Emerson School of Gary, Indiana

There is no shortage of abandoned schools in Gary, Indiana; the declining population over the decades has left the school district scrambling to close and reorganize schools. Annually decreasing budgets complicate attempts to maintain or repair the crumbling structures. The Emerson School was Gary’s first high school, built in 1909. It was the proud work of a confident new superintendent and would be at the forefront of racial integration decades later. When depopulation starved the school of students in the early 1980s, the district re-organized Emerson into a Visual & Performing Arts magnet school to keep it open. The school would last another quarter-century before mother nature would close it in 2008, one year shy of its 100th birthday.

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The Sheraton Hotel of Gary, Indiana

Sometimes Interesting

Not every abandoned building in Gary, Indiana has an enchanting history. Several epitomize the failed attempts to revitalize, and instead showcase the city’s history of financial failures. The abandoned Sheraton Hotel is one such example. Originally opened in 1968 as a Holiday Inn, the building would close only four years later. It was later renovated and re-opened in 1978 as a Sheraton, but the hotel closed again seven years later, never turning a profit. Since the hotel closed in 1985, it has served as a grim reminder of Gary’s economic woes.

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The Mahencha Apartments of Gary, Indiana

Sometimes Interesting

Sometimes Interesting has teamed up with the Idiot Photographer to bring the reader a unique insight to the history of Gary, Indiana. Over the coming weeks we will feature various structures and tell their history. Today we detail the life of the 85 year-old building known at various times as The Mahencha, Mahencia, and Hatcher Apartments. Despite being a favorite of photographers and urban explorers in Gary, there is little compiled anywhere about Mahencha; we wanted to fix that. It is one of the most recognizable structures in town and like most abandoned buildings, it reminds of Gary’s better days. Can the beautiful architecture be preserved before demolition?

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The Grande Hotel of Beira, Mozambique

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Beira is an important African coastal port and the second-largest city in Mozambique. In the mid-1950s the ruling Portuguese Estado Novo regime wanted to build luxurious oceanfront quarters for VIPs visiting Beira. The result was the Grande Hotel, a beautiful Art Deco resort opened in 1955. When completed it was the pride of Africa, featuring every amenity available – but it would close in 1963 after only eight years of operation. The Grande Hotel would serve many functions over the years, but in 1981 it became a refugee camp and remains one to this day.

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Plymouth, Montserrat: Pompeii of the Caribbean

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For centuries, the Georgian-era town of Plymouth served as the main port for Montserrat, a part of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. An eruption from the Soufrière Hills volcano in 1995 would see the capital city decimated and two thirds of the island’s population would be forced to flee. Today the remains of the now forbidden port town litter the landscape, the land now unusable due to pyroclastic lava flows which have destroyed everything in their path.

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The Last House on Holland Island

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Built in 1888, this Victorian home from a different era has braved the elements and fought shoreline erosion on Holland Island in Chesapeake Bay for well over a century. Despite former resident and owner Stephen White’s best efforts to save the house and protect the island, the waters would overcome both and erase them from the map. So what happened to Holland Island, and why did one man try to save it?

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Villa Epecuén: Argentina Town Buried Underwater for 25 Years

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About 570 kilometers southwest of Buenos Aires lies the remains of a deserted resort town on the coast of Laguna Epecuén in Argentina. Named Villa Epecuén, the town was founded in the early 1920s as a vacation resort for the well-heeled in Buenos Aires to get away from it all. The town would prosper for over 50 years, eventually peaking in the 1970s. Villa Epecuén was a true paradise until a breach in the dam in 1985 would see it completely submerged. 25 years later the waters have finally receded, revealing what little is left of what was once a thriving vacation town.

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Project MKUltra

Sometimes Interesting

After the end of World War II, the climate of worldwide conflict changed and the dawn of the Cold War altered the direction of military strategy. The United States saw a need to establish an agency to conduct worldwide intelligence-gathering operations and to engage in espionage and counter-terrorism. During the war, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) occupied this role. After the war, the National Security Act of 1947 officially established the Central Intelligence Agency with the intent to expand these operations and create a formal authority to oversee covert activities worldwide.

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