As we drove into town, this building just stunned me. My first thought was that it looked like a bombed-out building that had been preserved as a reminder of war.

Obviously it had been abandoned decades ago, but I couldn't imagine why they didn't tear it down. The Community Building had been built right in front of it.

There was no fence around it, no "No Trespassing" signs that we saw. So, slipping behind the trees at the doorway, we entered. It was an old school, cement and brick.

Of course, as a kid, I would have loved a place like this to explore--dangerous though it was. The floors and wide staircases were cement. Pieces of chalkboard were on the floor in rooms, rusty light fixtures still hung from the ceilings. Grafitti was spray-painted on the walls, though really not as much as I would have imagined there to be.