Bittersweet. The Reporter-News is gone, but memories still stand.

Those coming downtown Tuesday for City Sidewalks could be in for a surprise.

If you haven't been downtown lately, or in town lately, the progress on the DoubleTree by Hilton will be something to see. It's due for completion sometime next spring.

It's beginning to look a lot like a hotel.

A few blocks south on Cypress Street, across from The Grace Museum, folks will find rubble in place of the former Abilene Reporter-News building.

Last week, AML crews worked their way to the northwest corner of the property, then took down the last of the building. Excavators now sit atop a huge pile of rubble,

It's the second big change downtown in recent years.

The first was leveling the Civic Plaza Hotel, facing Pine Street between Fifth and Sixth streets, come down. It had become an eyesore and the police, instead of guests, were checking in.

Suddenly, those at City Hall had a clear view of the Abilene Convention Center to the northwest. And those in Adamson-Spalding Storybook Garden could see City Hall across a fully cleared city block.

Obviously, the goal at both locations is to build back.

If you will, Abilene is like a child with missing teeth. It's interesting to look at for a time, but the time will come to fill the empty space. And that will bring smiles.

Mixed emotions

We've been asked time and again how it feels to see our building come down.

We've been in transition for four years this month, since a mid-November 2018 fire chased us from 101 Cypress St. Most operations never returned. Only our printing and distribution folks worked on site. We moved printing to Lubbock in July 2020. Earlier this year, our distribution hub moved off site.

More:Thunder of Abilene Reporter-News press rolls for last time as printing moves to Lubbock

To be sure, it is bittersweet.

The Reporter-News, along with the beginnings of what today is First Financial Bank, are the city's two oldest, continuous business. As irony would have it, our news offices now are in the First Financial West Building. We remain linked in Abilene history.

There really was nothing logical to do with a building that was built and expanded to house a specific industry. Who needs a massive press besides a newspaper? No one. There was not a good use for the building, a blend of office and industrial - a nod to the past when many businesses downtown were like that.

Our building sat across the street from a nice park and from a restored hotel that 30 years ago became a museum.

Frankly, we were just in the way.

With the restoration of older buildings around us, we just didn't fit into the revitalization of downtown through efforts to repurpose older buildings.

Think Cypress Street Station. Vagabonds. The Motis Building, now home to retail and Grain Theory, and most recently, restoration of the Grant Building as the new home to Condley and Co.

Our property also had deteriorated due to less upkeep.

It was time for a change.

Where it happened

Yet, the many who worked there over the years have been flooded by memories of beginning their careers there, winning acclaim while working there and even retiring there, ending a productive career in journalism.

George W. Bush rode the elevator to meet with editorial staff there more than 20 years ago as governor. Frank Grimes, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, wrote "The Old Mesquites Ain't Out" there. We photographed athletes and musicians and artists and others who were emerging in their respective talents, and soon on their way to national acclaim.

It was there that staff, just after noon Nov. 22, 1963, ripped a bulletin from The Associated Press wire machine that stated President John F. Kennedy had died from a gunshot wound in downtown Dallas.

It's where rookie reporters departed each June to drive to Albany to cover the Fandangle, a tradition for years - a way to introduce Yankees and others to real West Texas.

And where bats flew at high speed on occasion through the newsroom.

A place that smelled like ink, that seeped into our blood.

So this is bittersweet.

Our historical marker will go back up once the dust settles. That will be a reminder to future downtown visitors that the daily newspaper was located there for years.

Gone but certainly not forgotten.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Bittersweet. The Reporter-News is gone, but memories still stand.