by Bea Peterson
The building at 34 Elm St. is no more. Neglected for years, the windows were boarded and the roof was collapsed in places. In winter snow covered the floor of the second story. The building was finally condemned, and last month the Village accepted a bid from Champagne LLC to demolish it for $59,000. The cost was high because the building contained asbestos. Since few facilities accept debris with asbestos in it the building’s remains had to be hauled across the state. The building could not be cleared of asbestos beforehand because it was not safe to be inside.
Old directories at the Miller Museum show that in 1940 the brick structure housed Hoosick Engineering. In 1949 it was the Hoosick Falls Knitting Co. and Hoosick Falls Glove Factory, where they made glove and muffler sets. From 1955 to 1960 it was Niegoda Bros. Plumbing and Heating, operated by Edward and Joseph Niegoda. Walt Wirmuski operated Elm St. Auto Parts there during the 1960s. Then it was the Elm St. Cafe, and later it was a diner under two different owners before the building closed. For a time Dick Ward had a photography studio upstairs.
A small crowd, many with memories of the building and its businesses, watched as work began Friday morning, April 3. A foot of quarry sand was spread across Elm St. to protect the road and sidewalk from crumbling under the weight of the 30 ton long reach excavator that did the demolition. Because of the asbestos, windows, doors and vents within thirty feet of the building had to be covered with two courses of polyethylene sheeting and taped. The air around the site was monitored throughout the day. These and other tasks took all morning and into the afternoon.
At three the demolition began. Workers anywhere near the area were dressed in protective suits and wore respirators. One person manned a hose to wet the debris as it fell.
Many agreed the excavator operator was an artist. He skillfully used the shovel at the end of the long reach to dismantle the building bit by bit never damaging the building on the corner of Church and Elm Streets or the Murphy building. Both were a mere few feet from the destroyed building. The building furthest from the demolition was damaged when a much larger section of a side wall crumbled and fell into it.
In two hours the building was leveled. Rain helped keep the dust and particles to a minimum. This week work has been underway to load the debris into trucks and haul it away. In another week the lot will be leveled with clean fill and the old building will be only a memory.
