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For 119 years, the building that once housed the Palace and Wayne hotels and assorted businesses like restaurants, photographers, a jeweler, realtors, insurance agents, accountants, a saloon, a barber, a tropical fish store, and a cab company as well as the Chamber of Commerce and headquarters for several clubs, has stood on the corner of Main and Second Street. For most of those years, the towering three-story brick structure graced the Crookston downtown landscape well, looking pristine on the outside and in.
Many people no doubt have fond memories associated with the Wayne. Maybe they honeymooned at the hotel, often dined in one of the restaurants or had their family portraits taken in the studio.
Over the last few decades, the building's condition gradually deteriorated to the point of being uninhabitable, thanks to the owners' neglect. After renting the majority of its rooms out to long-term tenants for several years, the hotel became the Econo Apartments in the late 1970s, catering to clientele who mainly wanted a place to sleep at night and park their meager possessions. By the late 1980s, that portion, which took up the majority of the building, was vacant, leaving only the long-standing photography business and a couple of others that didn't take up significant office space. Now, nothing has been in there for the last 10 years, and even parts of the sturdy facade have become unsightly.
The Prairie Skyline Foundation has fought long and hard to save what can be of the building, now only the shell, but the cost to do this is prohibitive for the organization and potential contractors. Once the structure was deemed a public safety issue, the county felt it had no choice but to demolish it to protect the public. With the court dealing the final authority on this, a month from now, the building will probably be gone from the corner.
The preservationists shouldn't feel bad about the outcome, though. They can truthfully say they did everything in their power to save the Wayne. Attorneys on both sides of the lawsuit to temporarily halt demolition presented very good arguments, which the judge acknowledged. It could have gone either way, but the judge agreed that it is best to demolish the structure in the interest of the public.
We don't need another tragedy like the one in the 1960s in which a girl in a car was crushed to death by loose bricks falling from a building. For those who don't remember, it was the Times building and bricks from the top two stories (yes, it was once taller) were loose due to an earlier fire and had not yet been removed. A strong wind took care of that, at the expense of someone's life.
It is now time to say goodbye to the Wayne and move on to saving other historical sites, of which there are plenty. Sure, this will leave a void in that space and it will be missed. You can't replace historical resources once they're gone. You also can't replace people. Which is more important?
For 119 years, the building that once housed the Palace and Wayne hotels and assorted businesses like restaurants, photographers, a jeweler, realtors, insurance agents, accountants, a saloon, a barber, a tropical fish store, and a cab company as well as the Chamber of Commerce and headquarters for several clubs, has stood on the corner of Main and Second Street. For most of those years, the towering three-story brick structure graced the Crookston downtown landscape well, looking pristine on the outside and in.
Many people no doubt have fond memories associated with the Wayne. Maybe they honeymooned at the hotel, often dined in one of the restaurants or had their family portraits taken in the studio.
Over the last few decades, the building's condition gradually deteriorated to the point of being uninhabitable, thanks to the owners' neglect. After renting the majority of its rooms out to long-term tenants for several years, the hotel became the Econo Apartments in the late 1970s, catering to clientele who mainly wanted a place to sleep at night and park their meager possessions. By the late 1980s, that portion, which took up the majority of the building, was vacant, leaving only the long-standing photography business and a couple of others that didn't take up significant office space. Now, nothing has been in there for the last 10 years, and even parts of the sturdy facade have become unsightly.
The Prairie Skyline Foundation has fought long and hard to save what can be of the building, now only the shell, but the cost to do this is prohibitive for the organization and potential contractors. Once the structure was deemed a public safety issue, the county felt it had no choice but to demolish it to protect the public. With the court dealing the final authority on this, a month from now, the building will probably be gone from the corner.
The preservationists shouldn't feel bad about the outcome, though. They can truthfully say they did everything in their power to save the Wayne. Attorneys on both sides of the lawsuit to temporarily halt demolition presented very good arguments, which the judge acknowledged. It could have gone either way, but the judge agreed that it is best to demolish the structure in the interest of the public.
We don't need another tragedy like the one in the 1960s in which a girl in a car was crushed to death by loose bricks falling from a building. For those who don't remember, it was the Times building and bricks from the top two stories (yes, it was once taller) were loose due to an earlier fire and had not yet been removed. A strong wind took care of that, at the expense of someone's life.
It is now time to say goodbye to the Wayne and move on to saving other historical sites, of which there are plenty. Sure, this will leave a void in that space and it will be missed. You can't replace historical resources once they're gone. You also can't replace people. Which is more important?
