BENTONVILLE — Capt. Tony Grimes sat in his white Ford pickup and watched as an old piece of Bentonville history officially came crashing down Wednesday.
“I thought I was going to be able to video tape all of this,” Grimes said. “But it’s taking longer than I expected so I have to shut the camcorder off and on to save the battery.”
Being on hand to watch — and tape — the demolition of the building at 215 S.W. “A” St. struck a personal cord for Grimes. He has fond memories of the building that served as Bentonville’s central fire station from 1962 until its closing in 2008.
Once the most highly called upon station in the city, the old Fire Station No. 1 eventually ran its course after more than 45 years of use. The station has since been replaced by a state-of-the art new Fire Station No. 1, 800 S.W. “A” St.
“A couple of the battalion chiefs were able to come on down and everybody had video cameras,” said Grimes, whose father helped wire the old station and whose grandfather built the fire truck used at the station. “And we wanted to bring our kids down here to see this.
“It’s a little sad to see it come down, but the city did us right. We’ve got a $5 million or $6 million facility now that is one of the best in the county.”
The city does have plans for the property. The next step will be to begin plans on a new downtown activity center that city officials hope to have ready by March 2011.
“We’re calling it a downtown community center,” Mayor Bob McCaslin said. “We’ll move the parks office there, and we foresee that as a sign up for youth sports and so forth.”
McCaslin said the city will also offer exercise equipment and rentals.
“We’ll also have a bike rental out the back where you can come in and rent a bike and helmet, and get a map of our trail system and take off,” he said.