This is the abandoned Gilead Township District #3 School on the northwest corner of Snow Prairie Road and Southern Road in rural Branch County, Michigan. Built in 1908, it is unusual in that it has four classrooms. Most small town and rural schoolhouses from that time period were one-room schools. It closed in 1945.
This placed acquired some notoriety in 1990 after a local man named Dennis DePue murdered his wife and dumped her body behind the old schoolhouse. The building was shown on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries, which aired a story on the case in hopes that viewers could help police locate DePue.
In 2017, someone set fire to the school, but it was not damaged badly as firefighters reached it quickly. When I photographed it at the end of 2024, there were for sale signs from a real estate agent in front of the building.
12-27-24
All of my prints are available framed or unframed. I use black metal Neilsen & Bainbridge frames with white cotton unbuffered museum board for the mat and backing board for maximum archival protection. Photographs are printed on an Epson pigment printer using Epson's archival ultrachrome inset for long life.
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Unframed prints usually ship within 7 days. This allows time for me to make your print and to allow it to cure for several days before I package it to ship. Framed prints usually take about two weeks, because my framer usually requires about a week to complete his work.
Please Note: In late 2024, I was forced to dramatically increase the prices for framed prints. This reflects the actual cost of framing them. I make no profit from the additional charge for framing; I charge you what the framer charges me, and every framer that I know has had to ramp up prices due to inflation in recent years. I earn my living selling my photographs, and offer the framing at cost because many people prefer to buy a print that is framed and ready to display.
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My work has appeared on numerous book covers, music CDs, and advertisements. They have been used to illustrate magazines and online news articles, and have been used on corporate and small business websites. Please see my Stock Photos page for some examples of the things that my photographs have been used for.
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