It was reported at the City Council meeting on Monday that the Rainbow Hotel Demolition would begin Tuesday or Wednesday, but in my mind I imagined that to be a few days of preliminary work and several days of the building coming down. But I received a call yesterday morning that the actual demolition had began and so I went to the site to video the demolition live. After videoing a few hours I left at noon when the crew took a break with a plan to return to see their progress Wednesday evening.
Imagine my surprise when I returned at about 6 p.m. to discover nothing left but a pile of rubble where the Rainbow once stood.
The crew of Empire Builders of Parkersburg made a quick work of the project and the multi year eyesore in the city was gone, and with it the memories of a once beautiful building and hub for a busy town in another era.
As the building came down I stood with home owners Matthew and Cathy Rios, whose home was just a few feet away from the demolition. With every bang of the large backhoes tearing at the building they wondered about the fear their cat must be feeling that had remained in the house and what damage might be done as the debris fell. They had left their home around 7 a.m. and the crews began tearing the building down around 8:30 a.m. There was no apparent major damage to the Rios home, although some of the gutters and some direct hits to the house may have occurred. Damage control and repair was apart of Empire Builders contract.
Empire Builders will be returning today to begin the removal of the debris. Once it’s removed Mayor Robert Petrovsky and the Town Council plan to smooth and seed the lot until other decisions are made with regard to its future use. The Rio property now receives some much appreciated sunlight with the building gone and so is the risk and fear of the Rainbow falling down in the neighborhood or catching fire.
