Reverence for 88-Year History Surrounds Hospital Demolition
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[For Marshall Browning Hospital board president Harold Rice it was simply a case of promises kept as he watched the first bricks of Du Quoin's storied grand old hospital come down.
Nearly 88 years after its construction in 1922, demolition of the hospital is accomplished because of a purported $2 million bequest from Mr. & Mrs. Harold Kuehn that also allowed the hospital to build a new physicians' medical building.
The demolition phase completes a mid-1990s master plan that has included construction of Marshall Browning Estates, a new ER and outpatient services unit, a new patient, lab & surgical suite, a physical and cardiac rehabilitation center and most recently the Kuehn medical building.
It was a promise that Rice, the board and administration all made to themselves to give Lillian Browning's vision an after-life.
Surprisingly, Du Quoin's signature building is razed with not so much as a wimper from the citizenry who seems to have understood that "it's time."
As the hydraulics on the Mathis & Sons track hoe began chewing through the north wall, there was a decided reverence among those working to bring down the building.
Mark Mathis said demolition should be completed by the middle of March.
Mark, one of the sons of the late Bill Mathis, knows that his father would have liked to have been part of this project. There was a profound sincerity in the way the senior Mathis worked, and this project so connected to Du Quoin's past would have been his cup of tea.
Mark said a hydraulic system connects the elevators in the original hospital and the new hospital and that a portion of the demolition will be paused while the elevators in the newer 1972 building are retrofitted to operate on their own.
"We will build covers for the emergency generator," he said, so that critical piece of equipment is not harmed during the demolition.
"We will also have to make saw cuts between the old and the new buildings," he said. That will make separating the old building from the newer additions safer and more predictable.
In the coming days a large stone crushing unit will be brought to the site. All of the brick in the original building will get its on recycled after-life as the fill for the original hospital basement.
In fact, much of the original building is being recycled. Salvage operations involved taking down paneling, wooden studs and joists, steel beams and sheeting, wiring and plumbing--most of it destined for recycling in some form or fashion.
Ultimately, where the original hospital stood will be committed to green spaces, which will complement all the components of this modern campus.
While the demolition will no-doubt attract curiosity seekers, as a matter of safety it is prudent to keep your distance and allow the work to continue unencumbered.