Working it Out
"An institution for vicious, criminal, and vagrant girls", This is how the Ann Arbor Democrat described the State Industrial School For Girls in 1885. Founded in 1879 in part by grand Quakeress, "Aunt" Laura Haviland, a historically famous activist and abolitionist, the State Industrial School for Girls originally consisted of 12 buildings on 113 acres of land.
Originally the institution was supposed to be named "the State Reform School for Girls" however, Laura Haviland and Mary L. Lathrop objected to this citing that an industrial school would be a better experience for it's residents then something like Boysville.
Any female between the ages of 7-17 could be held at this facility for various different reasons including; criminal behavior, truancy, homelessness, or simply misbehaving or acting rebellious. All sentences were indefinite until 21 years of age, meaning the only way to leave the institution was to be discharged by counselors or administrators of the school.
The State Industrial School acquired it's first female "delinquent" in 1882 and by 1887 at least 257 people had passed through or were currently incarcerated on site. The early years of the institution were rocky to say the least, the school was plagued with rampant cases of abuse and safety issues. On top of that girls were also sent out as cheap labor for hire in local homes and factories, these girls were paid abysmally poor wages ranging anywhere from nothing to $1 a week.
In 1916 bars were removed from the windows and locks removed from the doors due to the inherent fire risk. In 1973 the institution underwent major reforms and reopened as a medium security co-educational facility under the name "Adrian Training School".
Aileen Wuornos, America's first female serial killer passed through here at one point and a few escape attempts occurred but nothing much of importance happened until 2004, When the site came under scrutiny after one of it's employees, Joe Tindall, Was arrested on sexual assault charges involving several inmates housed at the facility.
The Adrian Training School would eventually close in January 2009 due to state budget cuts. The 100 remaining inmates were moved to W.J. Maxey Boys Training School in Whitmore Lake which would also close in 2015. Not sure if that's a good thing or not.
The city of Adrian would take over the complex from the state in 2011 and would maintain much of the complex until 2018, When the telescope manufacturing company PlaneWave purchased the property from the city. Within the same time frame the Adrian Center for the Arts began operations on campus breathing life back into the formerly dead campus.
Today the complex is more alive than ever, Pulling in I wasn't actually sure if anything was even abandoned anymore. Every building appeared to have been renovated or was in the process of being renovated besides this one specific building marked "Building 11".
For some reason this specific building had frisbee golf things outside and boy were people using them, I think some of the windows were actually shattered due to runaway frisbees.
After doing a lap around the building I found a hole that I could squeeze in, unfortunately the hole was elevated a bit off the ground so with the grace of an overweight raccoon trying to climb in a trash can I wriggled my way in.
Despite being abandoned for over 15 years the building was still in fair condition. Most of the damage was either from natural decay or the building owners stripping it for some reason. I was shocked to see large copper pipes out in the open.
One of the wings was much more decayed than the rest.
Due to the busyness of the complex I had to be careful around windows. Didn't need any artists or disc golfers on my case.
I was hoping to get in the actual school part but it was full of workers actively renovating it.
I have that same light fixture in my bathroom.
Let's shove everything in one room so it can decay all in one place! -Some groundskeeper
At this point I was starting to regret walking around in the snow all day in only a long sleeve shirt.
Each wing had one of these small windowless rooms that I assume was used as solitary.
While exploring in the pitch black basement a squirrel who was climbing in and out through a small vent decided to jump scare me, much to my dissatisfaction. It would have made a funny video clip but unfortunately my GoPro activated super epic battery mode and shut itself off at 52% due to "low battery"
After snapping some final pics and conversing with the frisbee golfers I climbed back outside and headed for home. Hope you enjoyed this post and if you haven't already check out yesterdays, they are both from the same trip.
Mutagen Out!
Sources:
https://www.lenconnect.com/story/lifestyle/2010/10/10/groups-work-together-to-redevelop/64115100007/
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