If you ventured downtown Monday and tried to travel Broad Street, you might have found your journey interrupted. Especially if you wanted to pass in front of the Bi-State Justice Building.
The westbound lane of thoroughfare was blocked off by a temporary chain-link fence as construction crews began the demolition of the old Kress variety store building.
Pedestrians were inconvenienced as well because the sidewalk was also blocked for safety reasons. The demolition is expected to take about 140 days.
S.H. Kress was a well-known brand of what were once called "five-and-dime" stores that grew up in the years after the F.W. Woolworth Company pioneered the idea. They offered a wide variety of merchandise at low prices, sort of a miniature Wal-Mart of their day. Indeed, Sam Walton got the idea for his stores while running a Ben Franklin-another popular chain still operating today-in Northwest Arkansas. Once five-and-dimes were ubiquitous in America. Now they are a rarity.
While most of these type of stores were utilitarian in appearance, Kress made a name for itself by building its stores with attractive and distinctive facades featuring classic or art deco architectural ornamentation. That's what made the buildings prized as landmarks and repurposed for other uses in many communities.
The Texarkana Kress store was built in 1933. And while a bit less ornate than many of the chain's buildings, it was still a lovely and unique structure. But since the store's closing, it was allowed to fall into terrible disrepair. It was condemned in 1979 and has pretty much become unsalvageable.
That hasn't stopped some folks from trying. Several efforts have been attempted to save the building, but to no avail.
Now the structure is finally coming down and another part of the city's history will be lost. There was talk back in January about trying to save the facade. Now the word is they will try to save at least some parts of it. No telling how that will go.
Too bad we often don't see the value of these old buildings until it's too late. How many more times will we see this play out in our downtown?