Nearly 200 years after construction, Westfield's oldest building is moving
A significant piece of Westfield’s history is on the move, but it won’t go far.
Known as “The Green Building,” with its lime-colored siding, the structure has sat at 102 South Union Street for nearly two centuries. It’s the oldest building in Westfield and was constructed around 1837, according to the Westfield Preservation Alliance.
The historic building is expected to be moved Wednesday to preserve it while State Road 32 is widened and reconstructed throughout downtown.
"The significance is it's very old and very representative of business in Westfield,” said Linda Naas, a Westfield Preservation Alliance board member.
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Traffic was closed on State Road 32 Tuesday as a company, contracted by the Westfield Board of Public Works, slid beams underneath the historic building in preparation for the move.
It will be temporarily moved to the property directly to the east of its current site. Once overhead power lines are buried, as part of the construction project, the building again will be moved.
It will be permanently located on North Union Street, directly west of Westfield City Hall and south of Basile Westfield Playhouse.
‘The Green Building’ will no longer be green
Once in its new location, the green on the historic building will be no more.
“That green siding is not original,” Naas said. “It will be taken down to the original clapboard it was built with, and it will look similar to how it looked in the 1800s.”
Most recently, a dance studio operated out of the historic building, but the preservation alliance has traced its history back to the 1860s when it operated as The Old Corner Drug Store.
It also served as the town post office during the 1870s. Several businesses took over the drug store space before it became Funderburgh’s Grocery in 1889. Then the building became home to one of Westfield’s most well-known restaurants in 1958.
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"Pickett’s Cafeteria was the place where everyone met,” Naas said. “All the local organizations met there, and families had birthday parties there. It was kind of the community center as a restaurant."
Over the years, Pickett’s Cafeteria averaged 405 customers each weekday and up to 600 customers on Sundays. The restaurant was best known for its fried chicken and handmade pies before it closed in 2002.
After Pickett’s Cafeteria, several other restaurants operated out of the building before the dance studio moved into the space.
"As typical with the history of Westfield, there's been a lot of real estate transactions with that building and a lot of different people have owned it,” Naas said.
The City of Westfield owns the property where the building will be moved to permanently. It has not yet been determined what the historic building will be used for at its new location, a city spokesperson said.
The preservation alliance hopes it will be used as a space that is open to the public in some form or another.
“We just want to see it used,” Naas said. “It would be great if it continued to be a building the public could go in and out of on a daily basis, like it’s always been."
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana city moves its oldest building to make way for development
