To an outsider, it was a giant junk of an eyesore.
But to many in Seymour, it was memories.
So “bittersweet” was a word tossed around on the Valley Indy Facebook page when the word spread that the Seymour Lumber property would be torn down starting at 7 a.m. Sunday.
Its roots in Seymour go back more than 100 years.
It was a cash cow back in the day, according to a 1905 blurb from the Evening Sentinel:
Monday, December 18, 1905
SEYMOUR – Burglars break into Seymour Lumber and Hardware Company and steal $160 worth of goods. Police have no suspects.
But the business closed about 2008, and the structure began to look like a third grader’s diorama.
It was placed on the blight list. That’s a designation reserved for properties that create a quality of life issue for neighbors, at the least, or a danger to the public, at the most.
Efforts to finally tear it down dragged on, as Tom Tkacz and his family — the owners — made it through a long approval process.
But the wreckers were on scene Sunday.
First Selectman Kurt Miller, who got a chance to take a whack at the structure Sunday, said he doesn’t know what will go on the property next.
It’s still privately owned, and was listed for $1 million last spring.
Miller assumed the next steps are to clean up the property, then market it.
Click the play button on the video below to watch Miller work the heavy machinery.
