A home, history gone
Wendell Peters of McCook, Nebraska, tugs one last time, and the roof of the two-story yellow house at 301 E. Second crashes onto the south lawn. For several years now, preservationists, an absent owner, neighbors and the City of McCook have taken sides in favor of or against saving the big yellow house, built in 1899 by McCook pioneer and furniture salesman Henry Barbazette for his family. During Prohibition in the 1920s, a relative divided the massive home into seven cubby-hole apartments and used the house as rental property until selling it in the 1970s. Since then, a series of owners have either tried to take care of or renovate the house that, because of its age, size and history, demanded time and money and asked for respect, or only stood by and assisted its deterioration. Ultimately, the house fell victim to cats, rats, bats, time and taxes, and the City of McCook assumed possession. Caterpillar operators Wendell Peters and Junior Gillen and their crew of Debra and Fred Petsch took the house down Tuesday. The city will offer the lot-and-a-half for development.