PITTSBURG, Kan. — Pittsburg shoppers have a brand new department store to browse.

“Marshalls” is now officially open in the city, celebrated with Sunday’s grand opening.

City leaders even joined the crowds to show their support for the new retail option.

The building sat empty for several years, so they’re excited to see it brought back to life.

“We’re very pleased to have Marshalls here. As you can see the parking lots are full here. People were standing in line and it’s a great day for Pittsburg,” said Cheryl Brooks, Mayor.

Marshalls is located at 2905 North Broadway in Pittsburg, next to Home Depot.

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Some of the oldest buildings in a Southeast Kansas community have been given a new lease on life, thanks largely to the efforts of one man, and he’s up to it again, to the benefit of area families.

The phrase “they don’t make them like they used to” describes many of the old brick buildings in Pittsburg.

And Larry Fields has made it his mission to not only keep them upright but make sure they continue to serve their community.

He’s done so with two structures in the downtown area already and has set his sights and expertise on a third, the old Washington school, which will become a community daycare facility.

“And so many times they just get tore down, if you tear them down you’ll never replace anything like them, if you build the steel frames and set up the concrete panels and you build them quick and easy and they’re efficient, I understand that, but if we lose our history, we lose we lose the memories of a lot of these things,” said Larry Fields, Salvages Historic Building.

Fields is a member of both nonprofits getting ready to restore and then operate the future facility, but he did the other two repo projects himself.

The Frisco event center on Fourth Street is now an entertainment venue for celebrations and wedding receptions to name a few, and if you look closely, you’ll see the outline of an actual caboose that’s been built into the facility.

Just a few blocks away is the Pitt Craft building now known as the “Fun Zone Depot”, complete with a rock wall, bounce houses, and kiddy rides.

Both were constructed by the same railroad company.

An industry he’s retired from but has never really left.

“And I was in the rail industry about over 40 years and I’ve been honestly hundreds and hundreds and probably a thousand old depots, and old warehouses, they have a uniqueness of their own, a beauty of their own and they’ll last, this building down here is a 140 years old and it will last another100 years,” said Fields.

PITTSBURG, Kan. — There haven’t been children in this old school building in downtown Pittsburg in years.

But that will eventually change thanks to the efforts of two not-for-profit groups working together to solve one of the community’s biggest needs, daycare.

“Point Forward” which will renovate the structure and “Harmony Childcare Incorporated” which will run it.

“Found this old building, it’s on the National Historical Society, so through private donations, we’re gonna renovate it and then lease it at a favorable rate to a childcare provider and that will be Harmony,” said Ron Scripsick, Chairman, Point Forward.

“Childcare in general in our community is so necessary, we developed Harmony Childcare Inc. as a non-profit organization just to supply 200 additional childcare slots and then 80 additional preschool slots in our community,” said Dr. Jacqueline Youtsos, Chair, of Harmony Childcare Inc.

To call the former Washington School Building built in 1937 a “fixer-upper” is an understatement.

But project officials say the $5,000,000 price tag is a bargain compared to the expense of constructing a new building these days.

“We’ve done several buildings in recent years, we had a committee meeting here a few weeks ago and we’re just amazed that we’re running out of old dilapidated buildings to renovate here in downtown Pittsburg,” said Scripsick.

“That is my biggest problem you know, and I have young kids. If we don’t have childcare if our kids are sick, or if they have a day off school, my husband and I have to draw straws and see who can be there at home, it’s very difficult, and we also need to go to work, and people need an income,” said Youtsos.

An exact timeline is not yet known, but the project could be ready for occupancy by late next year.

PITTSBURG, Kan. — A PSU professor has been recognized as being a top mind, but this educator’s influence goes further than just the classroom.

“Without the students we are nothing. So it feels amazing and the support from the university and support from the students we get that is the key to this achievement,” said Dr. Ram Gupta, Associate Professor, at Pittsburg State University.

That’s what Pitt State Associate Professor Dr. Ram Gupta says about being named as one of the top two percent of scientists in the world according to a list from Stanford University. Something his students say inspires them.

“Just seeing somebody like that, who was able to have the presence of the inspirations and kind of know what’s going on that really inspired me to kind of double down on my track and maybe even pursue higher education,” said Allen Davis, PSU Graduate Student.

“I would describe him in a few words as hardworking, very dedicated, and caring for his students and his fellow co-workers,” said Teddy Mageto, PSU Graduate Student.

Dr. Gupta says his goal is to make sure his students are prepared for life after college.

The most important part of our University program is that we provide not only education but we get hands-on experience. So that’s the reason most of our students in their last semester get a job offer,” said Gupta.

And that type of success is helping the Pitt State Science Department grow.

“Well university program is growing we started a new program in polymer chemistry that in the first year, like a few students, now we have many graduate students in this program,” said Gupta.

“We got with the US Economic Development Administration we got another $1,600,000 with a $400,000 max from the university so we got another $2,000,000 to put all new equipment. If you get a chance to go around and take a look at the laboratories’ all-new state-of-the-art testing equipment in here,” said Tim Dawsey, Director of the National Institute for Material Advancement.