Why do we find abandoned buildings so fascinating? I think that requires a multi-tiered answer. My fascination with old and/or abandoned buildings can be attributed to a combination of factors, including a sense of mystery and intrigue, the combination of beauty and decay, and the nostalgic and historical component. A perfect example of all these things can be found at a former high school in Northern Indiana.

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A Brief History of Horace Mann High School

Massachusetts educator Horace Mann has often been called the "Father of the Common School" because of his belief that every child should receive a basic education funded by local taxes. Nearly 70 years after his death, Horace Mann High School opened its doors in Gary, Indiana. where it continued to prosper for the next several decades. AbandonedOnline.net shares these details about the school...

The facility included a large two-tier auditorium and a two-level gymnasium. By 1929, Horace Mann had an enrollment of 870. Work began on a 5,000-seat outdoor concrete stadium on the north side of the school in April 1930. Owing to the booming United States Steel mill at the front of Gary, the school’s roster jumped to nearly 2,400 students by 1937 and peaked at around 2,600 in 1956.

Unfortunately, those numbers continually dropped over the next 47 years, and by 2003, only 546 students were attending Horace Mann. By the summer of 2004, the Gary School Board decided it was time to close the historic school.

READ MORE: This Flea Market is the Largest in Indiana and the Entire Midwest

Horace Mann High School These Days

Here we are two decades later and the years - and more importantly the uninvited guests - have not been kind to the school. The son of a former Horace Mann student, Kevin Richards, was given access to the school where he captured some hauntingly beautiful and sad pictures. Kevin was kind enough to allow me to share some of those pictures with you.

The Two-Tiered Gymnasium

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Facebook/Kevin Richards
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The Auditorium

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Facebook/Kevin Richards
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Just imagine how beautiful this auditorium was back in the day. Just stunning.

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Facebook/Kevin Richards
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This once gorgeous auditorium sustained even more damage from a fire set by an arsonist in 2017.

The School's Entrance

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Facebook/Kevin Richards
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Think about the thousands and thousands of students who walked through these doors over the decades. Think about this - the final graduating class consisted of only 72 students.

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Facebook/Kevin Richards
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One of Many Long Hallways

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If you're like me and you want to know what Horace Mann looked like in its glory days, you are in luck (kinda). The following video takes you through the halls of Horace Mann after it had closed, but before it started to fall apart. It's pretty neat to see if you can handle the extremely low-quality video and the equally low-quality music.

30 Bizarre (and Real) Indiana High School Mascots

According to High School.com, there are 682 high schools in Indiana. 555 of those are public schools, while the remaining 127 are private. A majority of those schools have chosen typical mascots to represent them, like eagles, tigers, lions, jets, patriots, and so on and so forth. But, these 30 schools decided to go, well, a different direction.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan

LOOK: See Inside Abandoned Southern Indiana School

Take a look inside the 111-year-old Princeton, Indiana building that was once home to a high school. It was later used for middle school

Gallery Credit: Liberty

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