East End Pub demolition to start next week

By Marylouise Sholly

For The Lebanon Daily News

Newmanstown >> A longtime Newmanstown landmark is slated for demolition, and the Millcreek Township supervisors couldn't be happier.

Demolition will begin next week on the former East End Pub.

The pub, for several years a popular bar and dining establishment, had fallen on hard times and was eventually abandoned. Local businessman Jack Keener bought the property with plans to tear it down and build townhouses in its stead. That was more than a year ago.

Because of the building's precarious condition and its location in the center of town along Main Street, the supervisors wanted the pub razed before anyone got hurt from falling bricks or lumber.

"It is in such disarray," said township Chairman Donald Leibig. "At the back part of the pub, where the dining area had been, the roof had collapsed some time ago. We were concerned about someone getting hurt, and the township's liability."

Leibig said he and township solicitor John Enck had toured the building about three years ago to check the condition then, and were appalled at what they found.

At the time, the pub had a few second-floor residents who were renting rooms. The stairs to the second floor were cracked and dilapidated and barely negotiable, Leibig said. In the attic, large sheets of plastic covered the floor, which was covered in buckets to collect rainwater, Leibig recalled.

No one currently lives in the building.

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East End Pub demolition to start next week