Bulldozer the best fix for Downtown

To the Editor,

Poplar Bluff has come into the twenty-first century with new highways, bridges and new state-of-the-art hospital. There are new schools, churches, a justice center and a modern industrial center. Plus, more is coming to our town. The city limits have been extended in all four directions.

Poplar Bluff has an excellent sheriff's department, police department, fire department, highway department, and a good city/county government. We are also blessed with several churches.

We have been told Main Street was an old Indian trail leading to downtown Poplar Bluff. Main Street was the heart of the business community of Poplar Bluff. The first approach to the town (Main Street) was through the train station and up the beautiful ornate lighted concrete steps leading up to Main Street. The second approach to the town (Main Street) was to travel from Barron Road down the winding brick road. We must tear down the old and make way for the new to preserve the old history of Poplar Bluff. The striking architecture of Main Street was demolished on May 9, 1927, by the great tornado. A river and railroad system that goes through Poplar Bluff. The city has grown and will continue to grow . . . "money makes money". Look at what's coming down the road to Poplar Bluff.

Speaking of roads, when I was a little boy, my mother and father would drive my sister and myself home down that old brick road in an old Model T Ford coupe. The road was rough then. When I was in high school, I drove down Main Street in my 1930 Model A Ford. The road was rough then, too. Now, I am older and I drive down Main Street in my Lincoln Town Car and the road is still rough. Everywhere you drive in Poplar Bluff, there are cars and trucks in front of you, behind you, beside you, or on top of you.

My father told me Main Street was built in 1913 (one hundred years ago) with fire forged bricks, manufactured in Illinois in a brick factory. I strongly feel the old brick road, like the old downtown Poplar Bluff, has outlived its time.

Our city fathers should repair the old brick road, fill in the low spots and blacktop or concrete the old Main Street road. Poplar Bluff needs a better road leading to downtown. The old buildings downtown, with the exception of a few, are not structurally sound or safe. Such as the old F. W. Woodworth Store. The structure, plumbing and electrical systems are unsafe and outdated. Half of Main Street downtown has been burnt down or torn down.

Build a new downtown Main Street and bulldoze most of the old buildings. Start over with beautiful, new buildings and make old downtown Main Street beautiful again. Make it magnificent like it was before the great tornado of 1927. Yes, maybe we can have some beautiful brick roads downtown again. Poplar Bluff, let's all face the facts together. The beautiful Black River Coliseum would not be here if were not for the bulldozer.

I hope my last ride down that long brick road won't be so rough. This is my story and I'm sticking with it.

Jerome T. Kenner

Poplar Bluff, Mo.