From the front, 520 Broadway still looks much like it did when it was built in the late 1800s. But from the rear of the building it’s easy to see the progress that has been made in the demolition of the structure, that was condemned by the city of Hannibal in early October after a portion of the building’s interior collapsed.
Alvin Davis, an employee of demolition contractor Don Martin Construction, has been working to bring the building safely down since early November. He said the dangerous condition of the building was not exaggerated.
“It’s real bad,” he said. “When the center part of that collapsed, if it hadn’t been where they had wrapped it with tar paper and tarred that, probably the whole wall would have been on Speedee Print’s building.”
Although he has worked on numerous demolition projects, Davis ranks the Broadway building as one of the shakiest he’s ever worked on.
For additional details, see the Wednesday, Dec. 23, edition of the Hannibal Courier-Post.
