Since the birth of Rust n Brique, I've spent a lot of zinespace begging for fanmail. Part of this is a simple desire to meet other people who are interested in industrial decay. Another part is wanting to hear from people who have had some kind of experience with the buildings I write about. Most of the buildings that appear in Rust and Brique are more or less complete mysteries to me. Usually all I know about the building is what I can gain from clues at the site. I'm always interested in hearing from people who have memories of the buildings from earlier times -- anything from a story from someone who might have lived or worked in a currently abandoned building, or reminiscenes of growing up nearby. The letter below belongs to the latter group. Many thanks to Michelle for writing to me and anyone else should feel free to send me a letter!

I enjoyed your gallery of Tremont decay in the RustnBrique section of your website (http://www.decaying-industries.com/rnb/minimax.html). I lived in Tremont when I was a kid (from 1981 to 1985). I livednear the old Gospel Press building and had a schoolmate named Heather whose parents were caretakers for the place. The family lived in the brick building directly on the corner of Jefferson and West 7th, the one with the funky upper floor porches.

The white building was some kind of a church. I remember being in there and sitting in the pews, trying on choir robes and playing priest. Thank god there were no candles around.

Heather and I had plenty of room to roam inside those old brick buildings. The walled courtyard was still in decent shape, although there was lots of crumbing brick and "extra" building parts laying around.

The inside of the complex is even larger than one can imagine. There were lots of "institutional-style" showers and multi-crapper bathrooms, staircases that ended at the ceiling in some rooms, caged elevators, locked doors, weird sounds, dark hallways, and flickering lights.

To me--being 11 years old with too much imagination and a twisted love of scary movies--the place was like a funky old castle or some forgotten haunted mansion. Very creep-a-licious!

Anyhow, thanks for the great pics of the old stomping grounds. Good luck in your photography endeavors!