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                            112 Years of History Gone in 20 Minutes
         Hillsdale County's Oldest Tavern According to Locals Demolished
 
 
By John Tanner

 

 
Waldron - On Tuesday, March 27, 2007 the former tavern known as B&B Friendly Tavern started coming down with Mel's construction and a Amish crew cutting the tavern away from the Friendly Store so as not to cause damage to the store building when demolishing the Tavern.  Consumers Energy removed a power line so the remainder of the building could be demolished and hauled to a landfill.

 

The dumpsters from Liberty Landfill finally arrived on Friday March 30th and on Saturday morning at 10:25 a.m. what was left of the historical Tavern in Waldron (Hillsdale County) came crashing down in about twenty minutes.   The remnants of the building are being hauled away and the lot cleared.  According to owner Brad Frey the building is believed to be built in 1895, which would make it nearly 112 years old, and it became a Tavern in 1906, just last year they celebrated 100 years of the Tavern being in Waldron.


Back on November 17, 2006 a Hillsdale County Sheriffs Deputy doing a routine patrol through Waldron spotted an early Friday morning fire.  The deputy reported flames showing at the roof of the structure, the B&B Friendly Tavern at 105 E. Center Street downtown Waldron at 12:45 a.m.  Waldron fire personal immediately called for a full assist from the Alvordton, Ohio, fire department and the county air trailer from Hillsdale City fire department.  The Wright/Waldron fire personnel had the fire knocked down by time Alvordton got to the scene the second story apartment above the tavern had flames shooting out the walls as well as the roof of the tavern.  The inside of the structure (tavern) had suffered extensive water and smoke damage.

The fire was ruled electrical as the cause; the State police fire marshal has investigated, as that is customary with any business fire.  The apartment was unoccupied with no resident living there.  About 30 firefighters responded with the last unit clearing the scene at 3:30 a.m.  Nearby apartments in an adjoining building the friendly store owned by Glen & Sally Patterson were also evacuated.   The structure and contents were insured but there are no plans to rebuild the Tavern in Waldron according to owner Brad Frey as he has reportedly sold his license to someone in Hillsdale.  But there is some interest of another individual building a structure on the lot according to Frey but not as a Tavern.
 
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  Hudson Post Gazette Published Weekly at Hudson MI by The Post Gazette Publishing Co 2005-2008