This Post about the J. W. Cooper Building located in Shenandoah, PA was 1st done by one of the Bloggers that I follow. He is “Infraredrobert”. Check out his page. He shoots some great Images in HDR and Infrared.
Anyway, when I saw and read his Post about this old building in Shenandoah, I thought that I’d go up there and see it for myself. Since I don’t live all that far away from here, it’s not much of a problem to go here. Just takes me about a hour to drive up to this Historic Town. When arriving in Shenandoah, I parked the car up on the North end of town, close to the Miners Tribute Wall. Not really knowing just where this place was, I thought that I’d start walking down the street and look around. If I didn’t see it, I would stop and ask someone who is familiar with the town.
I walked down the left side of the Main Street and passed a few men sitting outside a Engine Co. Thought that I’d stop and ask them. They should know more than what I did. I said “Excuse Me. Any of you Gentlemen know where the J. D. Cooper Building is?” “Yes, they replied.” It’s just down the next street about a block away!” I thanked them and I went on the way carrying my camera gear, which they might have thought strange. “What’s he doing here?” They must have thought that.
The J. W. Cooper building was built in 1918 and then served as a Hospital in the Flu epidemic of 1918. In May of 1919 it was named the J.W. Cooper High School and stayed in use till 1986. It stood vacant for many years until a private person bought the property and is now refurbishing it with private donations, I was told.
Turning the corner, I saw the building right away. It sticks out like a sore thumb. You can’t miss it. I went up and down the sidewalks taking a look and then wanted to go inside and see what’s there. I went up to the White doors, and knocked to see if anyone would answer it. Nothing. Knocked again. Still nothing. With that I walked away to the rear of the building.
One thing I noticed while here, is that if you look close at the White door entrance, you will see “Girls” above the door. The other White door has “Boys” above it. Why was this? They had separate entrance’s for Boys & Girls? Never heard of that before. It’s different.
I “snooped around” a bit, then noticing that the weather was not getting better, I thought I’d head back to the car. Dark skies were brewing up some rain, I thought, but it never did. Just got dark.
Thanks for reading & stopping by.
Les
PHOTOJOURNAL OF CORKER2 