Burlington Center Mall

Usually the pieces I write for this blog are filled with tragedy and frustration. Sometimes the location has a sordid past; in other instances historic buildings are taken down despite more reasonable courses of action. This write up is nothing like that. The story of the Burlington Center Mall is a rather short and uneventful one.

The Maryland based Rouse Company constructed the 1.5 million square foot building in 1982. The main space of the mall had enough room for 100 stores. Though architecturally unremarkable, there was a small piece of art inside that made the mall unique.

The piece, entitled "The Watering Hole", depicts a young boy on the back of an elephant. The sculpture also included a fountain, a quintessential piece of mall design. According to the artist Zenos Frudakis, "I didn't want to create a taxidermy elephant, because it is poetry in a way you are creating. It is art. It wasn't a particular elephant, it was an abstracted, essential elephant. I wanted to create the form of elephant—an idealized elephant."

Over the next few decades the building became obsolete, as online shopping drew more and more business away from the mall. An entire section of the mall was eventually hidden behind a false wall, to keep the remaining portion as full as possible. Some storefronts also found new non retail use as offices. However it wasn't long before it was announced that the Burlington Center mall was going to be closed for good.

The main portion of the mall was set to be shuttered in March, but a burst water pipe accelerated the closure. The doors were finally shut on January 8th, 2018. The last anchor store closed its doors on September 2nd, and the property was sold. Moonbeam Capital, the new owners of the mall property, plan to demolish the building and replace it with a brand new development. A fundraiser had been set to remove "the Watering Hole" so that it could be donated to a charity. The piece was removed in February of 2019.

North Jersey Training School

The North Jersey Training School once occupied a sprawling 188 acre tract of land in the boro of Totowa. The plan was to provide a community type setting for those born with developmental disabilities, while also offering vocational training.

The state school opened in 1928, operating out of a cluster of attractive brick buildings off of Minnisink road. The campus had a dozen gender segregated dormitory buildings, as well as an auditorium, a chapel, a school building and much more. Like many other similar facilities across the nation, the state school was basically its own town.

By the 1940's, the training school grew to 34 buildings. In 1953, a new hospital building was constructed at the corner of Minnisink Rd. and Vreeland Ave. to replace the existing hospital.

In 1983 the name of the school changed to "North Jersey Developmental Center". The site was then one of seven developmental centers operated by the state of New Jersey.

Just a year after the name of the facility changed, the largest patient population was recorded at the center. 661 patients were calling the large campus home.

Eventually the facility became a burden for the state. In 2012 it was announced that 2 of the states developmental centers were to be shuttered for good. The North Jersey Developmental Center officially closed in 2014. The buildings were immediately boarded up with plywood, and a private security company was hired.

The site sat idle for a few years, but in December of 2017 the state allowed the sale of the property to go through. It was sold for $1 to the boro of Totowa, who then sold it for five million dollars to a developer.

On the night of April 16th, military training exercises started abruptly at the center. The town was told to keep quiet about the plan, leading to a sense of panic among the residents of the neighborhood. The exercises continued for the next two nights.

Demolition of the campus started swiftly, and most of the dormitory buildings were completely leveled by mid 2018. Not only were the buildings gone, but the surrounding land had been blasted and reshaped to better suit redevelopment. At this point the historic original buildings were largely stripped out and left to the elements as work on the property continued.

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By the end of 2018 the entire campus was demolished. Another historic New Jersey campus shuttered, abandoned, and demolished without a thought towards preservation.

Burlington County Corrections and Work Release Center

The property along Pemberton-Browns Mills road that housed the Burlington County Corrections and Work Release Center has been owned by the county for over a century. It was once home to an almshouse, and later the Burlington County Hospital for the Insane. It would only be fitting that a prison would open up on the property as well.

The Burlington Center opened in the 1970s on 12 acres directly adjacent to the Burlington County Hospital for the Insane.

The new prison building consisted of two main cellblock areas, a gymnasium, and an infirmary wing.

At some point the old psych hospital was demolished and new DOT buildings went up on the site.

In 2015 it was announced that the center would be closed rather than repaired. Prisoners would be booked and held at Mt Holly until they can be moved to Atlantic county facility. This restructuring was poised to save the county roughly 2 million dollars a year. This estimate didn't include the millions of dollars in upgrades the facility needed.

Three years after being shuttered we decided to stop by and see what was going on with the building. It was in fairly good shape, despite all the water that had worked it's way inside. Despite that demolition started a few month after our visit, and the building was leveled by the fall of 2018.

Junior High School #1/ Martin Luther King Jr. School

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Occasionally while writing posts for this blog, I hit roadblocks when doing research. Trenton's Junior High School #1 is no exception. The historic structure is one of two schools that shared property between MLK Jr. Boulevard and Brunswick Avenue. The other was the original Jefferson Elementary School.

The exterior design of the school is beautiful, and hasn't been corrupted much over the years. The imposing facade along MLK Boulevard is a great example of collegiate gothic architecture. The limestone trim and ornamentation has fared well, especially in contrast to the weathered brick that encapsulates it.

Stepping inside was a bit of a disappointment, as the building was clearly a hotspot for taggers and other vandals. As we worked our way through the building, there were still plenty of historic elements throughout the structure to keep our interest.

The main draw for me when I visit abandoned schools is the auditorium. Though many have been modernized over the years, that never happened here. What remained was almost a time capsule, if the damage done by those who visited before me can be overlooked.

 The school continued to impress me as we wandered around. The building had a pool installed in the late 1960s, which would be the last major improvement the building got.

The school also had a full sized gymnasium, with fat lancet windows. I haven't seen that in any of the other abandoned schools I've visited, which at the time this post was written includes roughly 40 different facilities in 8 different states.

At some point, the school was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. High School. The Trenton School District shuttered both schools in 2007, leaving the large portion of property completely disused. It wouldn't be for long though, as plans for a new school were approved for the land. The Jefferson school was demolished in 2008, starting with the auditorium.

After the demolition of the Jefferson school was completed, the machines turned on the Junior High School building. Working from the rear once again, they leveled a large section of building that stood behind the original structure. Normally that would be where the auditorium sits. Thankfully and strangely, the auditorium of this school was in a wing off the left side of the main entrance. For some reason demolition was never completed, and the historic main section of the building was left to rot.

The new school currently occupies the southeast portion of the lot, in the shadow of the grand old building which takes up the entire north side of the property. While I remain hopeful something will become of the school, Trenton has a piss poor reputation when it comes to saving their historic school buildings.  I'll continue to check up the site until I have something new to write.

Elizabeth General Medical Center

The roots of this historic New Jersey health care complex go back to 1877, when the "Elizabeth General Hospital and Dispensary" was formed. The need for healthcare in the growing city was paramount, and just two short years later the hospital was officially incorporated. In 1880, several local doctors aquired property on Jaques Street, and with that the hospital was ready to tackle the growing needs of the population. The original complex consisted of a small home like building with a detached surgical pavilion and laundry building. As the years began to pass, public support for a larger building was growing. Massive fundraising efforts were launched, and eventually the necessary capitol was raised. Those involved with donating and raising the funds were given a mention in the newspaper at the time. In 1894, the hospital complex moved to the corner of E. Jersey and Reid Streets. The new building was much larger, featuring more office  and care space, and a new wing dubbed the Blake Memorial Hospital for Women. There were also two separate pavilions for patients dubbed contagious.

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The hospital formed what was called "The Daisy Ward". It was the area in the hospital children were relegated to. One important player in the formation of the ward was Eliza Grace Halsey. She was an advocate for the ward, donating money and time to try and spread the word. One surviving example of Miss Halsey's efforts is a letter published in a local paper. She spoke to the children of Elizabeth, asking them to donate their pocket change to the new ward, rather than spending it on candy and toys for themselves. She was ultimately successful in her efforts, and the collective was able to make the ward a reality.

The hospital continued to expand into the 1900's. Large brick buildings replaced the humble shingle style structures. The new buildings were still quite elegant, boasting ornamental limestone detailing like this band that ran below the roofline. 

In the late 50's or early 60's The largest wing to be added to the the hospital site was the maternity ward. The yellow brick wing stood in stark contrast to the aestetically pleasing brick structures. Another small wing was added in 1966, bringing the total building size to 350,000 square feet. The new complex occupied almost the entire block and towered over it. The campus was even visible from the New Jersey Turnpike. 

Despite the long and storied history of the hospital, EGMC merged with St Elizabeth's to form the Trinitas Medical Group in 2000. Hospital operations were moved to the former St Elizabeth's campus. After a few years of remaining partially open, the Elizabeth General Medical Center was officially shuttered.

The complex stood vacant until 2012, when a partial demolition occurred. The power plant and an attached section of the building were removed, leaving a large gap in the lot between the hospital and parking garage. The vacant and overgrown hospital campus became a magnet for crime, and with that came a push to finish the demolition that was stalled for years. In 2017, demolition resumed on the campus. The beautiful brick buildings were abated and emptied, and by the end of the year there was almost nothing left of the once important campus. 

I didn't make my way inside the old hospital complex until the second spate of demolition was well underway. As I parked my car, I looked around the neighborhood at all the people going about their business. Knowing I wasn't going to have another chance, I threw on my high-vis construction vest and hard hat and headed on in. The stories i'd heard about criminal activity around the abandoned hospital kept me on my toes as I walked alone through the barren halls. Thankfully nobody followed me in, or found me inside, and I was able to get my own little tour in before the final walls came down.

Now the Elizabeth General Medical Center is no more. The complex was built through the efforts of the community, saw thousands and thousands of patients cared for, and scores of nurses trained. However, just like many other historic hospitals in New Jersey, it's been demolished in an unceremonious fashion and is on the path to being completely forgotten.