Category Archives: Wisconsin

Urbex locations in Wisconsin.

Foreclosed Hotel

Normally when I go to an urbex location it has been abandoned for quite some time. This definitely was not the case this time around. This hotel was foreclosed upon sometime in early 2010. From the looks of it, the employer ran out of time to remove their property. The pool was still half full of water. Networking equipment sat behind the front desk. The bar still had beer, juice, and other foodstuffs behind it. Despite being right next to a major highway the hotel is not easy to get to from the nearest exit. The nightly logbook indicates that even on weekends the hotel only had 3-4 check-ins. Employees recorded their malaise dealing with sheer boredom.

If the United States economic woes continue unabated I have no doubt that this will not be my last urbex adventure in a foreclosed property.

Photo: Keys to the conference rooms.

Photo: The view from the lobby. Photo taken by Nick Forslund.

Photo: One of the undisturbed rooms. It is good to see that vandals or copper thieves have not made their way through the building. Photo by bitter_buffalo33.

Photo: Despite the extreme cold the pool area remains quite humid.

Photo: The whirlpool was completely empty.

Photo: The basement refrigeration doors were made of wood. Photo by Nick Forslund.

Photo: The damp basement provides the perfect environment for mold to thrive. Photo by Nick Forslund.

King James Jesse Strang

On July 8, 1850 James Jesse Strang was crowned King. To this day he holds the illustrious honor of being the only person crowned as a monarch on United States soil. Six years later he was shot in broad daylight in front of apathetic witnesses.

Let’s rewind…

In February, 1844 Strang becomes a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints and is personally baptized by founder Joseph Smith, Jr. Within a month Strang is recognized by the church as an Elder and dispatched by Smith to Wisconsin to create a Mormon settlement. The settlement in Voree, Wisconsin is located just west of Burlington in the southeastern part of the state. On June 27 Smith is murdered by an anti-Mormom mob. The homicide creats a power vacuum within the church with three individuals each claiming leadership; Bringham Young, Sidney Rigdon, and James Jesse Strang.

Up to this point Strang’s story appears to be a quintessential early American story. A young man moves west to find his place in the world, adopts religion, and becomes a prominent community figure. This is where things turn weird.

Photo: The Strangite church located in Voree, WI appropriately on Mormon Road.

Strang, being the deeply religious and righteous man that he is, forges a letter supposedly from church founder Smith stating that Strang is to be the successor. To further his claims Strang provides evidence that Voree is to be the next chosen Mormon settlement. In 1945 Strang is guided by an angel to discover three small gold plates buried in the ground. The plates have text etched into them that only Strang can translate. The Voree Record supposedly affirm Strang’s ascendance in the church and reveal God’s plan for the Mormons.

Although ambitious, Strang doesn’t get any points for originality. The whole “finding gold plates and revealing God’s plan” was exactly what church founder Smith claimed years before. Strang’s life is about to get a whole lot stranger.

Brigham Young is eventually chosen to be the head of the Mormon church. Strang decides to break off and form his own sect, which still survive to this day as the Strangites. As non-Mormons moved into the area Strang made the decision to move his followers to Beaver Island, Michigan in June 1848.

No wait… it gets even better.

In 1849 Strang took a secret second wife Elvira Field. Strang concealed their relationship by passing his buxom new bride off as a man named Charles Douglass. The ruse was so convincing that her own family believed her to be missing.

Like all things American, Strang decides to up the ante even further. He’s kind of like Scarface, only with religion instead of cocaine.

In 1850 Strang is crowned “King of the Kingdom of God on Earth.” The ever expanding congregation was able to take control of the island’s raw material and commercial resources. Friction between the gentile population increased when Strang demanded gentiles pay a tithe to the church. Physical skirmishes broke out when the church prevented alcohol from being shipped to the island. After the “War of Whiskey Point” most of the gentile population of Beaver Island moved.

Polygamy is wholeheartedly embraced after Strang takes a third wife in 1852. After this he mandates that all Strangite men have at least two. Wives four and five join the Strang family in 1855.

Word of King Strang’s abberant behavior eventually reaches President Fillmore, who then opens a jar of pickled whup-ass on Strang. Or so he thinks. The USS Missouri is dispatched to bring Strang and his followers to trial for tax irregularities, harvesting from public lands, delaying mail service and counterfitting. Strang, acting as his own lawyer, is able to beat the federal government in open court. He then returns with his followers back to his Beaver Island kingdom.

So King Strang returns victorious and is viewed as a hero by his congregation. Things start to fall apart when the fearless leader brutalizes one of his subjects.

In 1856 King Strang orders David Bedford to be lashed 79 times for allegedly sleeping with his business partner’s wife. The punishment is doled out swiftly and deeply enrages Bedford. Bedford convinces a group of 40 men to ambush Strang on the shores of Beaver Island. During the confrontation Strang is shot three times; one bullet grazes his head, one goes through his cheek, and the last bullet lodges itself in his spine. The group of men then board the docked USS Michigan, where they set off for nearby Mackinac Island. The conspirators are given a mock trial, fined $1.25, and are released.

A dying King Strang is placed as soon as possible on a vessel back to Voree, Wisconsin. He dies from his injuries three weeks later on July 9, 1856. Four of Strang’s five wives are pregnant at the time of his death. He is buried in the Burlington Cemetery shortly thereafter.

The King is dead. Long live the King.

Photo: King Strang’s marker is almost indistinguishable from the rest in the cemetery.

Abandoned Brodhead

Precise location not marked… keep reading.

Sometimes the key to finding an urbex location is to develop a keen instinct for signs along the road. Why does that isolated patch of trees have an electrical box by the curb? Why does the gravel extend beyond the side of the road? Can you sit in the car honey while I wander into the woods alone?

If you develop these instincts they can pay off.

Photo: The house was in terrible shape. The second floor had all but collapsed into the first. It is way too dangerous to enter. Also, black mold. Everywhere.

Photo: Pulling back the door of a collapsed garage revealed a cherry red Volkswagen.

Photo: Whoever lived in this house left a majority of their possessions behind. Homes like these only heighten my curiosity.

Urbex Photo Award

The above photo won the Best of Category for Animals in the Fiskum Art Gallery – Summer Scenes Photo Contest at UW-Whitewater today. When I explain what urbex is to some, they just can’t see how it could be more than just exploring decaying abandoned buildings. Animals are not a subject I normally photograph. Sometimes, though, these abandoned buildings become home to the surrounding fauna. When I show people this example they look like they just opened a copy of National Geographic. Then urbex seems to make a whole lot more sense. There isn’t only beauty in decay, but also beauty in the living breathing things that now call the building home.

This photo was taken in the Armour Meat Packing Plant north of East St. Louis, Illinois.

The Day Kennedy Was Shot

This photo was taken in an abandoned farmhouse in the Koshkonong, WI area. The property still has occupants and I did ask for permission to shoot on their land. The property owners do not wish to share their address and I must honor their wishes.

The house itself was in really bad shape. Water damage has caused the first floor to collapse into the basement. I was able to inch my way along the edges into one room that was filled with magazines, newspapers, and books. Most of the texts were illegible in the layer of filth that had accumulated. Tucked away on a shelf to the right was the spine of “The Day Kennedy Was Shot” by Jim Bishop. I’m not a big fan of the Fuji F70 EXR that I took it with, but this is one of my personal favorite photos. Sometimes there isn’t much to shoot at an urbex location. Sometimes just one shot is enough to make the entire effort worthwhile.

Abandoned Ford Truck in La Grange, WI

Wisconsin is blessed with a dearth of old barns throughout the countryside. Driving from my home to Madison, Milwaukee, or Green Bay means I’ll pass one eventually. Taking a few minutes to explore the backroads often leads to fantastic findings. Above is a beautiful old Ford truck that appears as though it hasn’t moved an inch since the 1930’s. This is an easy find for any beginner and it is relatively safe. Let me know if you come across it!

Abandoned Trailer Farm

The first time I came across this trailer in Baraboo, Wisconsin I learned a valuable lesson. Always, always, always check your camera batteries before leaving the house. The battery in my main camera was completely dead on arrival. To make matters worse, my trusty backup camera was also toast. I had to settle with shooting with the iPhone 3G’s s*** camera the first time. I invested in a car charger for my camera batteries after that horrible experience.

Two months later I returned to the trailer and it had deteriorated rapidly. The cold Wisconsin snow had widened the gaping ceiling hole in the kitchen. The nails that held the front door to the frame had lost their grip, exposing the dining and kitchen room to the deep nightly cold. The woodwork had absorbed much of the moisture from the brief thaw from the days prior. Black mold had begun to overtake the white kitchen lining. Everything of interest that I wanted to photograph from my first trip was where I had left it.

The family that lived in this two bedroom trailer must have been able to speak multiple languages. An edition of the Chicago Tribune on the dining room table from the late 1970’s mentions the new Star Wars movie. In one of the cupboards sat German literature. Pieces of paper with an eastern European language were also among the debris.

Translation:

Hearts of Children
Four Stories from M. Lenk
Second Edition
Zwickau i.S.
Print(ed) and Publish(ed) by Johannes Herrmann

Als ich dieses Buch in meiner gefrören Hand gehalten habe, habe ich an Wisconsins Geschichte gedacht. Die deutschen Siedler dieses Staates waren sehr wichtig. Die Bauer und die Brauer haben Wisconsin als den sogennanten “Dairy State” gegründet. Einmal in Wisconsin war es normal Deutsch zu sprechen, lesen, und schreiben. Aber das ist nicht mehr den Fall.

(Feel free help me improve my German in the comments.)

As I held this book in my frozen Hand, I thought about Wisconsin’s history. The German settlers of this state were very important. The farmers and brewers laid the foundation for Wisconsin to be called the “Dairy State.” It was normal once in Wisconsin to speak, read, and write in German. Due to the course of history, American speakers of German began avoiding using the language in everyday use in the mid-1900’s. It is a shame really, because Wisconsin still retains much of its rich German cultural heritage.

Urbex in Your Backyard

Getting a start in urbex can be as easy as looking around your own hometown. As a kid I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It wasn’t until I moved out in college that I began to appreciate all the unique history the city had to offer. (No, I don’t care about the historical Green Bay Packers.) Green Bay is host to one of only two vintage McDonald’s neon signs of its kind nationwide. In high school I used to come here for lunch with my friends. Although I’ve developed quite a distaste for their food, I do find this neon sign to be quite beautiful. I’m glad that the franchise owner has decided to maintain it.

Abandoned Farmhouse in Janesville, WI

In the interest of preservation the exact location of this farmhouse will not be shared. It is a fairly easy to find if you’re willing to drive around Janesville, Wisconsin. Hop on your motorcycle and you’ll be triumphant. (That’s a hint.)

This weekend I stumbled upon an abandoned farmhouse. Rural exploration (rurex) sites often yield a wealth of photographic opportunities. Because of their relatively isolated locations they receive less traffic from vandals, drug users, the homeless and other explorers. They often have personal artifacts left behind in undisturbed states. I was able to locate a phonebook from 1988 on the floor of this farmhouse. There was also a few envelopes full of checks from 1974. All evidence shows that this house is not standing up to the elements. Plants have begun to grow in the woodwork, all of the windows are broken, and the floors are sunken in.

It was also nice to get a text from another urbexer who was a few minutes away at the time. We met up and checked out another abandoned farm close by.

Sullivan Home

These photos were taken on a property outside of Sullivan, WI. The property appears to be kept up, albeit infrequently. It is clear that no one lives on the property because old mail has piled up by the doors.

American Urbex

Exploring America's Gritty History