At about 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 20, 1988, a preservationist checked in on the Bethje-Lang Building on Milam across from Market Square.

For weeks, the community had been in a back-and-forth with the building's owner over its fate. Ideas were floated to repurpose and save the Reconstruction-era building, thought to be among the oldest in the city.

On that night, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. By the next morning, though, all that remained was a pile of debris and feelings of dismay.

Without notice and permits, crews took down the building in the dark of the night, dashing efforts to save it.

Author Barrie Scardino Bradley, then-board president of the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, said it was "cowardly" for them to do it that way.

"There was nothing to do except just be sad," she said.

A spokesman for the property owners, Guardian Savings, told the Houston Chronicle then that demolition "turned out to be the only economic alternative for the block."

Guardian "is responsible to our depositors," the spokesman said. "Our depositors come first."

The Bethje-Lang Building was originally a grain feed and hardware store, according to "Last of the Past: Houston Architecture, 1847 to 1915." By the 1960s, it housed a restaurant before becoming the original home to Warren's Inn. Today, Market Square Tower occupies the site.

The building was the only historic structure on the west side of Market Square. The work to save it was part of a broader effort to preserve an area that had been the longtime home of city government and still retained its share of pre-World War II buildings.

"There were just so many threats against that neighborhood," said preservationist Minnette Boesel. "But people were willing to really rally and do the best they could to save the neighborhood."

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That January, a weekend vigil was held outside the building to call attention to its possible demolition. The subsequent interest in the property led Guardian Savings to ask a real estate firm to look into selling or leasing the building.

At the time of the demolition though, the late artist-activist Dean Chachere said Guardian wanted $4.5 million for that part of the block or $8,000 a month to rent it, which he called "unrealistic."

Chachere saw the building becoming a "sophisticated night spot - very elaborate, catering to a more eclectic mix of Houstonians that is emerging."

Boesel recalled how demolition crews started at the top of the Bethje-Lang Building rather than at the corner, which would have been repairable if work had stopped in time.

"When you bash across the whole top of the building, it's as good as finished," she said.

The loss of Bethje-Lang Building, the Chronicle noted, recalled the 1983 demolition of the Dumble, B.A. Shepherd and South Texas Commercial National Bank buildings in the 200 block of Main. Despite attempts at preserving them, those buildings also were destroyed without notice.

Though it was an emotional setback at the time, the mood was short lived among some preservationists.

"It certainly spurred people on to work that much harder to protect their heritage," Boesel said.

It wasn't until the mid-1990s when the city enacted a historic preservation ordinance designed to put the brakes on such demolitions. These days, parts of this area of downtown are within the Main Street Market Square Historic District, making a repeat of what happened in the 1980s difficult.

"I think we've totally turned the corner," Bradley said, reflecting how far the preservation movement has come in the last few decades.

J.R. Gonzales, a third-generation Houstonian, covers local history with an eye toward the people and events that have mostly been forgotten to time. Follow him through Bayou City History on Facebook and Twitter. He can be reached at 713-362-6163 or john.gonzales@chron.com.