It was a sad day in Tarkio Monday, May 22, 2017, as a Red Rock demo crew began tearing down the Walnut Inn at 3rd and Main streets. The building had sat empty and in a terrible state of decay for many years. Fortunately, most of Edna O’Dell’s painted murals inside the building were able to be saved, though not all, as well as the wood work inside and the marble column in the front of the building. The Walnut Inn was built as a store around 1884 and converted to a hotel in 1911. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The Walnut Inn had thousands pass through it, whether they were staying in the hotel, living in an apartment in the building, eating at the bars or restaurants held inside, attending a play in the building after the Mule Barn Theatre burned, or attending family reunions, graduation parties, and other functions. For over 100 years, the building was the heart and soul of the town. Even as residents had to watch its neglect and tried and failed to save it, it was still a part of us. Now, like many of Tarkio’s historic buildings, it is no more. If you have pictures of the Walnut Inn, inside or out, please email them to avalanche@rpt.coop and a photo collage will be published in the Atchison County Mail at a later date. Please include information of the picture content and/or date taken if you have that.