A portion of a brick exterior wall at the Journal Review collapsed around 1 p.m. Monday.
The 200-foot section that collapsed was part of the west wall located along the courthouse parking lot. It fell outwardly, sending debris into the parking lot.
No vehicles in the courthouse lot or those parked inside the newspaper garage were damaged. There were no injuries reported.
Traffic in the downtown was disrupted for several hours after the collapse while crews worked to investigate the structural integrity of the remaining portion of the wall and the garage area of the building, and to allow crews to remove the debris. Access to the area remains restricted. One lane of traffic on East Market Street closest to the garage will remain blocked off indefinitely.
The wall that collapsed is recognizable to many in the community because of the large mural that was painted on it in 2013 by local artist and educator Ann Stanley and several youth volunteers. The project was part of the Mural Art Initiative sponsored by the Tippecanoe Arts Federation and Crawfordsville Main Street.
Journal Review Publisher Shawn Storie said he was grateful that no one was injured in the collapse, and he wanted to thank several local business owners who offered their support and assistance.
Daily newspaper operations will not be affected by this incident. The garage was mainly used for storage and for distributing the newspapers each night to the carriers. The newspaper carriers will meet in an alternate location while the wall is being repaired.
