Muffin Man's House and Leavens

Recently I checked out these two spots (see other posts of these locations: 1, 2, 3, 4) with a friend who doesn't yet have a real alias for the blog so I'll just call him EggHead. It's been a little over a year since I first explored these spots, so it was cool to see how much they have (or have not) changed. As far as I can tell, Leavens is pretty stagnant, but the Muffin Man's House had the center of the first floor (including the remains of the staircase) completely cave in, along with various other deterioration. Here are the pictures, with some comparisons from last time I was there:

From February

Two rooms of the first floor on the bottom of the frame, second floor (collapsing) on the top

Winter comparison

The darkness you see below the floor is the basement

The floors are not sturdy here. Half the posts in the basement either gave out or are at an angle

In the basement

This was the roof--see the fire damage

Winter comparison

I didn't get any good shots of Leavens as I didn't bring in my camera, but EggHead took pictures of both locations (nice work EggHead!) photo credits to him:

Abandoned Jewelry Manufacturing Company

After operating for almost half a century, Leavens Awards Co. shut down in 1999 after going bankrupt. It has been virtually untouched by demolition or renovation crews since then, but grows increasingly more and more wrecked inside, presumably by local kids. The exterior also seems to be in places slowly collapsing.

Update: Check out newer and better pictures here

All that's visible of the building from the road.

Notice all the lights hanging from the ceiling. You'll see them throughout the building. I find it kind of eerie.

This place seems to be the main hang out spot due to the trash and chair-like things found around it. This room is also not too dark in the day, while a lot of the other parts require a flashlight

I don't know what kind of a part in the process of jewelry manufacturing this instrument would play, or if it was even related. Perhaps buffing something out? Perhaps operating a freight elevator?

Bathrooms.

This room that we found was a bit unsettling. It was definitely visited very recently, and seemed like it was inhabited. Fortunately, we didn't run into anyone. Toilet paper, plastic cups, cards against humanity, cigarette butts, a water bottle, possibly a cup of sprite, and more were found around the area.

This was in the room above. I think it's urine.

More mess.

These were fume hoods for all the nasty chemicals involved in jewelry production.

The metal pipes were used for negative pressure (sucking air in) due to the chemicals used.

Not your typical graffiti.

Found some interesting documents from the '80s in a dark and damp room. It seems that vandals don't have time for paperwork.

The roof or floor above seems to have collapsed on the basement, which is below here.

Stairway to the basement, which was heavily flooded and inaccessible due to all the wreckage.

This was painted onto some stalls in a tiny bathroom.

This steel container was just sitting in the hallway. I image it was involved in the production of the jewelry.

We found a safe, an obvious storage spot for the materials needed in fancy jewelry.

The safe was locked shut and the room was encased with cement, so there was no getting in.

The boiler room where we came in