Because it’s gone. I read in the paper that a new “mixed use” building will begin to rise on the site immediately. Judging by what is going up around town at the moment, it won’t be a pretty sight. As Doug said though–it is interesting to think of what the world was like and what Salem was like the last time this was a vacant piece of ground. Sort of a reverse time capsule.
On The Way 
This year I celebrate my 40th year in Salem. Talk about changes! I watched the WU Law School and the capitol grow wings. I witnessed a lovely central city neighborhood across from Bush Park and near WU turn into a medical campus where parking lots and cars now compete with buildings as the main theme. SO MANY LOVELY TREES SACRIFICED FOR THIS!! Monstrosities mushroom around us….check out the Meridian if you have the stomach for it. As Ogden Nash once said, “Progress might have been all right once but it’s gone on far too long.”