and I don't think they do anymore. I couldn't find anything online about it, except a mention of the club in a newspaper article in the 1960s.


I photographed it a couple weeks ago.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This ruined barn is on the south side of US-224, just east of Dull Robinson Road, in rural Van Wert County, Ohio. The name "Balyeat" and a date in the 1880s (the last digit is illegible) are spelled out on the roof. I photographed it in November, 2019.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Three brick storefront buildings on the east side of Wells Street, between Fourth Street and Third Street, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.


The larger building on the left is the Welker Block, formerly the home of Linda Lou's Furniture. It was being renovated when I made this photograph. The middle building is Hyde Brothers Books, a used book store. The building on the right is a Mexican insurance agency called Seguros Y Mas Para Todos (Insurance and More For All). It is one of many Hispanic businesses that have opened on Wells Street in recent years.


I shot this in 2019. The Welker Block's renovations were completed in 2020; and two local businesses, a plant shop and a video production company, have moved into the building. Seguros Y Mas Para Todos has since moved to a new location.


Wells Street is one of the last places left in Fort Wayne where there are still rows of old storefronts of the sort that once lined the "Main Streets" of every city and town in America. They're still common in small towns in Indiana, but have almost entirely disappeared from Indiana's second largest city.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A Marathon gas station at the corner of 3rd Street and Wayne Street (State Road 5) in the small town of Warren, Indiana.


I made this photograph on Valentine's Day, when the gas station's sign said: "Love One Another."

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This tiny chapel stands in the middle of Saint Mary's Cemetery, located on Main Street (Old State Road 3), just north of the small town of Avilla, Indiana. It has statues of the Virgin Mary above the door and on the corners of the roof.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This large three-story brick duplex house is on the east side of Main Street (State Road 105), between Jefferson Street and Madison Street, in the small town of Andrews, Indiana.


I think it was originally a commercial building of some sort, because it is a very deep building, despite being wide enough for just two apartments. It was vacant when I photographed it.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Graffiti on an old weathered wood door inside one of the old barns behind the abandoned house at a farm on the southwest corner of Lower Huntington Road and Coverdale Road in southwest Allen County, Indiana.


A heart, a smiley face with its tongue sticking out, and "Hai." Does it mean Hi? Or Hey?


I have photographed the house, the barns, and the long driveway leading back through the fields to them many times over the last fifteen years. The house was in the process of being demolished when I made this photograph back in 2017.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This couple had just gotten their ice cream cones when their big dog decided that he wanted to order something, too!


They were at Magic Wand, a locally owned restaurant on Main Street (US-33) in the small town of Churubusco, Indiana. Magic Wand is a popular spot for ice cream, and has an outdoor ordering window for people who want to sit outside in the summer.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A turtle sign stands by the entrance to the Churubusco Utilities Office on Line Street in the small town of Churubusco, Indiana. It is next to the former fire station.


The turtle is a popular symbol of Churubusco, due to the legend of the Beast Of Busco. In 1949, a farmer near the town claimed that he had seen a giant turtle, the size of a small automobile, in a pond on his land.

 

[ChipMcD]

Graffiti on an old weathered wood door inside one of the old barns behind the abandoned house at a farm on the southwest corner of Lower Huntington Road and Coverdale Road in southwest Allen County, Indiana.


A heart, a smiley face with its tongue sticking out, and "Hai." Does it mean Hi? Or Hey?


I have photographed the house, the barns, and the long driveway leading back through the fields to them many times over the last fifteen years. The house was in the process of being demolished when I made this photograph back in 2017.

Maybe it's a warning: "der Hai" means shark in German. Are there shark infested waters in IN? 🙂

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Maybe it's a warning: "der Hai" means shark in German. Are there shark infested waters in IN? 🙂

No sharks that i know of, though you never know what lurks in the brown waters of Fort Wayne's rivers. There are actually signs along the riverbanks telling people that the water is unsafe to swim in due to pollution by raw sewage (not Ft. Wayne's fault, the small towns upriver of the city dumped sewage into our three rivers for decades. The EPA is finally making them stop).

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I found this one in my archives from way back in 2005!

This is the Eel River Township District #2 Schoolhouse on Wappes Road, just north of McComb Road, in rural Allen County, Indiana. The gable stone says that it was built in 1886.

This one is unusual in that the wooden belfry on the roof was still intact,though the bell is gone. Most of the abandoned schoolhouses I have seen have lost their belfries.

 

[helen.HH]

Great Shot Chris !
Stark and Bleak, trying to convey Hope

If it were my sign, it would read
"Get right with Life, with All those around You "~

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Great Shot Chris !
Stark and Bleak, trying to convey Hope

If it were my sign, it would read
"Get right with Life, with All those around You "~

Signs like the "Get Right With God" sign convey a lack of hope in this life, so they encourage an obsession with the next life. Some are more blatant about it than this one, like the ones below:

Heaven or Hell, where are you going? Jesus Christ is the answer.

Its your choice: Heaven or Hell. Read John 3:36.

SIN has an AWFUL COST. It's Repent or Pay! You can't see it in this little image, but the letters in "Awful Cost" have little thorns drawn on the outsides of them!

You are on your way to Hell - or Heaven. Proceed with caution.

You have a expiration date. Trust Jesus.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is the former City Hall building in New Haven, Indiana. Located on Broadway, just north of Main Street, it is now home to a martial arts studio called White Tiger Martial Arts. The second-floor windows are lined with trophies earned by their students.


This building, constructed in 1913, is far more beautiful than the ugly cookie-cutter postmodern building now occupied by New Haven's town government.


New Haven is a small town on the eastern edge of the much larger city of Fort Wayne. When I was young, New Haven was a couple miles east of the city, but both Fort Wayne and New Haven have grown and now have a long common border.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The Navy Club is an organization of veterans of the US Navy and the Marine Corps. This is "Ship 245," located on Broadway in New Haven, Indiana.


New Haven is a small town on the eastern edge of the much larger city of Fort Wayne. When I was young, New Haven was a couple miles east of the city, but both Fort Wayne and New Haven have grown and now have a long common border.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The Meyer Building is an old brick commercial building on Main Street, between Broadway and Ann Street, in New Haven, Indiana. It is now a storefront church called The Crossing Community Church.


New Haven is a small town on the eastern edge of the much larger city of Fort Wayne. When I was young, New Haven was a couple miles east of the city, but both Fort Wayne and New Haven have grown and now have a long common border.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

On County Road 600N in the small town of Uniondale, Indiana, there is an ancient 19th century building that was an auto repair shop for many years.


When I photographed it the first time, in 2013, the old retired mechanic who owned the place lived in an apartment in the back of the building. It was abandoned when I made this photograph in 2017, and the paper American flag in the front window had been damaged by water.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A daredevil rides a motorcycle at high speed inside a small spherical metal cage at the 2018 Three Rivers Festival. The "Iron Sphere Of Death" was part of a circus company called the Victoria Circus that performed at the 2018 TRF carnival.


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

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This giant Native American statue stands in the middle of the small town of Montpelier, Indiana. Made of fiberglass, the 25 foot tall statue was made in the 1960s and originally stood in front of a Pontiac car dealership in Indianapolis. In the 1970s, it was displayed at a couple of different museums. Eventually, it was given to Chief Larry Godfroy of the Miami Tribe.


The Miami were the dominant Native American tribe in northern Indiana and northwest Ohio until their defeat by General Anthony Wayne in 1794. Their main town, Kekionga, was located where the city of Fort Wayne now stands. Montpelier, in Blackford County, was the site of a Miami reservation in the early 19th Century.


In 1984, Chief Godfroy donated the sculpture to the town of Montpelier as a monument to the area's history as a part of his tribe's ancestral lands. The statue was featured in the opening sequences of the TV show Parks And Recreation.


This is one of hundreds of large fiberglass sculptures of men that were used as advertising in the past. Most were made by the same company; and they were made in several types, including Native Americans, lumberjacks, and mechanics. The stautes became known as "Muffler Men," because many early ones advertised muffler or car repair shops. They were made from the early 1960s until the mid 1970s.