It didn’t take long but the wrecking ball paid Niles a visit, leveled three prominent buildings, and is sticking around for the grand finale: the removal of the Main Street Bridge.

First to go was the former Kawneer Company corporate headquarters on North Front Street. The formidable brick structure was built in the early 1920s by the founder and Chairman of Kawneer, F.J. Plym. My connection to the building was my grandfather Fred Eaglesfield was vice president of sales and had the northwest corner office on the first floor.

Kawneer was the major employer for Niles and through the Plym family’s generosity, Niles received much including Pawating Hospital, the Niles Community Library, the Star Building where this paper is published, and Plym Park Golf Course.

The next landmark that was leveled this past summer was the Niles YMCA at the corner of North State Street and West Main. I remember when the YMCA was first built in the early 1960s and I took swimming lessons there. But the most vivid memories were the YMCA junior high dances.

The gym was transformed into a dance hall and hundreds of kids would descend on the building once a month to dance to live music. Upon entering the hot, crowded, dimly lit gym, your senses were assaulted by the steamy and nauseating scent of a rich mixture of Shalimar, Ambush, Canoe, British Sterling, Hai Karate, Jade East and other youthful scents. The deafening sounds of Chicago Busload, Sixth Generation, and several other local bands are still ringing in my ears.

All that is left of the old YMCA is a magnificent view of downtown Niles and the Riverfront Park. This vacant lot is now just waiting for something spectacular to rise from this memorable property. Hopefully it will be soundproof, because the band shell lies directly across the river.

Just up the river from the old YMCA site sat the former Niles Police and Fire Station and the municipal court building. Fortunately, I was never in the police station for any reason at any time, but I did visit the fire station during a Westside School field trip in the early 1960s.

That edifice was razed a few weeks ago and the lot is now a sweeping lawn with a perfect view of Lakeland Hospital and the electrical substation that should have been removed at the same time as the police station. The land will be hard to develop with all those transformers and cables blocking the view of the river.

My former neighbor Judge Edwin J. Donahue presided in the municipal court building, but I never set foot inside. I knew that if you did, you would go to jail next door.

How convenient!

I predict that nothing will be convenient when the Main Street Bridge is torn down later this fall. That is a column for another day!

A native of Niles, Jack Strayer moved back home in 2009 after living and working in Washington DC since 1976. Strayer has served as a congressional staffer, state legislative press secretary, federal registered lobbyist and Vice President of the National Center for Policy Analysis. He is a nationally recognized expert on federal health policy reform and led the fight for the enactment of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).