HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979 09-05 Razing of last Gladstone Shop next week marks end of era THE REVIEW Page 10A Wed., Sept. 5, 1979 ) THE REVIEW
Razinààf1dt Gladstone Shop
next week marks end of era
By JO ANN RICE Whirlpool Corp.) leased the complex for When the final bricks are cleared away,
warehouse space. the aging, black water tower will be
The final building of what was once a BUT WAREHOUSING principals and toppled. "It will be the last thing to go,"
busy railroad steam engine repair procedures have changed, too, and 30 the engineer said.
complex is scheduled for demolition next years later Whirlpool Corp., its current There is speculation about the future
week. lessee,will raze the 250-by 250-ft.Chaska use of the 26-acre parcel, prime land in
THE GLADSTONE SHOPS, located on brick building.Their lease on the building Maplewood.According to Maplewood city 9
a 26-acre parcel near Frost Avenue and technically expires in April 1981, but the planner Geoff Olson, the land use plan
English Street, Maplewood, has ap- company plans to terminate it in October proposes the parcel have two uses: ser-
parently outlived its usefulness. after razing operations and clean-up are vice commercial development; and
Built by the Notthern Pacific Railroad complete. medium density residential in the south-
nearly 100 years ago,between eight and 10 Through the change of tenants, one west corner of the parcel.Olson said he'd
buildings housed a large staff of workers thing has remained: the railroad still called the Burlington Northern about a
necessary to repair the company's owns the property, property which was year ago and suggested their
equipment. But things changed. part of the original land grant, a rehabilitating the building for some type
As early as 1941,the NP began phasing Whirlpool spokesman believes. The of"old town" atmosphere shops. He was f
out the steam engine and this location was current owner is the Burlington Northern told they'd take it under advisement.
leased to a contracting firm. Eight years Railway,formed from the merger of four The demolition begins Sept. 10.
later in 1949, Seeger Refrigerator Corn- rail lines, the Great Northern, a railway
pany (a predecessor of its present lessee in the west, the Burlington and the Nor-
thern Pacific.
ALTHOUGH the final building seems to
have outlived its usefulness, the original
well drilled nearly 100 years ago,is still in
use and flowing nicely,a facility engineer
for Whirlpool said. Part of the razing
process will include the capping of the
well, he said.