Beginnings

I would like to take a few posts to reflect back on 2009. In this post we will consider the new things of 2009, the beginnings. There were a lot of them.

There were three new restaurants, plus one that moved.  Papa Bills Pizza opened north of town, Aydas opened on College Ave (see here, here, and here), and Slice of Pie Pizza would have opened December 28 if not for a death in the family. (Their new opening date is Jan 4, 2010.)   (See here, here, here,  and here.) And the Doghouse moved.

There were several new businesses that opened downtown. Bags, Bangles and Baskets opened across from the Court House. (See here, here, and here.) Other new downtown businesses included Willow Switch, Tub Time, The Cutting Room, and Sue's Special Occasions. And we should not forget Elk Investments (here and here).

North of downtown Big Dog Rental and Sales (here and here), the Bargain Barn (here and here) and Randall Dermatology opened on North McKinley. I am not sure if the Rensselaer Septic Tank business was new this year or not. There is also a machine shop where the lumber yard on Vine and Cullen used to be, and that may also have been new. And we found a trucking business in a bit of the old Schumacher building.

South on College, a new financial institution, First Trust Credit Union opened in the bowling alley building. The picture below was taken before they opened, when they had the office furniture delivered.

If you have read much of this blog, you know that I like to write about and take pictures of construction. We watched the new hospital building go up (here, here, here, here, and here), the new pump house and water main (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), the new Kirby Risk building (here, here, and here). and the Alternative School (here, here, here, here, here, and here).

There were only a few new housing starts in Rensselaer this past year, as housing has been depressed nationally. The one that got the most attention was the Building Trades House. Shown below is the duplex on Rachel.

What beginnings or openings did I forget or miss entirely?