Crowell-Collier to be Demolished

The printing operations for the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, then the world’s largest magazine publishing house, was located on High Street in Springfield, Ohio. After years of underutilization and disuse, the remainder of the once-storied complex will be demolished.

I am still in the belief that the razing of these monumental industrial buildings is one of the most significant losses of opportunities for Springfield. What would be looked upon as opportunities for rehabilitation into apartments or offices by most other cities is simply dismissed by city and county leaders as derelict trash. What would be a reliable tax revenue generator will simply be reduced to rubble and grassed over, producing no tax revenue. And the demolition of a reinforced concrete complex will only create an extreme amount of waste, not to say that the production of concrete has a high environmental cost.

These buildings are not in any danger of collapse, and stabilizing any failing components, such as the windows, is a far cheaper alternative than demolition.

Springfield has long been in economic decline thanks to the loss of most of its heavy industry, the demolition of most of its once vibrant downtown, the construction of Interstate 70 that bypassed the city, and urban renewal efforts. The senseless destruction of Crowell-Collier will only hasten Springfield’s decline.