Floor collapses in downtown Scottville business. 

Scottville firefighters inspect the collapse.

Floor collapses in downtown Scottville business. 

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief.

SCOTTVILLE — A floor collapsed in one of the Holden Home Emporium buildings located at 209 S. Main St. Thursday afternoon. Owner Roy Holden said that he had gone down to the business’s main retail building at 119 S. Main St. and when he was walking back noticed that the back-up generator was running at the Smith & Eddy Insurance building, 201 S. Main St.

“I thought it was a little odd because normally that generator kicks on Saturday morning for a few minutes to charge itself,” Holden said. As he went into his building, which is used as a warehouse and workshop, he noticed he didn’t have any water pressure or electricity. Holden then noticed that the first floor of the oldest portion of the building, located on the east side of the building, had collapsed into the basement.

The collapse caused electric lines, gas lines and water lines to be pulled out. Scottville Department of Public Works technician Justin Coolman said Consumers Energy linemen, on scene, said if the main breakers didn’t trip, sparks from the electricity mixed with the natural gas would have caused the building to explode. However, no one was hurt in the collapse.

Scottville DPW, Scottville Police Department, Scottville Fire Department, DTE, and Consumers Energy were on scene, along with Scottville City Manager Jimmy Newkirk.

Holden said he will wait to hear from his insurance company on the next steps, but re-storing the floor is likely not an option.

Holden said he wasn’t sure of when that portion of the building was built but estimated that it was likely over 100 years old. In 1940, W.E. Reader Co., an International Harvester dealership that had started in Custer in 1902, moved to the location following a fire that destroyed several buildings in Custer. In 1965, the business became C.W. Smith & Son, which sold Chryslers. In the 1980s-2000s, the building was home to Healy Chrysler-Dodge. In the early 2000s, the building was purchased by the City of Scottville, which then swapped buildings/land in an area that is now the southeast portion of the city’s parking lot, with Roy and Linda Holden.

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