Edina Bids Farewell to Eyesore

By Echo Menges

The building known to locals as the old Hatfield building has been demolished after many years of neglect and disrepair.

The building located at 205 East Lafayette was purchased at a tax sale on the courthouse steps by Jeff Kline of Memphis, MO, in August of 2020. It was previously owned by the late Asa Shaw who owned a number of derelict buildings throughout the City of Edina before his passing.

Originally, the building was built by William F. Sandknop in 1898 and operated as the Krueger & Sandknop Meat Market. The business remained a meat and grocery store until 1945, according to information given to The Edina Sentinel by the Knox County Historical Society.

After World War II it housed the offices of Dr. Newton Ray Hatfield, an Edina dentist, and several apartments.

Despite its rich history, this building was not listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, according to Edina City Clerk Margaret Gibson.

On Friday morning, March 5, 2021, Kline had the building demolished by Scott Bryant of Baring.

Highway 6/East Lafayette Street was closed during the demolition for just under one hour.

Kline and his crew worked for the rest of the day Friday and through the weekend cleaning up the pile of debris. As of our press time, Monday morning, they were still working to get the debris loaded onto trucks and hauled away.