The Worthington Times

This is what the Williams House looks like today.  These pictures were all taken by the Times girl.    

The Williams House is not actually a home-type house.  It was once a very fine hotel and gathering place which played host to all kinds of people traveling through Worthington.  It was an elegant place to dine and numerous social galas were held there by townspeople.

It was built in the early 1900s.   Several decades later it was converted into apartments and became known as the Freeman Apartments.  In the most recent years, we once again refer to the building as the Williams House.

The picture on the left was taken from Union Street.  It is the second floor door on the north side of the building.  It led into the upper hallway.  Now the roof is gone and all you see is sky.

Two pictures follow below taken from Washington Street. One is a picture of a second floor window and the other is a ground floor window also showing the WPD signs ordering no parking near the front of the building - probably placed there in the hope that a car or person won't be smashed if the whole building were to come crashing down. 

The third picture below is the view from the alley behind the Williams House.  Through the second floor windows, see a chimney reaching to the sky without any roof surrounding it. 

Along with the WPD signs, an orange fence around the front and north side of the building provides a warning to passers-by to stay away, but the rear of the building is not blocked off.

Several years back, in an unsuccessful effort to save the structure, members of the Worthington Historical Society spent a weekend working at the building to secure the windows and doors.  Their efforts can still be seen as all of the windows on the ground floor remain boarded up.

However, when the Times girl went to take these pictures, she found the back door to the smaller building standing open.  The next two pictures are what one would find right inside that door - a big hole. 

The last picture shows the little building and the open door - this is just a few paces off of Union Street. 

Photos by Virginia