EUFAULA, Okla. — Eufaulans watched as crews demolished a 121-year-old building on Main Street Tuesday night. Part of the building, constructed in 1900, collapsed overnight on June 17.
"The entire building is structurally unsound, and there’s nothing we could’ve done to go back and remedy that," Mark Dobbs, owner of the building, said.
Dobbs bought the old brick-and-mortar building 12 years ago, but his memories inside the building began decades before.
"I grew up in that building," Dobbs said. "My parents knew the owners of the building back in the ‘50s and ‘40s. I sat at the countertop in that drug store when I was a little boy.”
READ MORE: Building collapses in Eufaula
Much is the same for many in Eufaula. The building older than everybody in town has finally seen its last day.
"That building represents a significant part of Eufaula’s history," Dobbs said.
"It’s devastating. I mean, it really bothers you a lot," Linda Duty, part-owner of the building and operator of Auntie Faye's Fudge Shop.
Duty's fudge shop is the inviting face of the historic building. She has been baking fudge in the back since 2009.
SEE MORE: GALLERY: Building collapses in Eufaula
"The shop was named after my mother," she said. "There's a lot of memories and keepsakes we had in there. It's just like part of your life's gone."
Dobbs, however, is not giving up just yet.
"We’re going to save all the brick and what we can reuse we’re going to reuse and try to put it back," he said.
Rebuild and restructure to stand tall on Main Street for another century.
Demolition crews hope to have the building down by midnight, Tuesday. On Wednesday, the crew will begin collecting the debris and driving it off-site.
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