---[Back]---

U of M East Bank: Abandoned Mineral Resources Research Center



[Jul.03] - A great place to explore

      Once, a long time ago, in a building far, far away, people studied rocks and minerals with the help of larger-than-life machines, gigantic conveyers, and high voltage.  At some point far in the past the Mineral Resources Research Center slowly became evacuated, left, and forgotten.  What once was a thriving hub of existence and research now became an old, worn out building ideal for late night exploration.  All windows on the first and second floors are boarded up, as is most of the 3rd floor.  All doors are well-locked and the place is regularly driven around a couple times each night by a police vehicle to check for intruders.  Sound like a challenge?  Not really.  With a little thought and a phillips screwdriver we managed to enter with relative ease.

      To give you an idea of how vast this building is I've included some old photos of the place back when it was still in use in the 1930's and 40's.

      Now that you have an idea of how large this place is, let's see what the inside looks like 60 years later...

(a dilapidated counter in a kind if kitchen
facility right where we entered)

(this place was absolutely brimming with miscellaneous
junk like you see on this countertop)

(this pillar has seen better days)

(yay for first aid kits and latex gloves)

(looks like the electric chair switch)

(this place even has a dumbwaiter complete with an
empty personal pan pizza box and a can of beans)

(sink and eye-washer)

(I'm usually not a fan of graffiti but this place actually
had some artistic graffiti in places - not here though)

(there were machines like this all over the place)

(a large fan or something we found in the basement)

(more junk)

(fun transformer)

(giant pile of old computers, oscilloscopes,
and other various electronics)

(huge, 4 foot diameter spool with a 10 inch belt)

(pile of office chairs)

(wine)

(disgusting bathroom)

(it was very tempting to pull that red lever)

(uh oh, we'd better turn back now...or not)

(looks like someone lost their book)

(nice door)

(class dismissed, uh oh, can't get out of the small desk)

(more mysterious machines)

(crane hook thing)

(looking down at someone's old card game)

(really fun spiral staircases like this one are placed all over)

(taken from the roof of the building)
(click for larger image)

(another angle)

(the highest section of roof on the building)

      These pictures really don't do this place justice.  There are a lot of really vast open spaces inside that would look great in a picture but my camera flash can't illuminate the whole area enough to take a decent picture.  This place kept us interested for 3 hours and we still didn't even check out the shallow tunnel leading out of it!