Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV
January 29, 2012
Demolition underway on Welch structure gutted by fire

BILL ARCHER
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

WELCH — A handful of people gathered around the police tape barrier on a chilly winter morning to watch a crew from Empire Salvage take the first few swipes at the brick shell that had once been the Libby Building on McDowell Street in Welch.

The first floor and mezzanine level on the early 1920s vintage building were supported by metal beams, but the remaining floors of the five story structure were made of wooden beams. All of those wooden beams went up in flames when the building was destroyed by a fire of undetermined origin on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

“We received approval Friday evening to go ahead and bring the building down,” Welch Mayor Reba Honaker said. “Empire Salvage is going to bring this building down today and take down the Southern Insurance building on Monday. “We really had to do something about the Libby Building. It was too dangerous just to let it stand in the condition it was in.”

As Honaker watched the Empire crew clear the streets before starting the process, several people walked up to her and asked if there was anything they could do to help.

“All the love and support we’ve received from the people has been great,” Honaker said. “Everyone has been working to help the people who were displaced by the fire and trying to help Southern Insurance get open again. Everyone has been so supportive and so good.”

Honaker recalled that during the 1960s, the Libby Building houses H&M Shoes in one side of the main floor and Franklin Dairy on the other. “That was where we all got ice cream back then,” she said. “Everybody has worked together to get us through this,” Honaker said. “Our fire department has turned in a superior job and our street department has been out there protecting the public.

“This building has been here since the early 1920s,” Honaker said. “It’s sad to see it go, but it was such a blessing that no one got hurt in the fire. In a matter of minutes, everyone got out of there. Everyone in the office went out and got food for the firefighters and Raymond’s Restaurant opened up to serve people. It seems like God puts people in places where they can help.”

Although traffic was routed off of McDowell Street while the demolition was taking place, the Flat Iron Drug Store was open just as it always is on Saturdays.

“Most of the people know the back way to get here,” Joe Monti, pharmacist and owner of the Flat Iron Drug Store said. “We’ll be OK.”

Roy Ellison, manager of Southern Insurance said that the business will re-open Monday at a temporary location in the Coney Island section of Welch beside Horne Lumber Inc. “We’ll be there while we look for a permanent location,” Ellison said.

“Our telephones have never been down,” Ellison said. “I had all the calls from our number routed to my mobile phone. We have answered every call.” The number is (304) 436-2438.

Ellison’s Uncle, Charles “Bud” Gearheart Jr., 82, watched the Libby Building demolition from the comfort of his vehicle. Bud Gearheart’s father, Col. Charles Gearheart, founded Southern Insurance in 1947.

“We weren’t always in this building,” Gearheart said. “My dad worked for Welch Insurance and it was located here, but when he started out, he was located over the Flat Iron Drug Store. We moved from there to Bank Street, but a boiler blew up and went through the whole building.

“We moved down here beside the Pocahontas Theater, but it burned too,” Gearheart, a Korean War veteran said. “We moved into this building when Welch Insurance closed up in 1994. During the flood in 2002, we had 18 inches of water in here. We remodeled everything in here after that.”

“Everybody asks the same question, so I might as well tell you,” Tressa Nestor, administrative assistant for Southern Insurance said. “Yes, we have insurance.”

The crowd in downtown Welch grew as Empire started the demolition process. Camera shutters opened as the bricks started to fall, as the people of Welch dealt with another challenge in typical fashion — together.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com