Rensselaer Adventures

This blog reports events and interesting tidbits from Rensselaer, Indiana and the surrounding area.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Things I have seen lately

I have been taking too many pictures and writing too little, so it is time for a picture dump. Let's start at the high school, where the parking lot is full of stuff. Is it for air handling?
Next door, the new hospital building is open and the parking lot is paved. The hospital website says, "This building will house Patient Accounts, Community Relations, Nursing and the Administrative Offices." I wanted to get a picture of the entrance from the door, but there were people paying bills, so I walked back as far as I could go and took a picture back toward the door. There is not much to see.
Also newly opened is the new credit union just north of the Saint Joseph's College campus. I stopped by and found four women who were quite willing to chat because I was the only customer there. Anyone living in Jasper County can become a member of the credit union.
On the topic of banks, the Lafayette Bank & Trust has new signage. I did not have time to stop by and ask when they would be opening in their remodeled building.
I had noticed two months ago that their old sign had been taken down.
Some businesses open, others close. I noticed this week that one of the buildings along Drexel Drive was empty, and I do not know how long it has been empty.
It used to house Diversified Filtration Products. What did they do? Has it been gone a long time?
Another empty building, but this one recently empty, is north of the railroad tracks and the Amtrak station. Until a few days ago, it was Rizing Addiction Tattoos. I noticed a few days ago that the building had been sold, and today I looked inside and saw it was empty.

I wonder who bought it and why. It is a horrible location for retail. There was a second-hand/antique shop in there a few years ago. I noticed it when it opened and visited it, and my dominant thought was that it could not succeed. It had bad location and no publicity. Still, I was sad to see it close not too long after it opened.

The Jasper County Interim Report lists this building as Creamery/Commerical building ca. 1910, and ranks it as notable.
Below is the picture I wanted to get a few days ago. Some parts of the chip pile seem to be quite hot, as steam rises when it is disturbed. Also, the pipeline (or water main project) is now south of the railroad tracks.
This morning I noticed another crane at the elevator.
Yesterday I saw a bucket truck that said it was from Fair Oaks. I was interested because I did not know any businesses were in Fair Oaks.
It was used to trim trees. Last year I searched for a tree trimmer and do not recall any from Fair Oaks. But this year they apparently have one, something that Rensselaer does not have.

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