Errands day/Horace Mann High School

Here we are, already at the end of DAY FOUR of our journey. We are in Bartlett, IL, at the home of Jerry and Maggie Hochberger. We arrived yesterday evening, and Daniel came over after  work and  we had supper together and visited. Daniel is going to Washing D.C. for the weekend, so he won't be here for the "gathering of the clan" Saturday eve.

Today,  Ellen and I went out to do a number of errands. This was partly inspired by an email from Betsey in which we learned that she started radiation and chemotherapy on Monday. So far she feels no ill effect from it, but she was letting us know that her immune system is compromised by these therapies, so she has to be extra careful not to be exposed to germs. So if any one planning to visit feels sick, running a fever, etc., we should post pone the visit. I had forgotten to bring a thermometer, so I need to get one, and I did two other things that would good under these circumstances - I went to CVS and not only got a thermometer, I got some hand sanitizer, and got a flu shot. I have heard that this year's flu shot is not too effective - it reduces the chances of getting the flu by about 30% - but I figure that anything that reduces the chance of getting sick is to the good.

I also went to Staples and made copies  of letters that I will be sending Katie over the next couple of weeks - letters Shirley and I wrote to each other back in January of 1955 when she was at Kansas State Teachers College in Pittsburg, KS and I was at Chicago Theological Seminary, and we were getting acquainted through the mails. Ellen in the meantime went to Goodwill Store to look for used books, and to the fabric/yarn store while I was at Staples (well, actually it was Office Max). Then we both went to IKEA, which had a wonderful selection of candles of all sizes, all unscented. So I am now well supplied with candles I can use as prayer candles for Betsey.

On our way to Bartlett, yesterday, we stopped in Gary, Indiana. Not a place we would normally go for a visit. But I was intrigued by the novella I read aloud in the car by Mary Gordan, Thomas Mann in Gary, Indiana.  The story takes place at Horace Mann High School in Gary, in the year 1939.  It features a 17-year-old young man who is chosen to introduce the famous German author, Thomas Mann, at a high school assembly.  The experience changes his life.  We learned that there actually is (was) a Horace Mann High School in Gary. It closed in 2004, but the building is still standing and has become an "Urbex" target. Don't know what "Urbex" is? It stands for Urban Exploration. It is groups of people who explore abandoned buildings, go into subterranean sewers, steam tunnels, etc. If you Google Horace Mann High School you'll find an Urbex report on an exploration of the abandoned Horace Mann building. It is quite an account. So anyway, we went there. Here is the building as it looked yesterday:

The abandoned Horace Mann High School, Gary, Indiana

It obviously was a very fine building in its day, surrounded by a large tract of land - it was beautiful at one time, I'm sure. Well, here is a postcard showing how it once looked:

Horace Mann High School in the glory days

 

 

 

The auditorium is a central place in the novella - the place were Billy Morton, the young man, introduces Thomas Mann. I don't know if such an event actually took place, or if it is fictional, but here is the auditorium as it was photographed by the Urbex explorers:

The auditorium in Horace Mann High School

And the abandoned chemistry lab:

Lab equipment left behind

 And the buckled floor of the gym which has been water damaged:

The damaged floor of the gymnasium

You can see the fascination these buildings might have for people.

Today, you can see a lot of open windows in the building, so the elements are getting in.  What a sad fate for this beautiful school! We don't know if Mary Gordon had some connection with this building in her family, or whether Thomas Mann ever visited there, or whether it is all her imagination. But it is a very compelling "coming-of-age" story.