I’ve been jonesing to get eyes (or boots) on the remnants of the old Fairview Training Center in Salem, OR for years, after a former partner showed me some photos she’d done there a while back. Sadly, after a trip there one summer day, and then some more research I learned that it was near completely GONE. Another trip down there was MUCH more fruitful–though not in the way that I had hoped.
I woke at a heinously early hour on the appointed day and peered out a window. IN the pre-dawn light, I could make out…….nothing. The fires consuming large swaths of Central Oregon had combined with some cool weather and fog to produce a WONDERFULLY spooky day outside, so off I went to meet up with another explorer–we’ll call him Mr B.
Mr B and I drove to the area where out shenanigans were to transpire, and dismounted our vehicle in the area of Fairview’s few remaining buildings. As previously noted, Fairview–with the exception of the laundry building, adjoining water tower, the powerhouse, an awesome brick smokestack behind the power house, and some now overgrown foundations–is gone.
As we softly trekked across the now bared earth on an active construction site, we were greeted thusly:
One of the places we revisited that day were where the debris piles left from the demolition of the foundations of the original ‘cottages’–medium and large buildings where patients lived; all are now torn down, but foundation and debris remain…..
While I don’t generally like to collect things from abandoned places I explore, as we moved through the ruins and discussed the history of Fairview, I recalled my friend Kate’s mother, who I had learned was employed at Fairview in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As we walked and talked, we came upon the remains of the floor under another cottage, which appeared to have been a bathroom or shower space…
Other adventurers or scavengers has selected a small pile of the tiles from the building’s walls and the smaller floor tiles, and set them aside. I thought my friend might enjoy a physical reminder, in the form of a part of a building her Mother may very well have worked in. Gingerly, I selected some of the nicer seafoam colored tiles and still more of the smaller grey tiles and squirreled them away in my camera bag, before we moved on.
We wandered the remnants of Fairview for about an hour….the combination of fog and smoke from the massive wildfire a mere 20 miles away made for a number of superbly spooky photographs.
I could not think of a more fitting backdrop to the end of Fairview. Some of the fruits of the background research I did on this were dated, though interesting. Still others were just ….horrific. I’ll invite you to google “Fairview Training Center Oregon” and form your own conclusions. After investigating all we could within the remains, we headed a short distance down the road the the site of the former Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility.
After some brief fence repair (we, of course, had to do our good deed for the state), we were able to enter the 15ft tall perimeter fencing…
Not only was the smog providing excellent spooky visuals, but it also accentuated the forgotten, abandoned feeling that permeated the location and underscored how nature is slowly, surely reclaiming a campus that has been in use for over 100 years.
As we crept through the common areas around the various buildings, we were unable to locate an open door–until Mr B rounded a corner of what appeared to be the Maximum Security unit…
Naturally, we entered, as one does having just come upon an open door to one of the units at kiddie jail…..
And then we came to steps leading to what we were certain was a basement….We went one way and found an entirely unremarkable HVAC and Mechanical room….which was warm and felt wet. I looked up and spied steam pipes. Mr B looked left and exclaimed “Holy shit!”. He had found this…
We wandered further and further into the tunnels, making for about 100 yards of additional progress–until the tunnel ended in a dank stairwell leading into another building….
After a while (I lost track of time about a second after we entered the steam tunnels), we had crept through the notable parts of the building and descended back into the basement and tunnels–where we discovered another tunnel that led further into the complex and, what we surmised, was another building.
The tunnel eventually led us into the basement of…..a high school?
With a few exceptions, like a LOT of locks on drawers and cabinets, It almost looked like a normal school. Almost.
Slinking through the smaller rooms adjoining some of the above pictured spaces yielded gold….
A large mural ran the length of a hallway….
At the end of that same hall was an auditorium….
Far and away, my favorite space in this building…..was under it: The tunnels. The library was a close second:
A second floor observation area provided a more interesting view–and a window into the history of the building and some of the changing technology that it has born witness to:
As we looked out over the empty shelves, Mr B found an empty projector room, obviously meant for a large movie projector, that could have easily thrown light at a screen all the way into the next room (that auditorium). Upon examining both rooms more, he hypothesized that the wall dividing the library and auditorium was an addition after the removal of the projector and installation of a small library….
Shortly after this, we were interrupted by a roving security guard, driving slowly through the parking areas. While they never saw Mr B or myself, we decided it would be a good time to take our leave.
The third floor of the high school, one more building, and a number of exterior areas still have yet to be explored…..
Mr Curly's Adventures 