Picher, Oklahoma: Church and School

An institution of future, left in past.
An institution of faith, left to crumble.










Took a little break from editing these for a few days. I still have a decent sized pile to go through...

Picher, Oklahoma: Light

A compositional study of rooms from a single home.

Picher, Oklahoma: Residential Area pt. 2

Second installment of houses left behind. These were located on the outskirts of town (or what was left to remain as the outskirt). Roofs become caves, floors become waves. Personal items pile up on living room floors, mimicking the poisonous mountains surrounding the town.

Picher, Oklahoma: Residential Area pt.1

A feeling never felt before comes over one when walking up and down the streets of a town with no residents. It must have almost felt similar to those who lived in Picher up until its final days. At one end of the block sits a house collapsing in on itself, water bogged and retreated. The floors lined with broken glass, magazines, childrens toys and rusted appliances. A few houses down stands a respectable modern American two story home, spotless inside, still with an aroma of a family room essence in the air. A few houses down sites a concrete foundation mapping out where there were once rooms and walls...

Picher, Oklahoma: Entering town

Picher, Oklahoma was once a booming town as a central mining location for zinc and lead. In 1967 the mines shut down, yet the contaminated water and mountains of chat piles both containing the lead and zinc scheduled the town to be relocated beginning in 2006. In 2008 a tornado struck the town destroying much of what still remained including the homes of those still residing there.

In its peak, Picher had a population of over 14,000. Today's population is now zero.

Over the next few series of blogs, I will photo document my journey into this ghost town as I explore what still remains. Here is just the outskirt rim of the town, before making my way into the residential area.