Buildings being torn down across from ACD

The 2 buildings across from the ACDA Museum: The Museum Shop and Hoham Smith Feed Building are being razed. Both buildings have structural problems.

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Evening Star Newspaper wrote: Demolition will start soon on a former service station that has housed the museum repair shop.

A 127-year-old building that housed a feed company will fall next, with razing scheduled to begin May 1.

?In our long-range plans, we have always planned to have a park-like parking area over there,? said Laura Brinkman, executive director of the museum. A set of plans shows a parking area covering the grounds of both buildings, with numerous trees.

?That?s probably three to four years down the road, if we?re lucky,? Brinkman said of the parking area. For now, the museum will grade the property and wait until money can be raised to build the new parking lot.

The additional parking space is needed for visitors at museum events, Brinkman said.

The museum has owned both buildings since the early 1980s, Brinkman said. Hoham Smith & Co. occupied the larger building, but recently moved to a new location.

The larger building developed roof problems during last winter?s ice storm, Brinkman said. The smaller building also has structural issues.

A deadline to qualify for funding spurred the museum to move quickly with the demolition. If the museum removes the former service station by April 30, it can obtain state funds to clean the contaminated soil under it.

?It just kind of made us start this a little earlier than we had planned,? Brinkman said.