Main Street to clean up old building

Last week, members of the Main Street Thermopolis organization took a tour of the former Fair Deal Furniture building and two adjoining storefronts to evaluate what can be done to bring them back to life.

Linda Kiisk, an architect with the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, along with Linda Klinck, program manager of Wyoming Mainstreet, walked through the structures with them to give their professional opinion on the building itself and give them something of a priority list as to where to start.

Most obviously, when entering the building, cleaning it out is going to be top priority. There is years of dust and dirt covering everything and a lot of “junk” was left behind when the store closed, including old paint, building materials and more.

The building itself is sound and the original wood floors are intact. Main Street members noted the floor is solid and doesn’t squeak or give like so many older wood floors do.

There is some water damage in the building, however, where holes in the roof have allowed water and snow to come through over the years. A small fire along the west wall has also left some smoke damage and charring of the surrounding area, but should be fixable.

Some ventured into the dark basement to find the boiler room and plenty of shelving along the natural stone walls. Here they discovered the floor above them had ample support, as the pillars were large and undamaged from the years underground.

Moving into the two smaller storefronts they found more water damage than in the main building and evidence of people having broken into the buildings to party. Graffiti was painted on the walls and burned matchbooks were found everywhere.

One of the storefronts had been an apartment at one time. A stove remained in the tiny kitchen and other items belonging to a household were discovered as well.

The outside of the buildings are structurally sound as well, with the larger building having a brick façade while the two smaller storefronts have their original appearance, including glass block above the doorway and windows to let in more natural light.

Further study will need to be done to determine if the façade can be removed, bringing it back to its original look.

After touring the buildings, three priorities were established.

First, the buildings must be made safe, second, they need to be secured, and third, they are going to need to be cleaned out.

One step has already been taken, that of securing the buildings to prevent anyone else from gaining entry. This fits right in with the safety aspect considering the amount of glass and other possible dangerous items throughout the buildings.

When it comes to actually cleaning out the buildings, Main Street Thermopolis figures it can be done on a weekend with a little sweat equity and a lot of trips to the dump.

Once cleaned out the real planning can begin. Should it be one building or three? What type or types of businesses would be best for the spaces?

One stumbling block that always comes up is funding for this type of project.

While Main Street Thermopolis has little in the way of funding, there are lots of grant dollars available both on the state and federal level that can be used to bring the historic buildings back into service.

In the meantime, Main Street Thermopolis is looking for any old photos of the buildings that folks may have. If you do happen to have one, please contact MeriAnn Rush at the Chamber at 864-3192.