It's a rainy grey day here, Owen is home from school with a fever vegging on the couch, and our doorbell keeps phantom ringing. Seems like the perfect time to cozy up to the computer with a mug of tea and do a post on a 100-year-old abandoned building.
After leaving Railroad Park Friday, we weren't quite ready to head home, so I suggested we try to hunt down the abandoned roundhouse Scott had read about in a local forum a few months ago. After a little searching on our phones, we found this posting (by a motorcycle enthusiast of all people). I love how he sneaks his bike into almost every shot- just like a proud mommy blogger. There were no written directions other than that it was off of Finley Blvd, but he did include a satellite shot. Thanks motorcycle dude!
So we headed to the side of town where church vans get their very own razor wire mini-fences. I had the roundhouse satellite image up on my phone, and Scott had a wider view pulled up on his. After about 20 minutes of driving around, Scott eventually located a landmark on both images, and that led us to the roundhouse! It's about two blocks off Finley Blvd on Center St N - really close to Niki's West.
I had my camera in hand and my fingers on the door handle before the car was at a complete stop. Ever the voice of reason, Scott made me promise to run back to the car at the first unidentified noise I heard. Luckily, I didn't hear anything. The light inside was beautiful thanks to those high windows. I kept expecting to see an old carousel somewhere.
Don't you love the mixed message here? I tried to be respectful and not go more than a few steps through the WIDE OPEN bay door.
Though abandoned now, the roundhouse was most recently used as a warehouse, so all the lower windows and doors have been blocked up (see top R photo in last grouping) and lots of the rail and the turntable are gone. I would have loved to see this beauty in its heyday when it was servicing up to 25 steam engines at a time.
Minus all the soot of course.
So tell me the truth locals, was this a real find, or did all of you already know about it? And for you non-locals: got places like this where you are that we can explore next time we're in town?
3 comments:
This building IS very awesome. I would have loved to have explored it with you. Love you!! Keep the posts coming. It's my lifeline!!
You know we love trains at our house...I think it is great and had no idea about it!
Liz
I am sure there was once one of these in Houston and probably Galveston since there was a train that ran directly from Houston and back on a regular basis. I have no idea if there is still any remains or where it was even located. Thanks for always coming up with new ideas that keeps us guessing what you might post next.
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