Remember the Colonial!!

As I read the "Voices" section of the News-Leader today, I became a man of mixed emotions. I'm thrilled at the idea that something creative might actually be done in the Heer's building. Like the majority of people 30 and over who grew up in Springfield, I spent so much time in the Heer's building as a kid, I can remember it like yesterday. I would love to walk around in it again, something familiar, something from my past, something...that would give back to the city once again and be a source of pride.

Then there's the other part. The pissed off part. The "damn those foolish idiots" part. Of course we don't have any old historic hotels because the wisdom of the "city fathers" in their rush to obliterate the past and become the "Midwestern Mecca of Moderns" was that it was better to have parking lots than old buildings, and they were torn down! We used to have some beautiful hotels in this town. Anyone remember the Colonial? Hello??? Anybody home? Here's what a true historic hotel looked like on one of those postcards with the fancy writing, thanks to a photo from the Missouri State Archives: Missouri State University gets double damning in my book for what happened to that grand old lady. They could have turned it, like the Kentwood, into student housing. Nope. They could have created a state of the art hotel management program, with a living, working hotel as it's training grounds. Nope. To hell with it said the officials...we'll let it fall into such disrepair that the only thing that CAN be done with it is tear it down. Then, we'll add another parking lot and charge to park there.

Yes to Heer's. It's a great idea, and I'll look forward to spending a weekend there. Damn you MSU and the City of Springfield, for letting our heritage be torn away from us in the first place!