Colored Mason's Grand Lodge

Abandoned for 20 years, this building was once the Grand Lodge for a colored Masons group. It later was an NAACP headquarters, and housed practices and businesses for colored people during the civil rights movement.

Today, it sits forgotten. Forgotten by the owners, forgotten by the power company, and forgotten by the locals.

Entry gained for purposes of historical documenting. Do not enter. The security system is active.

While on the third floor, I pressed the elevator button for fun, knowing that the building had no power. The light inside the button turned on. Then, we heard the sound of the elevator motors coming alive. The car slowly screeched and ground its way through the rust of abandonment up to the third floor. The three tier doors to the car slowly scraped open, complaining about having not been used in twenty years. The light inside the car was flickering, and the ventilation fan vibrated and rattled. I stared into the car, in disbelief, as if I had pressed the "Launch" button in an abandoned missile silo, and a missile actually launched. The elevators not only somehow had power, but they still worked. On the roof of the building, the elevator equipment room sits open to the elements, the door ripped off. The motors and electronics have been exposed for many years, and black oil leaks from the elevator motors onto the floor.