TYLER, Texas — Demolition of downtown Tyler buildings on eastside of the square started Monday morning in preparation for the new Smith County Courthouse.
"We should be ready to go up with that courthouse near the end of October, but we’ve got four to five weeks of demo on the east side of the square, what you’re seeing behind me. That’s going to take that amount of time to get everything demoed and excavated and get the ground leveled and ready to build up," said Smith County Judge Neal Franklin.
The current courthouse has been standing since the 1950s. So Franklin said they wanted to make sure some of the history was preserved.
"It is historical and we respect that. One of the things we did as a county is we hired someone that's taken pictures all throughout these buildings on the east side. They’re black and white, and we’re going to have those all throughout the new courthouse so we’re respecting the history of the past," Franklin said.
While there are some road closures and detours in the downtown area, Downtown Specialist Lindsey Froneberger said that keeping things as open as possible played a big role while planning with the county.
"In a lot of those planning meetings with how the phasing was going to be worked out, that notion of keeping things accessible to the public and the patrons that invest in downtown was really, really important," Froneberger said.
PHOTOS: Smith County Courthouse demolition
There’s already quite a bit of activity in downtown Tyler.
"We have so much traffic that comes to the courthouse everyday, that comes to the downtown business, and all of the people that have businesses downtown, or people that want to just come eat, shop, and park," Froneberger said.
However, in the long run, officials said the temporary closures and construction will benefit the community of Tyler, turning downtown into a place for all.