To me, abandoned or run-down buildings look very sad and make me think more of the years when they were beehives of activity, places where people spent their entire working lives and then some. They were all new at one time, same as old houses with sagging roofs and decaying porches. Even so, they may have all replaced something along the way themselves, only to be bypassed with something new and sometimes to be used for something else, hopefully something close to the original purpose.
I mentioned already in the thread about seaplanes how there used to be a municipal airport, technical a "field" (it wasn't paved), that is now the location of a very large county hospital. The old hospital where I was born just a few blocks away was tiny. But the hangers leftover from the old airport are still there, now serving as garages for the city. I think there were no other buildings other than the hangers at the airport. In checking out details on Bing maps, I noticed a lot of parking lots where there used to be buildings. Apparently they finally got around to doing something about the downtown parking shortage, 50 years too late.
I have also noticed that in lots of small towns that I've either lived in or passed through, old bank buildings can sometimes be spotted. Apparently branch banking is a more recent innovation in small towns. Formerly, they were all theoretically independent, especially in some states. Almost none remain in use as banks, however, the banking business having moved out to the shopping centers outside of town along with the grocery stores and the big box retailers, all the same wherever I go.
There used to be a bank in Washington, DC, across the street from the Treasury Building, that advertised itself as being "on the money," which it was on one of the older $10 bank notes, the one with the old car on 15th Street beside the Treasury Building and almost across from the Old Ebitt Grill. I think it was the old American Security & Trust. It was monumental in its grandeur and I think it's still a bank.
I mentioned already in the thread about seaplanes how there used to be a municipal airport, technical a "field" (it wasn't paved), that is now the location of a very large county hospital. The old hospital where I was born just a few blocks away was tiny. But the hangers leftover from the old airport are still there, now serving as garages for the city. I think there were no other buildings other than the hangers at the airport. In checking out details on Bing maps, I noticed a lot of parking lots where there used to be buildings. Apparently they finally got around to doing something about the downtown parking shortage, 50 years too late.
I have also noticed that in lots of small towns that I've either lived in or passed through, old bank buildings can sometimes be spotted. Apparently branch banking is a more recent innovation in small towns. Formerly, they were all theoretically independent, especially in some states. Almost none remain in use as banks, however, the banking business having moved out to the shopping centers outside of town along with the grocery stores and the big box retailers, all the same wherever I go.
There used to be a bank in Washington, DC, across the street from the Treasury Building, that advertised itself as being "on the money," which it was on one of the older $10 bank notes, the one with the old car on 15th Street beside the Treasury Building and almost across from the Old Ebitt Grill. I think it was the old American Security & Trust. It was monumental in its grandeur and I think it's still a bank.
