It's been several months since I last explored this police station in East St. Louis. I suspect it may have been home to a fire department at some point also. The ground floor is littered with old fire trucks and various fire fighting tools. Also, on the second floor is one of those interesting poles that firefighters use to gain quick access to the first floor. Unfortunately, as hard as I tried, I could not coax my friend Sarah to test out the pole and slide down to the first floor.
I first spotted this building on one of the many trips I made to East St. Louis last summer. Directly across from the abandoned station is a lot full of abandoned police cars. The lot is hard to miss. I don't know why the cars sit there and not somewhere else, possibly because of the expense the city would encounter if anyone were to have them removed. Whatever the reason, the abandoned cars attract attention.
Entrance into the building when I visited was fairly easy due to a gaping hole in the wall of the station and a couple of open doors. The first floor was bright and sunny and made interesting by the old fire trucks left behind. My friend and I poked around, leafed through cold war propaganda, and tried to find a way to the second floor. The only way to the top floor was through a pitch black, angular staircase. My friend and I hesitated at the smell of stale urine. "You go first," "No, you first," and so it went until one of us finally gave in and headed up the stairs.
I can almost say it was worth it. With the sun setting in the background, the second floor of the police station was flooded with the most beautiful light. It didn't seem as though any people were squatting in the building, and the active police station next door left me with the strangest felling of comfort. Given the gaping hole and the open doors to the station, I almost felt as though I was supposed to be there... as if someone had invited me.
There wasn't much to the top floor other than a few skeletal beds, some moldy carpet, and that great (albeit shaky) pole to the first floor. Sarah and I hung around for a short time, rummaged through an office with a view of the abandoned lot of police cars, and decided to call it a day. We had other places to see during her short stay in the city, and I was grateful to have had a chance to see the building.
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