The Safe

looks like someone tried to use a tourch on it.

Motss how could you resist not trying to open it! go back there right now with a chainsaw and open it and then tell me whats inside! lol

what kind of valuables would a place like that store? and whose were they.............

I don't understand why they would have left that behind. Whether they took whats in it or not... the safe itself must be worth a lot of money!

Probably far too big and heavy to be worth moving. I worked in a footear warehouse as a student and above the adminbuilding was the former accounts / payroll department which had been abandoned for about 30 years.

Along with ancient adding machines and refrigerators were a couple of huge Victorian safes just like this one. I can't imaging rhat they would be especially 'safe' by today's standards (especially if someone has taken an oxy-acetylene torch to the locks!) and I doubt the scrap value comes close to covering the cost of dismantling and removing it from the building if there's no pressing need (ie redevelopment).

rich, you said, "I worked in a footear warehouse."

Em . . . . . . . . . . does this mean you sold spare body parts from a warehouse?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Lol damn typos.... I'm gonna blame an excessive amount of beer last night for that one :-/

I worked in a wool factory (insert your tacky jokes here) and I took care of their computer system.

They had a safe like this and it was amazing that it was all done up in brass and was all carved and ornate. There were so many drawer that held original documents when the factory opened in 1901.

They are turning the factory into luxury condos for morons who have too much money to blow.

Would love to see that safe one more time before its gone

All I can make out on the top is "...'s safe co."

There are a lot of these big old safes around and they are generally of negative value because no one wants them and it costs big bucks to remove them. I always thought they were real neat though.

one would wonder what historical treasure could lie in there

There is a resturant which has a safe like this here in Golden, CO. I think it was an old bank bldg. Needless to say they built around it; you cant possibly move these things, they weigh tons, but anyway, they let people take cjances at trying to open it ans whoever does supposedly can keep what's inside! I doublt if someone found a wealth of historical info, old money, or whatever that promise would all chnage.....still, that's what they say. Of course it hasn't been opened since the turn of the century or earlier, but if anything IS inside I think it would be amazingly intresting no matter how "mundane". And, yes, I am sure they could "bust" it open, but the point of it still being there after all these years is it's intricate beauty - no one in their right mind would damage it, or if they did, I would call it a real crime, wether you "owned" the place or not.

I wonder if this was a safe for valuables, or was it a vault for maybe patient records, or perhaps records of some other kind. Would have been a good place to store the meds. The patients couldn't get at 'em in there!

i wonder what they used to keep in there?

Some guesses at what the safe might have stored: original documents related to the construction and opening of the institution (deeds to the property, surveys, blueprints, licenses, etc.) the fund from which petty cash was distributed to the various departments, once or twice a month the institution's payroll funds (in the days before paychecks and direct deposit, when employees were paid in cash), perhaps life insurance policies of patients who had them, legal record of bequests made to the hospital, the hospital's own insurance policies, perhaps especially valuable jewelry or other items held for patients (although I doubt if many patients had anything of that nature)...but I doubt if any clinical records or drugs were there.

I really want to know why so many of the asylums had safes....!?

well... i`m a caregiver and i think the money of the patients was kept there. or maybe money from the hospital if they have to pay cash for something needed?!
it is only speculation =)

I think they covered the reasons for the safes above, I thought it interesting to note this safe company is still in business.
http://www.hallsafe.co...curityproseries.html

Newer safes with the glass re-lockers can be especially dangerous.