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The Common Good, An Indiana heritage built with taxes, tithes, & tuition

PHOTOGRAPHY by John Bower, FOREWORD by Lee H. Hamilton

New for 2010

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Read Lee Hamilton's Foreword
Read John Bower's Introduction
Read John Bower's Afterword
Look at sample images

Haunting images of crumbling, one-room, brick school houses; abandoned, pre-consolidation high schools; forlorn country chapels; and vacant, big-city churches fill the pages of this captivating book. Also included are dramatic, sepia-toned portraits of the somber remains of a county home; derelict, closed-up buildings at a Victorian Era veterans’ hospital; gloomy, barred jail cells; a bleak and eerie mental hospital; and much, much more. Though most are now in decay, these once-proud structures and objects—built for our mutual benefit—still radiate with transcendent meaning and purpose.

Some sit vacant along desolate country roads, surrounded by cropland, weedy fields, or scrubby woods. Others stand ignored, as they slowly deteriorate in big cities and small towns. They were the pride of their communities, meeting the needs of generations of Hoosiers, as places of learning, worship, refuge, or justice. They were built for the common good but, in time, they outlived their usefulness. Perhaps the population moved on, or they were inadequate in some way, or just too costly to maintain. Whatever the reason, each was closed up, left behind and, too often, forgotten.

Motivation and inspiration for creating The Common Good

In the course of creating my six earlier photography books, my wife, Lynn, and I have visited every town and city on the official Indiana highway map. On our many day trips, we often spotted over-grown, one-room schoolhouses and closed-up, small-town high schools. We also discovered abandoned churches, left-behind courthouses, forlorn community hospitals, and deteriorating county homes. While I had photographed a few of these relics over the years, I hadn’t systematically sought them out.

Then, one day, Lynn suggested it might be time to do just that. I agreed, and we began a magical year looking for these nearly forgotten buildings and objects that were constructed for the betterment of us all. It didn’t take long before we began finding totally unexpected treasures, such as a derelict mental hospital; former Defense Department plants; some wonderful, but disintegrating, community treasures of Gary; and many others. All these places were proudly constructed for the needs of fellow citizens. But, when they had out lived their usefulness, many were simply left to the ravages of the elements. It’s my hope that The Common Good will remind all Hoosiers of how essential these places once were, and how they still deserve our continuing respect.

The Common Good - $22.00.
8.5" x 10" trade paperback, 144 pages, ISBN 978-0-9745186-6-4