The skeletal bones of a forgotten stone building still stand just below the mouth of little cottonwood canyon...
The Old Mill otherwise known officially as the Cottonwood Paper Mill is just one such abandoned place in Utah with an air about it that screams story material.
But before I go too far, let's get some history about this building shall we?
The Old Mill was built in 1883 to you guessed it make paper by braking down wood into pulp for the Deseret News. In 1892 after the railroad was completed it was bought by another paper making company, though disaster struck in 189 on April 1st...
A fire broke out and though there were alarms but most of the workers thought it was a joke and with the amount of paper that could be made per day being 5 tons the building quickly became a shell of what it once was.
But my friends it's interesting history does not stop there!
In 1927 this skeletal beauty was rebuilt and used for a dance hall called "The Old Mill Club" which is not terribly surprising when looking at the beauty of its stone exterior and lone crows nest.
The dance hall lasted until the 1940's but once again I add my line, but wait there is still more!
(It's like I'm a tacky infomercial sales person yet I'm selling you facts about abandoned places for free... It makes no sense so let's just continue.)
This building was also used as a haunted house in 70's and 80's of which my father has told me about, he said, "It was always terrifying to be inside the building because it just felt creepy, it's aesthetics made it the perfect haunted house."
Oh and it was a boutique... Yep haunted house half the time and boutique the other half or maybe just haunted continually and the boutique scared the spirits away, who's can really say for sure am I right?..
Beyond that this building was made a historic site by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers in 1966 and more recently in 2005 condemned by Cottonwood heights.
Which lets just take a moment to caution any young audiences and anyone for that matter,
please don't try and enter this building!
Beyond being marked as a no trespassing zone this building is condemned, that means not being able to go in isn't just cuz they don't want you to see all the cool stuff inside; it's because
it's dangerous for you.
You could die from something falling on you or you falling through.
So please be respectful of the law and if you want to go see this building which I think you totally should just be sure to obey the law and enjoy this creepy and beautiful building from the outside.
Anyway guys I hope you enjoyed the first instalment of this series of blog posts. Let me know down below if you know of any abandon places in Utah I should check out.
Until next time...
AB Out~
