What lurks down there?

Restoration of former Clipper building unearths old treasures

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 - 14:41

Barb Walter For The Times & Free Press

After finishing up the interior demolition at the old Hennessey Clipper newspaper building Tuesday afternoon general contractor Jeremy Beaman said he understood there was a cellar. It was next to the north wall near what was called “The back shop” at newspapers in the olden days because the press and linotype machines were located there. When Beaman pulled on an almost-hidden metal ring to open the cellar door it broke. That’s when Pedro Velasco, foreman of the 7B Construction crew, opened it up with a crowbar at the other end. A few minutes later Beaman was looking at an old heating furnace by “Round Oak” and a few chunks of coal around the antique heating unit. [Photo of furnace by Jeremy Beaman; Photo of Beaman by Barb Walter]

While new life is being breathed into another downtown Hennessey structure, it’s also providing pieces of history.

An antiquated furnace was uncovered in a cellar Tuesday afternoon at the old Hennessey Clipper newspaper building at 117 S. Main St.

Jeremy Beaman and one of his 7B Construction team members were able to pry open a cellar door – after a metal ring designed to open it came off in Beaman’s hand.

The third or fourth step down into the cellar gave way, but Beaman, a 1995 Hennessey High School graduate and standout athlete, had no trouble keeping his balance.

Beaman said he hopes to somehow display the “Round Oak Furnace” at the front of the building.

When later asked Wednesday afternoon if there was a date on the furnace, he said, “I’ve got to go back down there with a bright flashlight.”

Chunks of Coal

Local preservationist Richard Simunek was at that building to take photos after the interior demolition that day and stayed for the cellar door opening.

There were a few pieces of coal around the old furnace and Simunek said he’d never seen any that large.

Beaman, 48, agreed and said he hopes to somehow use the furnace at the front of that building.

Simunek bragged on Beaman’s work. He said Beaman did restoration work for him on his Champlin apartments (224 S. Main) and “the old Hennessey Hospital” (222 S. Main).

Beaman said about the only restoration work he’d done was on the Simunek properties.

“We do everything from additions to remodels and build new houses and barn houses,” he said.

Newspaper Clippings on the Walls

Beaman told The Times & Free Press he wants to include some of the old pages from The Clipper on the north wall and said they’d use some sort of a shellacking process on that.

The purchase included many yearly bound books containing newspapers as well as several copies of special editions that were found in other files.

Beaman said it was possible that a high school game photo of him that ran in The Clipper might make it on that wall “at about eye-level.”

(He didn’t say if it would be an action photo of him playing basketball, football or baseball. But it could have been any of them as seen after searching his name on the Hennessey Public Library’s digital archives of him in The Clipper).