You don't have to believe in ghosts to get spooked at the Union Gospel Press complex. In fact, you don't even have to go inside. The notoriously vacant wreckage of some 15 buildings looms over Tremont like a red and brown brick castle. Its hundreds of odd angles cast deep shadows no matter how far the sun or moon has crept across the sky. There are balconies and broken windows. The grass inside the fence is overgrown. A sign chained across the gate makes it clear that you are not welcome: No trespassing. Private Property. By appointment only. It's just the kind of place you might want to take a clairvoyant, to see what spooks she might spook up. The building's history only enriches that mood. First a college, it's rumored to have been used as a makeshift hospital during the Civil War. The most notorious piece of its past, though, came in 1907 when the Rev. William Brunner Musselman brought a group of women — non-denominational Christian missionaries — to print bibles there. In a 2003 interview conducted for CSU's Tremont History Project, Tremont lifer Molly Alstatt said the women were very private, wore blue uniforms with straw hats and high boots. The neighborhood kids called them “Sallies.” According to a history provided by the Union Gospel Press company — which still does business down on Brookpark Road, the Sallies were “zealous in their faithfulness to the mission and to the publishing ministry.” They lived in isolation from the world.
View: Full Article | Source: Free Times
