Knox County Poorhouse / Infirmary Bangs, Ohio (SW of Mt. Vernon) Second and more extensive review (Original post December 2013) Constructed in 1875, Knox County Poorhouse sheltered the poor, homeless and orphaned. During a time when mental illness was still considered innately wrong, parents would often abandon children whose behavior deviated from what was considered “normal”. Many of the rooms were occupied by the elderly who simply didn’t have the means to support themselves. Rooms were overrun with occupants, leaving staff unable to provide an acceptable standard of living. After the Poorhouse closed in 1953, the Knox County Bible College took over operation of the old brick building in 1957 and repaired it. The building was again abandoned in 1988 when the Bible College left to relocate to Virginia. As the building lay dormant, its emptiness and disrepair built a spooky reputation in the area. Capitalizing on this, a staged haunted house began operating the facility in 1995 under the name of The House of Nightmares. Although extensive work was put into staging the Halloween sets within the building, little attention was given to building maintenance. In 2006, a partial, internal structural collapse closed the facility to the public, and ownership switched to a private landholder who now maintains the grounds and is hoping to raise funds to make the building structurally sound, but our visit (as you will see through our photos) suggests that may be prohibitively expensive. In any case, the building is a marvelous example of Victorian Gothic architecture and is, so far, still there to visit. Video... (Although this video touches on the paranormal, there is a lot of history and local information about the structure) youtu.be/AxqkWeSB_pM FaceBook page.... https://facebook/pages/Restore-The-Knox-County-Poor-House/167513396662138 Cornerstone says.... ---------------------- Erected in 1885,6 & 7 County Commissioners; David F. Halsey John Lyal John C. Levering Samuel Beeman John Ponting Architect; T.R. Tinsley ----------------------
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 19:08:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015