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| Chuck Mitchell, a member of the Keokuk Historic Preservation Commission, stands in front of arches in the bottom of the old Green Tambourine building that collapsed last summer. Mitchell is asking the city of Keokuk to stop the cleanup process to determine if any historically significant areas can be saved. |
By Cindy Iutzi/Gate City Staff Writer
A series of huge, subterranean arches were exposed Friday during rubble removal at 528 Main St., Keokuk, the site of the former Green Tambourine building.
Chuck Mitchell of the Keokuk Historic Preservation Society believes the historic remains are a look into Keokuk’s historic sewer system, “miles of brick sewers one could row a boat through,” and should be preserved.
“Are we going to designate this site as a piece of irreplaceable history, as an example of the extraordinary underground 19th century masonry on which the city is built or are we going to destroy it and cover up the evidence?” he asked in an e-mail Friday.
The Green Tambourine collapsed suddenly on Aug. 31, 2009, dashing the hopes of Main Street Keokuk, Inc., which was in negotiations to buy the deteriorating structure.
Since then, removal of the unsightly and potentially dangerous pile of bricks and beams in the downtown shopping district has been a big priority for the city.
Not so fast, Mitchell warns.
“Some of the more delicate parts, (mainly the arches under the first basement floor) are gone, chewed up by the trackhoe because the operator did not recognize them in the rubble,” he wrote.
Mitchell said no one “familiar with the subterranean structure of the building was there, or was asked to be there, to identify such structural elements and preserve them.”
He believes the rest of the removal should be done by a salvage crew.
“Also, the row of 17 arches under the sidewalk along Sixth Street, though it remains restorable, could be crushed if machines continue to traverse the sidewalks directly above … the arches themselves were unaffected by the building’s collapse,” Mitchell wrote.
Should the city agree to slow rubble removal and proceed in a careful manner, he envisions an “extraordinary historical site.”
“If we do the right thing, (the public) might be able to walk in them, sit at a table in them, have tea and muffins or beer and a brat in the Keokuk Grotto Bistro, totally surrounded by the stone and brick that anchored this town down back in the day, 160 years ago,” Mitchell said.
In August 2009, MSKI Executive Director Joyce Glasscock said the structure was to be the first on a list of 14 buildings identified for potential renovation. About $38,500 in checks and pledges already had been raised to work on building restoration.
Then MSKI board chairman Barb Smidt decried the erosion of the city’s historic district.
“Much of Keokuk’s historic-built environment has been lost to demolition, fires and demolition by neglect to the point where our traditional commercial district is losing its physical character,” said Smidt in August 2009. “And as a community, we are losing our sense of place. If we do not stop the decimation, downtown will lose its social, physical, political and economic value.”
Keokuk Mayor Tom Marion is keeping his mind open while holding tightly to the city’s budget.
“In a perfect world, we’d love to have something done with (the 528 Main St. site),” he said. “The problem is we’d have people falling into it so we’d have to have a fence, probably a decorative fence.
“We’re trying to hold back on spending, but if there is some private money or historic grants …”
Marion asked Public Works Director Gerald Moughler to check the site and arches this morning and plans to go with Moughler.
In the meantime, the demolition crew, DeVolt Demolition and Excavation, Keokuk, was asked to suspend operations over the weekend pending a decision.
“We understand some of those vaults and walls cross the street to the Half Time and that it has a double basement,” Marion said. “And that a spring runs under State Central Bank and the Hotel Iowa. Some of those vaults and walls form a canal that used to run underneath Main Street.”
A lawsuit is still pending against Penny Knuth, owner of 528 Main St. property, for the costs associated with removal of the rubble, but perhaps a settlement could be worked out so the city could take possession, he said.
“But the city is not in the real estate business,” Marion added.
He suggested that the Keokuk Cultural and Entertainment District or some other organization might be interested in pursuing ownership and renovation.
