On March 12, 1984, a fire emerged on Court Street, destroying six Uptown businesses, including the Moore-Russell Building and part of the Telecommunications Center — now the Radio & Television Building. In an issue of The Post from March 27, 1984, we reported that the fire began at Paulinda’s Small World children’s store and spread quickly because many of the buildings in its path were old and some of them also weren’t meeting code specifications. Then-Mayor Ed Beckett’s plan was to “see it renovated, rebuilt and then contact businesses to bring them back into the city,” according to the article. Thirty years later, the former two steps will likely be taken in regard to the West Union Street businesses and apartments affected by the fire on Sunday.
Six street-level stores and second-story apartments were destroyed on South Court Street in Athens in 1984.
