Crumbling...

You may or may not know that I'm from small-town Illinois. I grew up in a town of 1800 - went to high school with 130 (TOTAL in the school - 30 were in my class) - had cornfields in my backyard - etc. My town is an "old" town in many ways - quite literally in the age though. Some of the buildings in the downtown are 150 years old...including the building that my father owns and operates his business from, as well as the buildings surrounding it.

This gives everything so much character - it's what made me grow up appreciating old buildings, old houses (although the 100 year old house I grew up in helped that), tin ceilings, original wood flooring, etc.

This also becomes a nightmare, when a neighboring building doesn't receive the maintenance that these old structures require and this happens:
This is the rear of the building next door to my dad's pharmacy. (The back of the pharmacy is next door on the left - not in the picture). The back quite literally fell off. Apartments above and offices below were still in use until the day this happened (falling in stages) - however no one was hurt...physically.

This happened - and now with that structure in limbo waiting for decisions on what will happen - the pharmacy I've known as my second home my entire life is in limbo as well.

The pharmacy is a one story structure that has been beautifully maintained and is completely sound. However, with this three story structure leaning on 3 legs instead of 4, it poses a safety risk to the pharmacy building and anyone inside if it would topple over. The pharmacy may or may not have to move to an alternate location until that building is demolished or repaired. Yes, they can be return when all is said and done - but picking up shop and moving isn't easy when a business has been somewhere for 100+ years.

There's no answer yet, but it's not easy no matter how you slice it. It's hard to even believe this is happening, especially because my home-away-from-home is perfectly fine, just placed at risk because of someone else's negligence. Add to that the fact that the building's owner's insurance is not covering any of this.

There aren't words to describe the feeling my family has when even thinking about not having the pharmacy in it's current location. No one thought it could ever be anywhere else. Regardless of if they can return - it can only be described as feeling like a bad dream.


Here's a few articles from The Pantagraph (Bloomington-Normal newspaper) about this:
April 8, 2010
March 26, 2010
March 25, 2010
March 24, 2010