Every city has that one group of “weirdos” who seem to possess a hunger for the avant garde and the forbidden. Urban explorers fall into this category, and some would argue they are even the leaders. In 1996 in Minnesota, a group of University of Minneapolis students came together and formed “The Action Squad” which has since become one of the better known urbex collectives. After their first explore in the steam tunnels, Max Action, the squads leader, took more and more groups on explorations throughout the city, including the sand mines beneath the Ford Assembly Plant.
Since the inception of the Action Squad, the “Labyrinth” has called to urban explorers like a siren song. The Labyrinth is a 70-mile-long collection of tunnels and caves beneath St. Paul that was constructed in 1865. It is considered the holy grail as it’s ridiculously difficult to access due to security and near constant police patrol. An explorer died in 2009 in the tunnels near the Labyrinth and his death provoked heightened security with the police as well as triggered explorers to be more conscious about safety. The reality is that little is known about this area of tunnels beneath the twin cities. When exploring there are risks of injury, and death is an elevated possibility.
The caves and tunnels under the cities have sparked a lot of interest. Many organized urbex groups have tried to map the tunnels. One group, Forgotten World, hosts a web site that offers sharing (although this writer was unable to find this site). Forgotten World also have a vetting process for sharing such information. While certainly not perfect, Forgotten World will explore with a new member, and consider factors like how the explorer interacts with others, how they behave once they’re in the area, and their safety awareness. Many experienced explorers have this same attitude; there’s a desire to connect with others and share favorite spaces, but you also don’t want to bring unwanted interest and potential ruin to the space by it being “over visited.”
The Twin Cities aren’t the only places that explorers frequent. While the United States offers a pittance compared to Europe, it does offer a visual history of ever-changing style of a young nation. Urbex has risen to popularity since the inception of YouTube, but the history might surprise you. It is a common belief among urbexers that our culture was “birthed” in the 1970’s in San Francisco. The Suicide Club, like the Action Squad was known for members facing their fears. While the Suicide Club was a little more aligned with anarchist in their activities, they are credited as the “parents” of modern-day urban explorers.
Urban exploring across the country shares a lot of commonalities despite the age difference of explorers, as well as the age of the sites visited. In addition, the word “urban” doesn’t really describe a city, or metropolis areas when it comes to urban exploration. Rather the word relates to man-made structures, as opposed to naturally occurring ones (like caves). Speaking as a Gen X, US based explorer, this writer feels an obligation to document the history of architecture in our country. The reality is that many of these crumbling buildings will not exist in another ten years, except in photographs. And we bear a burden of responsibility to the generations that follow us to reveal the beauty of real design, and not just “slapped together” buildings of modern day.