PENDLETON — Several area residents who drove past R & R Market and Garden Center on Tuesday, Feb. 13, could not believe what they were seeing.

A white two-story house, located at the State Street and State Road 67 location and dating to 1912, was being torn down.

Area residents took to social media to express their disappointment at seeing the longtime structure, belonging to the Ridenour family since the 1950s, being demolished.

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Many feared it signaled the end for the 42-year-old market, which the Ridenours own and operate at the same location as the house.

It does not.

For years Kathy and Ralph Ridenour have sold fruit, vegetables, hanging baskets, bedding plants, perennials, bulk seeds, trees, shrubs, top soil, mulch, Christmas trees, fishing bait and more on the site.

While the garden center will not cease operations, the Ridenours were pushed into making a tough business decision to knock down the old family home, they said.

They need the space on their half-acre piece of land to install temporary greenhouses in April to keep their business going.

The Ridenours were put in a bind for space after being notified by South Madison Community School Corp. that it no longer would lease school property next to the business where the Ridenours had their greenhouses.

Zoning issues and potential fines involving the Town of Pendleton factored into the situation, Ralph Ridenour said.

“It’s just been a mess,” he said. “I was shocked at the beginning of all this.”

The couple had leased a portion of Pendleton Heights High School property, which is adjacent to their business, for their greenhouses, an arrangement that has gone on for years with no issues, they said.

The union appeared to be a good one. The couple had even donated the use of flowers from its business to the high school to use on the stage for graduation ceremonies in years past.

“We’ve always tried our best to be good neighbors,” Kathy Ridenour said.

While the Ridenour’s tried to figure out a way to work with town and school officials to keep things as they were, including pursuing zoning variances, the Ridenours said town officials informed them the school corporation no longer wanted to lease them the space, making rezoning a moot point.

Rather than sell their coveted location and move the business, the couple decided to take down the 1912 home, which was no longer being lived in.

They plan to use the land to install seasonal greenhouses so the business can continue to operate at the site.

While the garden center will open in April, as it always has, the couple must spend $25,000 to $30,000 to get the old house knocked down and by law will be able to install only temporary greenhouses on the vacant spot.

That means they’ll have to set up and take down the greenhouses every year.

The whole process has been tiring and difficult to understand, the Ridenours said.

While Kathy Ridenour and her husband no longer lived in the old house, Ralph Ridenour was having a tough time seeing his family home knocked to the ground.

“My husband is a little upset right now,” she said Tuesday. “He was born here and grew up in this house.”