the abandoned orphanage

The abandoned Woodmen's Circle home lies on a grassy hill on 15 acres in Sherman, Texas, USA, 65 miles north of Dallas. The ornate Georgian architecture stands out in small-town Texas, and, even in it's dilapidated condition, it is easy to imagine the grand mansion that once stood there.

Construction began in 1927 and the facility opened in 1930, just at the beginning of the Great Depression. It was open for 40 years and during that time housed 100 orphaned children and 165 widowed elderly women. The women who stayed there had purchased insurance policies which allowed them to live out their days in the Woodmen Circle home in the event of a husband's death (the house also provided elderly care). Another part of these insurance policies provided for the children of policy holders to be taken into the care of the home until the age of 17 in the event of both parents' deaths. Furthermore, elder women could give up their place in the home to a child relative if they so chose. This insurance group, named the Woodmen Circle group, was the first of its kind to offer insurance purchase to women in the United States. This home was planned to be a sort of flagship institution, with multiple other such facilities to be built across the country. However, in the heat of the Great Depression, this became unachievable. In spite of financial turmoil, the first and only Woodmen Circle home remained standing strong for 4 decades.

In the late 70's to early 80's, the main building was leased to Dr. Ariel Sherman and the Good Shepherd Tabernacle church. Members of this suspected cult were later prosecuted in another state for child abuse.

There is an array of less-than-creative graffiti about the premises, no doubt from the local parochial-minded teenagers (unimaginative male genitalia drawings, various racial ephitets, and personal insults, etc. adorn the walls). Some remains of ceramic fixtures and appliances can be found around the hallways and rooms as well, but many windows are broken, doors are missing, and fire and water damage has left it very uninhabitable.

After hearing some interviews from former residents of the home, it seems that it was a happy place to live for the children who had no other family and the elderly ladies who had lost their husbands. They had a sense of family amongst the other children and their caretakers. It sounds also as if there were a relatively small number of children staying at the home at any given point in time, so they had the enormous house and large garden area to themselves, which was described by one former resident as a great environment in which to grow up.

Link: http://www.dallasobserver.com/music/a-hauntingly-beautiful-abandoned-orphanage-becomes-the-set-of-a-music-video-9118890