Playground

NOT MUCH OF A PLAYGROUND!......IS THAT A SLIDE?

That picture gives me such a feeling of loneliness and isolation.

Christ, how depressing if it was just one slide. You know the older kids would totally hog it.

this is depressing.

wow, beautiful shot, yes it is fairly depressing. If you look closely at the line of dead tall grass blowing in the wind to the farthest side back, it almost resembles children (entitys of course) holding hands in a circle, as if they were playing.

this place is depressing just looking at it
it makes you wonder what went on thair.
What did go on thair?

Ok, use your imagination for a minute with me. Pretend that instead of grass, it was sand or loose gravel. Add in the playground equipment that was moved to other schools when this one closed: swings, monkey bars, whatever else. Imagine the building didn't look like it had been abandoned for so long. It's not quite as depressing when you see it as it probably was, not like it is now. It actually looks a lot like my grade school did when I was a kid, and I have nothing but happy memories of that. Then again, at night I didn't live there like these kids did...

Please don't use your imaginantion with ~Me.
no better yet DO! in the mind it is oh so much better, believe ~Me!

And yet again, ~Me has managed to turn my happy childhood memories into something altogether different...

So have I found your secret weak spot?

I haven't been quite the same. So sure the story of my life would never change...

ok that is just depressing! i am still flabbergasted as to why children had to stay in places like this!

If you really have the time and the interest I would be happy to tell you sometime, or at least steer you in the right direction for sources on why it happened. My guess is that you probably don't care enough to ask, however.

This reminds me of my childhood. We didn't need much to be happy.

I do see the ring of dead grass at the upper right side.
If you look at the building wing towards the left of the photo, see how the exit door is placed at the rear, and the rows of windows, it almost looks like an old bi-level railcar abandoned in a yard.
A CSX facility had ancient Chesapeake & Ohio Railway double-deck passenger coaches in one of their yards, along with locomotives stripped of their engines and transmissions

a nightmare of a place...I was there

if you go to explore, bring lights we were only using cellphone lights and so when i was climbing out of the open basement window that you can see right in the middle of the two wings i cut my knee on glass and had to get staples-pain in my ass

children didn't live here

yes they did

"a nightmare of a place...I was there"
i'd like to hear about your experiance, email me if you ever have some time, xxryxguyxx@aim.com

Lynne, if you coudl help me with any information, email me to the adress i posted in the above comment. Thanx

/ graduated from the Dever State School in 1975.
Do you have any old pictures from trhat time?

i can't imagine being able to have any fun with that awful building staring down at me.

It was a school for the mentally retarted ....and you say you graduated from there ....lol

Yo Jandeme40- Your putting down that guy that graduated from there, yet you can't even spell retarded correctly, hahaha

OMG, except for Lynne and a very few others, you haven't a clue as to what went on there!!! So please, for the sake of all others that don't know the Paul A. Dever State School, don't comment! Not only are you SO extremely ignorant of the place, but it makes you sound stupid! The age group for all the children there was from birth to death. We called them children because they were all born mentally retarded, and acted as children. they had the mental capacity of a child between the ages of birth to probably 12 if they were lucky! some didn't talk or walk or see or hear. Some were immobile and others completely paralyzed. Hence the shower rooms!! Privacy wasn't an option, but the children appreciated the help because they couldn't do everyday tasks by themselves. They had to be washed, clothed, hair combed, some had to be fed by hand or tube feed. If you have ever seen a mentally handicapped person, think of what it would be like to do just the simplest things. Some were lowered my mechanical lifts into tubs, in and out of bed, lifted by hand into wheelchairs.

But these children were cared for by attendants, physical therapists, nurses and doctors. Some of the children were bedridden and others were like little kids enjoying living with others like them. There were all kinds of activities for them, the playground , and there was more than one, was filled with all the playground equipment you would see in any other playground, they went for walks, picnics, swimming, had sports and all the things kids do for fun right there on the grounds. They also walked or took public transportation into the center of the city to shop or get an ice cream or whatever they wanted on a Saturday afternoon. All was under the attention of an attendant. Today these children are older and in group homes. Some were also let out on pass to go out with their families or with people who worked there. They went to the movies, out to eat or to Christmas dinner.

There were also those who were in the hospital part of the school, like the babies or those who needed continuous nursing care. But know this,, they e cared for, had all they needed , and we're loved!

My Grandmother was an attendant and then a nurse at the school. She worked with all the babies. These babies needed 24/7 care, these babies weren't like normal healthy babies, and she always spoke about how much she loved these babies. Paul A Dever was suppose to be a good place to work we were told, if you could take working there. It isn't easy to work where you see these kinds of health issues, it can be heart breaking. So please, think before you comment....btw, these buildings weren't military buildings!!!