NEW PALESTINE — In the 1970s, Ruth Vahle Reid and her late husband, Paul, spent years as volunteer firefighters for the town of New Palestine.
When the Sugar Creek Township Fire Department bought the old gas station at the corner of U.S. 52 and County Road 500W for its new headquarters in the mid-70s, the Reids and everyone else were thrilled to have a large fire station in such a prominent place in the center of town.
Reid, 88, is hoping when the old fire station, 60 W. Main St., is razed over the next few weeks, she can get her hands on some of the bricks from the old flower planter sitting in front.
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The planter was dedicated to her husband, who died in 1983.
“It would mean a lot to our family,” she said. “We had lots of good memories in that building.”
The old building has been a part of the town since it was first constructed as a gas station in 1955 by the Hopper family, but the structure is coming down this month to make way for a badly needed intersection improvement project slated for spring 2020.
“That building on that corner was kind of an icon and has been in the community for a long, long time, but it’s time for it to go,” said town manager Dave Book.
The Indiana Department of Transportation paid the township $132,665 for a section of the corner to be used for an intersection expansion project.
While the INDOT intersection improvement project won’t happen until next year, crews are expected to move utilities sometime in 2019, state officials said.
The expansion project will not cause a complete shutdown of the intersection, and U.S. 52 is expected to remain open there. But County Road 500W, also known as Gem Road, will be closed at times during the construction project.
It will be odd for drivers passing through New Palestine’s main intersection to no longer see the old white fire station sitting on the northeast corner, said Bob Boyer, the Sugar Creek Township trustee.
Boyer hired Tom Spiker Excavating and gave him and his crews 30 days to take the building down and clear the way for INDOT construction crews.
Workers have been at the site the past few days ripping out walls and insulation prepping the old Fire Station 41 to be demolished. Spiker said he hopes to have a crew start taking off the roof as soon as Friday followed by removing the doors before they demolish the building shortly after.
After years of service, in 2004 Fire Station 41 was closed and replaced by Fire Station 45, a new facility at 3545 S. County Road 600W.
Now considered an eyesore by some, it hasn’t been operational for years. Recently, it had been used as storage for an antique fire truck and township records.
The intersection improvement, which will include turn lanes, sidewalks and new stoplights with turn arrows, is long overdue, town leaders said.
In 2009, the state paid $306,250 for a lot at the intersection’s southwest corner. In 2008, the state bought land at the southeast corner for $179,000.
The intersection work was supposed to be done 10 years ago, when INDOT widened U.S. 52 through town, but state construction money dried up and hopes for intersection improvement were placed on the back burner.
Seeing the old building come down may be somewhat sad for longtime residents, but it is a sign of progress and is necessary to improve traffic flow at the busiest intersection in town.
“INDOT is here to move traffic and that’s what we need done on Gem Road,” Book said.
