Sheldon, Iowa — Old things must go to make room for the construction of new things. While we may not like that statement, it is often a fact. And that fact is borne out by a pair of unrelated projects taking place in Sheldon.
Demolition of the old Bethel Reformed Church building is making progress, as is the removal of the Orab football field to make way for a turf surface.
As for the Bethel Church project, ID Excavating, the firm hired by Bethel to raze the church building, began that demolition process late last month, and as of Thursday morning, had made considerable progress. Motorists will need to be aware that a one-block length of 7th Street has been blocked off to allow the heavy machinery, along with the trucks used to haul away the rubble of the building, room to do their work.
The building, which was damaged by fire in September of 2016, will be taken down and hauled away leaving an empty lot, with completion of the demolition projected for sometime later this month. Multi-family housing is eventually planned to occupy the site.
Last Friday, ground was broken for the $1.4-million Turf Project at Orab Field, which is a combined project of the Sheldon Community School District, Northwest Iowa Community College and the City of Sheldon. That project is scheduled for completion late this summer.
NCC’s Heavy Equipment students are doing the preliminary dirt work for the project, and got started earlier this week.
The photos below show the progress of both the Bethel demolition and the Turf Field Project.
Drone photos of the Turf Project were taken Wednesday, 5/4/22 (Drone photos courtesy of Dean Hansen)
Bethel Church Demolition – view from the southwest Thursday morning 5/5/22 (Bethel photos by KIWA Staff photo)
Bethel Church Demolition as viewed from the east, Thursday morning 5/5/22 (KIWA Staff photo)
