When I snuggled in bed under my blankets Friday night, I didn’t expect I’d soon be waking up to the sound of tornado sirens.
I knew the South was expecting some bad weather that night, but I didn’t anticipate what actually came through the region.
I was awoken at about 3:15 a.m. by the sound of rain slapping our windows and strong wind gusts.
I laid there hoping to fall back asleep. Moments later, my phone alerted me of tornado watch and warnings. Feeling uneasy, I got out of bed, walked to my kitchen and tried looking out the window. I couldn’t see anything, so like the good, curious Southerner I am, I opened the back door thinking I’d get a better view.
As soon as I turned the door knob, the door slammed open wide by the force of the wind. The wind was making such a high-pitched whistling sound, it was piercing my ears. Somehow under the sound of those powerful winds, I could hear a tornado siren sounding off in the distance.
Terrified, I ran back to my room and woke up my husband. We grabbed the children out of their beds and went to our bathroom. Not even 30 seconds later, our power went out.
My 2-year-old daughter thought this was exciting and was laughing as she sat in the bathtub with her pillow. Sitting next to her, my 4-year-old son was tired, confused and crying.
After several minutes, we could hear the winds dying down and the rain beginning to settle. After a few more minutes, we decided it was time to go back to bed.
By the time my nerves had settled, I finally fell back asleep. I thought the worst was over.
It didn’t feel like I had slept for even an hour when I woke up to several missed calls and text messages that downtown Greenville had been hit hard from the storms.
I quickly dressed and started driving. I saw several fallen limbs and downed trees on my way to the incredible sight downtown.
There was debris and metal roofing scattered across the roads and hanging from trees and power lines.
There was severe damage to many businesses along Main and Walnut streets and Washington Avenue with busted windows, holes in roofs, broken pieces of exterior walls and more.
What I found to be a blessing was the two buildings affected the most were both unoccupied, one being a former cotton business on Main Street and the other, the long unused Elks Lodge on Washington Avenue.
It was obvious from the pile of bricks the building on Main Street was not able to be salvaged.
The Elks Lodge, which had been a crumbling safety hazard for a number of years, was deemed too dangerous to be left standing after the storms.
According to Mayor Errick Simmons, the Elks Lodge’s east end windows were knocked out and there was fundamental structural damage as parts of the wall on the east side had collapsed. What were now severe issues directly faced a thriving Planters Bank building just next door.
As a result, a joint effort between Kenneth’s Excavation Dirt & Gravel, Lesure’s Demolition of Greenville and city crews worked to tear down the old building.
When I began telling people about its demolition, most reactions were along the lines of, “About time!”
The building has been, after all, sitting for many years with no work being done and it had already been scheduled to be demolished at some point in the future.
On Jan. 28, 2019, the City of Greenville was granted a demolition permit for the Elks Lodge building by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
I can’t help but agree with those who say it was “about time.”
When I started reading comments on Facebook, there were a number of people in an uproar about it.
There has been a lot of speculation from people who were not involved with the demolition process.
Some say the workers were not wearing proper equipment and others claim proper precautions weren’t taken for containing the asbestos. Some have even said it was a shame the artifacts inside weren’t salvaged first.
Maybe the process wasn’t 100% perfect. I do not know for sure because I was not directly involved with the process.
Neither were the naysayers.
Maybe I’m too much of an optimist, but I like to think as the Elks Lodge has been under the eye of possible demotion for almost an entire year, these workers knew what they were facing and what they were doing.
And for anyone who wanted to salvage artifacts, they had almost a year to go to city council to make a serious request. According to Simmons, not a single a request was made in all this time.
When the city received the permit to demolish the building last year, Simmons said they were required from Mississippi Department of Archives and History to save three pieces, which they did. According to councilman Bill Boykin, they took four round bases from the pillars, the cotton pickers sign, the MACE eagle and the building’s cornerstone.
It’s tiresome to hear so much negativity toward the city from people who aren’t completely sure of their accusations.
The crews who worked together to tear down the Elks Lodge have several years experience under their belts. Why can’t we give them some credit and trust the work they do, especially under the extreme circumstances they were faced with?
The Elks Lodge has by no means been a structurally sound building for many years and I have no doubt the weekend storms made it that much more unsafe to be left as it was. Many people I spoke to and others commenting on Facebook said they felt anxious anytime they were near due to fear pieces might fall and injure them.
Imagine if a piece of that building had actually fallen and hurt or killed someone. Then there would be several people in an uproar asking why the building hadn’t been demolished long ago. I am grateful it never came to that.
I appreciate the history of the Elks Lodge as I have heard many fond memories from people who spent a great deal of time there.
The fact is it’s prime had come and gone. At this point, it was nothing more than a crumbling eyesore.
This weekend’s storms brought about some unfortunate circumstances and I think our leaders made the best decisions in a difficult situation to ensure the safety of passersby and nearby businesses.
Now is the time to move on and look forward to something new.
Catherine Kirk is managing editor of the Delta Democrat-Times. She can be reached at ckirk@ddtonline.com
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