Demolition Work In Arcadia, WI Covered By Winona, MN Newspaper

Champion Environmental Services, Inc. received some news coverage in Winona, Minnesota concerning our work in Arcadia, Wisconsin. The article was published in the “Winona Dailey News” with the article by Dustin Kass dustin.kass@lee.net.
Photograph by Melissa Carlo, also of the “Winona Dailey News”.

Demolition of two Arcadia landmarks to improve traffic, pedestrian safety

ARCADIA, Wis. — A crowd of curious onlookers spread across the Cleveland Street sidewalk Thursday. Many aimed cameras or camera phones at the Massuere building across the street, where an excavator ripped out another section of bricks from the back wall, sending them crashing into the growing pile of rubble below. They wanted to see history fall.

“I’ve looked at it all my life,” said 92-year-old Mark Fernholz, gesturing at the demolition process from his power chair before falling silent for a few moments.

“I want to see the roof come down, and then I’m going home,” he said, smiling.

Demolition crews focused their efforts on two of Arcadia’s oldest buildings — the Massuere building and an adjacent building that was the longtime home of Maloney’s Baloney. The demolition will clear the way for a project next summer to realign the intersection of Hwy. 95 and County Road J, a much-needed change that will improve downtown safety, said Mayor John Kimmel. Many in the crowd echoed the potential benefits, but they said Arcadia will have a different look and feel without two of its landmarks.

The two-story Massuere building was likely built in 1875 as a store for The W.P Massuere Co., historians said. The large structure allowed the company to stock and sell everything from farm machinery, livestock and hardware to food and clothing items.

“The store bought everything the farmer raised and sold everything the farmer needed to buy,” according to a newspaper article from the time. The store was such a hub that many employees were required to speak English, Polish and German to better help their customers.

“It was like the Walmart of Arcadia,” Randy Kube, president of the Arcadia Historical Society, said in April.

The store probably closed in the 1930s, local historians said, but the building continued to house a variety of businesses and tenants — most recently, an insurance company, a gym for Gold’n Plump employees and apartments.

The building next door also has a rich history. Martin Maloney bought a local meat market in 1912 and renamed it Maloney’s Meat Market. The name was changed to Maloney’s Baloney after World War II, and the meat-processing business occupied the building until December, when it closed its doors in anticipation of the demolition.

The business’ departure is the only downside of the more than $1.1 million project, since it had been a “staple of our community,” Kimmel said. But he said he had no regrets about demolishing two buildings to improve traffic and pedestrian safety and make downtown Arcadia more inviting. “That’s a good trade-off in my mind.”