The Lyon County Historical Society and one of its board members, Steve Hanschu, are suing to stop the destruction of Kenyon Hall.
The city commission was notified of the injunction late this morning. The case will be heard at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Courtroom 4 of the Lyon County Courthouse.
The 78-year-old building is owned by contractor Mitchell-Markowitz, which received permission to demolish the building at a Sept. 6 city commission meeting. Both Mitchell-Markowitz and the city are named as defendants in the suit.
The lawsuit charges that the demolition would harm nearby Anderson Library, a property that is on the National Register of Historic Places. It also states that other alternatives to demolition exist and that the city’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious and not supported by the evidence.”
Both buildings were part of the now-defunct College of Emporia. Kenyon Hall was completed in 1928 as a replacement for the college’s former main building, which had burned to the ground.
An application to put Kenyon Hall itself on the National Register was pursued but had not been completed when the building was sold in February to Mitchell-Markowitz.
City Attorney Blaise Plummer will represent the city in the suit. He said today that he believed the city followed the correct procedure in approving the permit.
City Commissioner Bobbie Agler noted that the deciding factor in the demolition permit was supposed to be the effect on Anderson Library, which received little if any discussion at the Sept. 6 meeting.
“It was 2 percent talking about Anderson Library and 98 percent talking about the condition of Kenyon Hall,” Agler said.