Gone

Brick House
Each day on my bicycle commute to work I feel the air temperature, I listen to birds, I see the Flat Branch Creek trickling under Stewart Road.

For years now I eyed a small brick building facing Stewart Road. It rested just behind and south of the Columbia Cemetery. I assumed the structure served some function in past years as a shelter covering a municipal water pump. I never looked too deep into it but appreciated the arched door and window and the flat clay tile roof. It was a vestigal structure that marked my and many others' commutes as we went to our work places, our educations and varied recreation.

Progress as Promised
A month or two ago I read how the owner of some adjacent property had a rezoning request before the city. Inevitably construction began this week. First a crew of tree trimmers picked every tree and stick off the quarter-acre site on which the tiny brick building sat. A day later the building was gone. I assumed it had been there maybe 75 years. That's a guess based on its look.

I am glad I got a few pictures before it disappeared for, you guessed it, more student apartments and their parking concrete.

This 12x12 foot brick building sat on East Stewart Road in Columbia for many years.

Now it is gone, sacrificed likely for a surface parking lot to serve forthcoming student housing.