Many of us who lived in Vermillion prior to 2003 remember how the old Sears building at 15 Court Street looked. It appeared abandoned except for the small printing shop on the north side called Pressing Matters.

A gaping hole in the brick wall scarred the south side of the building on Kidder Street. My sons, ages six and nine at the time, could walk right through that hole and into the building. The windows along that wall were filled-in with glass blocks, installed some time after World War II.

The scene inside of the building was even worse than the outside. Strewn with debris throughout, it had filthy dropped ceilings and layers of linoleum on the floor. Old equipment and store furniture filled most of both the first and second stories. Despite this, I could imagine this space in its heyday, the 1920’s, showcasing lumber, building supplies and farm implements in the big windows across the street from the post office.