The Southsider Voice
Visit us at these places!
  • Home
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • Sports
    • Car Nutz
    • Stilley Goes Trackside
    • Southside Deaths
    • Personal Recollections
    • Reminiscing
  • About the Voice
  • Advertising
  • Contact
  • Newspaper Archive
  • Classifieds

Blaze damages two adjacent businesses; no one injured

5/7/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Fire destroys historic Greenwood grain elevator
Picture
(SOUTHSIDER VOICE PHOTO BY AL STILLEY)
Firefighters from four different departments put out blaze that destroyed a grain elevator on East Main Street near downtown Greenwood on April 27. Top photos, firefighters also had to pour water continuously on nearby trees directly east of the grain elevator. Firefighters reported to the scene around 3:30 p.m. Traffic was blocked on Main Street for several hours until the blaze was fully extinguished. Two nearby businesses were damaged.

​By Al Stilley
Editor

A spectacular fire destroyed a vacated grain elevator in Greenwood that had stood for 80 years during the late afternoon on April 27.
The blaze also heavily damaged two adjacent businesses – Sports Plus and You Are the Artist – at 200 E. Main St. Sports Plus owner Scott Beasley, a standout student-athlete at Greenwood High School (Class of 1991), said that the building could be reopened in three months but that damage from smoke could call for a complete rebuild that would take nearly a year.
“I started shoving stuff out the front door with that inferno behind me, but so many people – strangers that I don’t even know – came in and helped move things out of the front part of the store,” Beasley said. “It restores a little bit of my faith in humanity; they helped me out of their kindness and at great risk.”
Beasley said that all customer clothing left for sewing or embroidering was saved and placed in a trailer provided by Tillman’s. Clothing inventory and equipment for screen printing was lost. However, Beasley mentioned that screen-printing competitors have offered their facilities and equipment for use.
Sports Plus opened in 1983 and was founded by Beasley’s parents, Jerry and Linda Beasley.
Teresa Taylor, who owns a small art studio in the same L-shaped single story building, estimated that most of the studio cannot be salvaged and that up to 70 paintings were destroyed. Taylor has leased space from Sports Plus for five years for the art facility where classes are held with lessons in canvas and wood painting and tumbling decorating.
An estimated 25 percent of the building may be salvageable.
Firefighters from Greenwood, White River, Indianapolis, and Whiteland battled the blaze and also continuously sprayed several burning trees east of the adjacent railroad tracks. 
There were no injuries. Traffic was blocked for several hours in the area on Main Street.
Greenwood historian Brad Nemeth reported that the first grain elevator was built on the site in the 1820s. Fires in 1909 destroyed that building and two barns and another grain elevator in 1952.
The grain elevator was a familiar site to motorists traveling east and west on Main Street near the CSX railroad tracks. The tall facility that had not been used for years had a familiar Co-op logo. It was a long remaining symbol of the importance of agriculture in Greenwood when it was a small rural town.
Investigators began searching for a cause of the fire that remained unknown at press time.

Picture
​(SOUTHSIDER VOICE PHOTO BY GENTRY APPLEGET)
Greenwood aerial fire apparatus and fire trucks spray water on historic but abandoned grain elevator to prevent fire from spreading. Firefighters also from White River Township, Whiteland, and Indianapolis reported  to the scene. Smoke from the blaze could be seen from several miles away.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    Arts & Entertainment
    Lead Story
    Sports: 500
    Sports: Basketball
    Sports: Track

    RSS Feed

 DROP OFF: The Toy Drop 6025 Madison Ave., Suite D
Indianapolis, IN  46227  |  317-781-0023
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 17187, Indianapolis, IN 46217

ads@southsidervoice.com | news@southsidervoice.com
Website by IndyTeleData, Inc.