This is the original entrance to Elmhurst High School on Ardmore Avenue in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I photographed it on rainy morning.

When the school opened in 1929, it was a much smaller building than it is today. It was expanded several times over the years into a modern large high school. You can see the different architectural styles of the different parts, since no effort was made to make the new additions match the look of the older parts.

This is the original part of the school. Fort Wayne originally had several schools built to this same design. All have been closed, and only one other one (Hillcrest School on Tillman Road) has escaped demolition.

In 2010, Fort Wayne Community Schools closed Elmhurst High School. In August of 2012, FWCS auctioned off the furniture and equipment in the building.

In August, 2017, FWCS announced that the school property had been sold to Hanson Aggregates, the limestone quarry located behind the school. Hanson intends to demolish the school. Soon after I made this photograph, a chain-link fence was built around the school to keep people away from the building.

I graduated from Elmhurst in 1994. My parents both graduated from Elmhurst in the late 1960s. It was Elmhurst's longtime art teacher, Don Goss (also an Elmhurst grad), who encouraged me to become a professional artist.

9-19-17

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by Christopher Crawford

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