Historical Building Collapses, Owners of 50 Years Devastated - Ardmore, OK - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

As always, a copy of this article is available from me should the provided link go invalid.

The building in question was constructed in 1896 and stood at 119-121 W Main St. It was a contributing building to the Ardmore Historic Commercial District on the National Register of Historic Places, and follow-ups to the original article suggest that the building may have become unstable due to the removal of the adjacent historic building at 115-117 W Main St. Both were still visible on a Google Maps Street View from August 2013. The referenced pocket park idea has since been abandoned, and if there are plans for the property, there is nothing obvious about it.

The article reads:

"Posted: Dec 07, 2016 6:14 PM CST

ARDMORE, OK -- A 50 year old family owned business in Ardmore was reduced to rubble this morning when a wall came crashing down.

"It's just a bad thing, that’s the old Kress building, its historical and it's a really bad thing for downtown Ardmore," JC Yeatts furniture and appliance owner John Yeatts says.

John Yeatts says history was lost today as one of Ardmore's oldest buildings was left in pieces.

"We love this town; my grandfather started this business that we have in November of 1944 so we have been doing this several generations," Yeatts says.

What was once a Kress building, turned into a thriving family owned furniture store more than 50 years ago, but at 11:00, Tuesday night, the walls came tumbling down.

"It's very unfortunate, very unfortunate for everyone involved," Ardmore Assistant City Manager Kevin Boatright says.

Construction crews say they can't seem to figure out why the structure collapsed, but their main concern was keeping it from hurting anyone.

"That's the issue right now, is public safety so we are trying to take care of that first and then we will look at after the fact, what’s going to be done in order to take care of the rubble and the side itself," Boatright says.

All of Main Street was blocked off as city officials, police, and the Ardmore fire department conducted a plan.

Water and gas lines were shut off in the area, leaving neighboring businesses to close.

"I've been talking to other business owners and they are just in shock that it actually happened and everything is just at a collective stand still, everyone is absorbing the impact of the building falling down but just for today I think after today everything will go back to normal," Casa Romo owner Daniel Romo says.

Boatright says the wall that collapsed fell into the area where the pocket park was supposed to be built, causing an unknown construction delay."

Type of publication: Television When was the article reported?: 12/07/2016 Publication: KTEN - Channel 10 - Ada, OK Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: local News Category: Society/People

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