Plastoids

Plastoids holds a special place in my heart.  It served as a castle and jungle gym to an inquisitive adolescent girl with it's dark tower and crumbling stairways;  now it serves as subject of photography.  Located in a town that used to be a center of industry, the factory sits vacant--a testament to times gone by--when a mill, railroad, and cracker plant kept the community thriving.  The front section of the building was damaged by a fire a few years back and parts of the floor are not sturdy at all. The property is privately owned with plans for redevelopment in the future.

Letchworth Village, part one

Letchworth Village Developmental Center, alternately named Home for the Feebleminded and Epileptics,  was an institution and residence for the developmentally and physically disabled.  Built in the 1908 using the cottage plan, the village housed patients ranging from infant to older adult, separating them according to functional ability, age, and sex.  The residents of the village would receive education and vocational training if able, in addition to working the farm that provided much of the food for the complex.  Typical of most institutions of the it's time, there was overcrowding. Letchworth was the site of the first polio vaccine trial in the 1950's when it was still acceptable to administer trial vaccines on the "feebleminded".  The village was closed in 1996, as the remaining patients were placed in group homes.  The buildings have not weathered time very well, as a series of fires have partially destroyed one of the main buildings while decay and nature take their course with the rest.