An interesting saga has been unfolding in Downtown Sedalia over the past 6 or 7 months. The historic Fredkins Building at 207 W. Main Street is now in a state of collapse, having been neglected by its owners and further weakened by a storm in early June. Another storm hit in late July apparently, and that caused the collapse of the first-floor front facade, so now there's a giant hole in the building. See photo.

The city wants to tear it down, citing engineering studies that determined that the structure is unsafe. The property owners, however, say that the building is not in imminent risk of collapse and they claim that a recent sidewalk replacement project was what caused the building's destabilization, shifting the blame back to the city. The whole thing is now tied up in a nasty legal battle regarding the city's involvement, the owner's neglect, historic preservation, and the like.

Coincidentally, I was in town for the annual Scott Joplin Festival around the time that the first storm happened. Before the storm, there was already a nasty crack in the facade and another crack on the now-exposed party wall. During the storm, it sounded like the fire department had been called to the building, and the following day it was easy to see why. The whole front facade was caved in, a pile of bricks lay on the sidewalk, and the eastbound lane of Main was barricaded off.

A bit of history surrounding the building: Fredkins was a grocery store that operated at least since the 1930s. Not entirely sure when they closed. I attached a photo of one of their old newspaper advertisements I found. The building is situated in what was once known as "Battle Row", a notorious part of Sedalia with saloons, gambling dens, and other related establishments. Naturally, with the sort of clientele these businesses attracted, fights and murders were fairly common. It was in this sordid atmosphere that Scott Joplin and other ragtime pioneers worked. Joplin was the featured pianist at the Maple Leaf Club, 2 blocks away from Fredkins, and it was here that he wrote the famous Maple Leaf Rag. As far as I know, Joplin was able to escape unscathed from the violence happening around him, but some of his friends were not so lucky. Sorry for going off on a tangent here, I have a tendency to do that when ragtime is involved

^Thanks! Downtown Sedalia is indeed a pretty place. From my last three visits, I've noticed a lot of improvement and new businesses popping up on Ohio Ave, but then there are of course setbacks like this one. Main St. in general is in pretty rough shape right now, the city seems determined to raze as many buildings as they can along that corridor. 

^That sounds fun! I can see how those sites would lend itself to that. Bothwell Lodge in particular is a really unique landmark. Not sure if you know this, but Bast Storage is now part of a larger redevelopment of the entire Lamy's building featuring residences, a book and record store, recently-opened grocery store, and event space. The foyer has a baby grand piano, so that was a big attraction for me 

^Looks like they did keep a sign, not sure if it’s the one you’re thinking of though. Their website is still active, so it seems like they are still a functioning part of the complex. I don’t specifically remember any Egyptian references, but I’ll keep my eye out for them next time I’m in town.

Here’s a photo from Bast’s website of the Lamy’s building. Looks like it was taken around Christmas or sometime in winter.