If you’ve ever driven through the town of Honor on U.S. 31, you’ve likely seen the “Question Mark Building.”
It’s a dilapidated old structure that had a bright pink facade with a large question mark painted on the front.
Well, the building is finally coming down.
Talk to the locals in the town of Honor, and you’ll realize that there is a bit of a love - hate relationship with the building on the corner of Henry and Main Street.
The run down building was definitely an eye sore, but it also has been part of the town’s history for a long time, serving as a grocery store, an art gallery, and even housing.
“If I could have saved this building, I would have done anything I could to save it. But, it was pretty much beyond saving,” says Terry Money, who’s in charge of the demolition.
“When it gets to the point where it costs more to revitalize it than it would be to tear it down, it makes for a tough decision,” he says. "But, it needed to come down.”
The “Question Mark Building” went into foreclosure a year ago. Only recently did the city have the necessary funds to tear it down, something the community wanted done for more than five years.
But instead of bulldozers and wrecking balls, the structure is coming down one piece at a time. For now, anyway.
Vince Dontje is owner of Lumber Materials Reclaim. The building is scheduled to be excavated on May 4, but whatever Dontje can salvage before then, is his to sell.
He says the building has been rifled through by trespassers over the years, but there’s still quite a lot of value in the original wood beams and flooring, and some larger antique items.
“This is really cool,” he says using his phone as a flashlight in the dark basement. I looked it up online. It’s an 1880 wood stove. It’s a number 321 Hickory Peninsula. And it’s quite valuable if you can get it cleaned up and looking good. I mean it’s an old one. It’s got claw feet legs on it.”
Terry Money wants to have a memento of his own. He’s thinking a table made out of some of the building’s wood.
“When they pull those 30 foot long 2 x 12’s that were cut from virgin timber at our own dam in town here, and they still smell like fresh cut lumber; I’ve ordered some, I want to buy some myself,” says Money. “It’s very impressive.”
As for how the building got the iconic question mark in the first place, Money says a group of artists moved in about ten years ago. They lived there for about two years, hosting music events, and galleries showcasing their artwork inside the building. Apparently, the question mark went up then.
No one knows for sure what’s next for the property on the corner of Henry and Main Street, but Money says a couple proposals are already in the making.
