Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

It is hard for me to believe how much downtown Fort Scott has deteriorated in the last 50 years. I saw in the 50 years ago in the Tribune when the first Science Club at the junior high was started. I was proud to be the sponsor.

We had a science fair with a slide rule contest. The Science Club only lasted a few years. It was decided to do away with the ninth-grade science. I have a few suggestions that might, if they were followed, be able to rejuvenate the downtown area.

I can remember when the Down Town Hotel was built. Somehow I picked up this morsel of information where the hotel was built had, at one time in the past, been a highly successful mineral-water spa.

If you have ever tasted water from a local well hereabouts it would be easy to convince some people that it was good for something. With all of the elderly clientele looking for something to do, a mineral water spa may be profitable. The Western Insurance building reminded me of a building I was in a long time ago.

I was driving from Anchorage, Alaska, to San Bernardino, Calif., and stopped off in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, for a few days.

There was a tall building that had The Hudson Bay Co. on its marquee. I had heard of The Hudson Bay Co. from history and in frontier novels. I was surprised when I went in that it was a department store. The departments were connected by escalators or elevators. They had everything that you would want to buy from buggies to boxer shorts. I started to say women's lingerie, but I don't know that for sure. Each floor was partitioned off to special items. I didn't go into the ladies department. I don't know about the Western Insurance building.

I wonder, though, could it be an upper-class department store where a person could shop with some semblance of privacy?

The other thing that bothers me is the big, beautiful building that used to be called the junior high. I can imagine it becoming a rehabilitation center for veterans. It has most everything that is needed. This is a short list of what it has: office space; lots of rooms that could be altered to size as needed; the rooms could be heated and cooled like motels do; a crafts and hobby shop; auditorium so celebrities can come in and entertain; gymnasium; a small gymnasium that could be converted into a swimming pool. With a good hotel nearby for visitors and everything in operation, the old frontier fort could be back in business. Fort Scott could ride again.

Hill DeMent

Fort Scott