Crowell Collier Building deserves respect

By Kevin Kampman 8:03 PM Tuesday, July 5, 2011

With regard to being fed up with conditions at the Crowell Collier facility, Springfield’s city administration has a short memory, and also needs to build up a little vision with Harry Denune. The Crowell Collier building represents both the good and the bad sides of Springfield’s history: Manufacturing and printing center, and at the lead in the decline of the Rust Belt.

Crowell Collier sat empty for many years, since its closing in the mid-1950s. However, it was the seed for many successes. While many who worked here moved away, others stayed and started related businesses (e.g., Springfield Engraving and Springfield Gravure). Like other manufacturing facilities in the city, the seven buildings on the site have become warehouses for machine tools, obsolete parts and graveyards for what many think of as “junk.” The reality is that it is slow-moving inventory.

The Crowell Collier building is like a time machine. Last fall, not long after the preservation tour, I started a project to document the facilities. The engineering infrastructure alone is remarkable, not to mention its contents.

Remember, the most recent fire that everyone is so upset about started as a result of repair and restoration work, not neglect. We had the same problems in the 1970s at White Motors. I worked there as summer staff and accidental fires were started. We just had a lot more fire extinguishers on hand.

It is true that Crowell Collier needs help, but many forget that in the 1950s and ’60s, it was viewed as Springfield’s last salvation in the event of nuclear war. The facility (reportedly) still contains edible civil defense artifacts from that era.

Today, anyone who owns a Harley Davidson motorcycle has heard of Dixie Distributing; they’re surprised to hear it’s in Springfield. It also contains parts for milk trucks; there is an active collectors group for those.

It is difficult to understand why the city is so intent on bringing in new distributors like Thirty One Gifts and can’t capitalize on or support the ones that already provide jobs. There is a lot of knowledge, talent and history in the Crowell Collier building.

True, it could be a lot nicer place to work. Perhaps it’s time to start the dialogue. Mr. Denune can be sentimental about what Crowell Collier used to be; someone needs to convince him that it’s well past time to establish a positive legacy of his own.

Old buildings can be reclaimed for business purposes. This just doesn’t seem to be something the city wants to pursue, or we would still have a remarkable downtown, the Arcade and Memorial Hall.

Drive through downtown Columbus and look at the Smith Hardware facility, now occupied by State Auto Insurance Co. Restoration and reclamation is common in bigger cities, in other countries, and there is even hope for Springfield (e.g., the Bushnell and City Market buildings).

I can accept that Crowell’s is past its prime and neglected. What’s harder to accept is that Springfield is so willing to knock down anything that isn’t new and pretty. There’s a mystique about Crowell Collier that deserves recognition.

Kevin Kampman is a resident of Springfield.

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