Rippey Main Street is looking much different. The former First National Bank, the former Galivan grocery store to the east,, the Jay States Drug Store/ converted to the Rippey Library, Wes Rittgers Café, Roy Brost Restaurant, or the Brubaker building, (dependent upon the age of the reader) and the former Squeak’s restaurant have been torn down and removed.
This demolition is part re-New Rippey. The next phase will begin during the summer of 2012, when the Rippey Community Room will be built to the west of the former Masonic Lodge, now the Rippey Library.
The remodeling of the lodge building and the demolition was completed through grants, and fundraising, and in a cooperative effort with the Friends of Rippey, the Rippey Mayor and City Council and the Rippey Library Board of Trustees. The Grand Opening of the Library was in December of 2011.
FEH architectural firm of Des Moines and Sioux City will be completing the draft that will be available for public review and input during May. It is expected the Friends of Rippey will host a meeting to critique the building plan. The bathrooms and kitchen of the current Rippey Library building will be expanded to accommodate up to 125 persons to attend functions within the new community room.
As a part of the Vision Iowa funding that was given to the Friends of Rippey, the building plans must be submitted to the State Fire Marshall and meet all safety and disability requirements. This process is now beginning.
Grants and additional fundraising may be necessary to complete the building process. Funds have been received from KCCI TV in Des Moines for the building of a gazebo on the vacant lot where the former bank was located. It is expected that will be built in the summer of 2012 also.
Additional information will be provided as the plans are completed.
Thorp Sawmill and Excavation of Jefferson began the demolition of the buildings on the Rippey Main Street on Monday February 27th. To date the former Brobst Café and the former States Drug, most recently the Rippey Library have been taken down and the debris removed. The former grocery store and the corner bank building will be taken down this week. Further excavation will include the former jail/city hall/fire truck garage, and Squeak’s restaurant.
The long-awaited start of demolishing the abandoned buildings in Rippey started February 27, 2012. There should be a new look for main street by the end of this year! The Friends of Rippey are to be commended for their biggest project since being formed in 2001, as they worked with the City of Rippey and the Rippey Public Library Board of Trustees to make sure the library had a new home, an improved community room for the library to use for their programs, as well as for the public to use. Without this cooperation, the improvement to main street would not have gone forward.
The former Thornburgh Café is the last building to come down on Rippey’s main street.
And Main Street after the demolition………….
