Sinkhole endangers historic tavern

The 114-year-old building on old Route 66 in Galena, Kan., that houses the Green Parrot tavern likely will become a memory because of a rapidly enlarging sinkhole that’s already collapsed part of the structure.

Authorities were able to evacuate the tavern’s owners, who lived on the second floor, before the building became too structurally compromised. The police chief says it probably will have to be condemned, and the hole keeps getting bigger. At last report, it was about 70 feet across.

The sinkhole is caused by the collapse of an underground mine. Southeast Kansas, southwest Missouri and northeast Oklahoma has these mines all over the place.

Most of the residents of Picher, Okla., will be relocated because the town is dangerously undermined. I fear that Galena eventually faces the same fate. The sinkhole, if it gets any bigger, may also threaten an old stretch of Route 66 nearby.

Here’s the latest about the sinkhole, including an alarming photo of the sinkhole and rapidly deteriorating building, from the Joplin (Mo.) Globe.

Here’s a short video from KTKA Channel 49 in Topeka.

Here’s a lengthier report from the Associated Press.

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