SubmittedThe Owens Hotel in its former glory. The site served as a lodging place during the Civil War, although the building that was destroyed Monday had been built in the 1930s.

In three hours Monday afternoon, decades of Horse Cave history were turned into piles of rubble.

The historic Owens Hotel was torn down as part of Mayor Odell Martin’s effort to rid the city’s landscape of anything unsightly.

&#8220It was beyond rehabilitation of any kind,” Martin said. &#8220It’s a wonderful day for the citizens of Horse Cave to rid ourselves of the blight.”

Martin campaigned last year on a platform that included tearing down the hotel and several adjoining structures, which, he said, were detriments to the town of 2,300 people.

But the demolition, accomplished quickly with a few pieces of heavy machinery on a drizzly afternoon, didn’t go over as well with some others in Horse Cave.

&#8220Historic buildings are the fabric of the community,” said Tom Chaney, the town’s unofficial historian who, from his vantage point at the aptly named Bookstore across the railroad tracks from the hotel, effortlessly recounted the hotel’s history.

A lodging place had been on the site alongside the railroad tracks in downtown Horse Cave since the Civil War, he said.

The three-story brick structure torn down Monday was built in 1930 to replace an earlier structure destroyed by fire. The hotel, owned and operated by the Owens family, survived for decades, thanks to area tourists and its location on U.S. 31-W.

&#8220The real death knell for the hotel was the coming of I-65,” Chaney said.

As travelers were diverted from 31-W to the interstate, the hotel struggled, finally closing in 1977.

Fires damaged both the hotel and its annex in the 1980s, and the structures sat empty and largely forgotten until an effort to refurbish the buildings gained momentum several years ago.

Sandra Wilson, the city’s former Main Street program manager, helped secure a $250,000 state grant in 2001. The money was used to buy the structures, but much more was needed to refurbish the buildings. Other grants were in line, Wilson said, but a private developer who had pledged $1.7 million for the project eventually went bankrupt.

&#8220That was our downfall,” Wilson said.

The ultimate fate of the buildings wasn’t decided until Martin took office in January, when he began soliciting bids to have the hotel, annex and several nearby buildings torn down.

&#8220As you came off the interstate, the first thing you saw was this,” he said, pointing to the rubble and several nearby dilapidated houses also slated for demolition. &#8220It was not a good representation for our community. We want to make our community more presentable … to the people who might live here.”

Tentative plans call for the land once occupied by the buildings to be used as greenspace, and Martin said the entire project should cost the city about $6,000.

&#8220I’m sad to see it go,” Chaney said of the hotel where his father once worked as the night clerk. But since the effort to save the structures failed and they fell into further disrepair, Chaney admits, &#8220I am glad to see it down.

&#8220We’ll always remember it,” he said, holding a black-and-white picture of the hotel in its glory days. &#8220It’s gone, but I’ll always have this picture on the wall.”