187 Greenwood Street

"I went back to Ohio...but the pretty countryside...had been paved down the middle...by the government that had no pride..."~Crissy Hynde & The Pretenders

 One of many houses along and off of Greenwood Street in Worcester, MA. that fell victim to so called "PROGRESS". Seems a certain railroad company will be using the area for a storage yard for freight containers.

Most folks here in Worcester know who's involved.

If "progress" involves slapping tarmac over yet another part of the city then, what's the point? I don't mind a bit of progress, don't get me wrong but...another fucking parking lot for freight containers? The city already has enough of those. *SIGH*

The least the company could've done was to fence in the demolition area and put up warning signs. I mean...not that any curious kids in the neighbourhood would go exploring there, right?

Being as curious as I am and always up for a little "urban exploration", I drove by on the way home and spotted one of the local F.D. trucks parked out front in the street. Figuring they may be setting something up to watch (like say...a fiery end to the old house), I got home and quickly grabbed my camera. Returning, I parked on an abandoned side street, got out and ambled over. Mind you, there was nothing and no-one stopping me from doing so. No "DANGER KEEP OUT" signs...no fences, no yellow tape, no police...nothing. I actually got to chat with one of the fire-fighters who explained they were just doing some training, nothing more. A couple weeks later the place was quickly torn down by an excavator and the lot filled in. Oh well...what's one more house off the city's tax roll? *SIGH*

Wonder if Santa stayed to the end?

Riderless

Have you ever been out for a walk and come across an abandoned article? Of course you have. It could've been an old shoe, a beer bottle, mattress, or even a pile of construction debris. Or a bicycle. What do you do when seeing it? Do you wonder how it got there? I bet some of you do. Take the bike below...who did it once belong to? How did it get into the flood-controlle canal? Who put it there and when? How long has it been in the water? Was it stolen and later ditched there? Or was it a piece of scrap that just happened to bounce off a truck as it went over the bridge? Who knows? Who cares? To some, it's just another chunk of our "disposable technology". It won't be missed.

Early Abandonment

I've been fascinated with abandoned or deserted places for about as long as I can remember. Of course, when I was a kid there was a lot less electronic stuff to play with (more like...none, actually.) For me that meant either drawing or playing with my Tonka toys. Or play outside. Outside was a whole other world to a kid like me, with a hyper-active imagination. My first three years there wasn't much to do, except move around a lot. As an Air Force brat, I never stayed in any one place for too long. But around the age of four I ended up in Clovis, New Mexico. My parents never really worried too much if I went outside, as long as I stayed within the yard. As I got older, I got farther away from the back yard and further down the block. By the time I was six I was walking to school across a vacant lot with fellow class-mates. Vacant. Lot. But in 1974 I got my first real taste of abandonment. My parents filed for divorce and Pop left us. How's that for abandonment? Mom packed up my brother and I and moved to the next town over, House. (no really, that's the name of the town itself, H-O-U-S-E, House, New Mexico.) The place was a veritable "ghost town". But all those abandoned homes, barns and other places, were fodder for this kid's imagination! Wish I had had a camera back then. We only lived in House for a year or so before returning to Clovis in 1976. By that time my brother had gone to stay with my dad for good. More abandonment. Mom worked her ass off while I was in school and I usually came home to an empty house. But back then things were a lot different. By the time I was eight I could basically take care of myself. I never strayed too far from home anyway...there was just so much to explore right in my own neighbourhood. Fast forward to April of 2009. I took Mom and my battered KIA Rio Cinco across I-40 and back into Clovis. I had promised to someday take Mom back there. While there we re-visited House. Not much to see these days. Here's where I used to live (or rather, I lived in the ell extension to the right of Robinson's Grocery Store.) According to Mom, Old Man Robinson called it "quits" and packed up and left sometime in '78 or '79. But the store remains. The extension now appears to be a converted barn of some sort. Not sure what it is today. We stayed for a bit and I took a few more pics. Below Robinson's is what used to be the post office, if my fading memory serves. It was about a block away.

Robinson's Grocery Store

Former apartment space

Old Post Office?

I'm still planning another trip out West but the logistics are killer. Y'see Mom is on dialysis and I'd be in a "time-crunch" to get to Clovis before her next session (Clovis has a great dialysis facility.) It worked out just fine last time but, the 41 hour drive had me beat. And Mom generally goes every other day so, it breaks up our "exploring" time. Oh well.