City works to clean up Gospel House

LOOGOOTEE, Ind. (WTHI) - A southern Indiana city is hoping to turn a big problem into a little decorative history.

Loogootee began the year by declaring an emergency when the old Ritz Theater, also known as the Gospel House, collapsed.

Crews with heavy equipment were brought in to start the clean-up process. City crews are finishing up the project, taking down the last bricks and fixing what the mayor calls a huge headache.

"I'll feel better once it's done. I feel it's a huge improvement over what we had when the building was knocked down," Loogootee Mayor Don Bowling said. "We hope to a mural painted on the building, a mural of the old Ritz Theater, as a matter of fact."

The work could have turned into a budget buster, but the city was able to secure a $70,000 state grant to cover the cost of the clean-up and the rehabilitation of the lot.

Officials said a small amount of asbestos was found in the rubble of the old theater and that forced the community to take it all to a special landfill, which increased the cost of clean-up.