Property owner didn’t leave quietly

It was a major project, but the building of City Hall came with no major controversy, those who were around in 1980 remember.

But building the small parking lot at the southeast corner of Sixth and Massachusetts streets certainly did, former City Manager Mike Wildgen said.

The site was home to a toy factory owned by Lawrence resident Bryan Anderson. The city felt it needed the lot for parking, but Anderson didn’t want to sell.

Eventually the property was condemned, but that wasn’t the end of the story. Anderson refused to leave, and he dressed up as Santa Claus and chained himself to the interior of the building.

Then-City Manager Buford Watson had Wildgen — who was an assistant city manager at the time — go with the sheriff to see the matter through.

“I thanked Buford real kindly for that,” Wildgen said. “I told him now, I could put on my résumé that I threw out Santa Claus.”

Anderson, though, did get a last laugh. He sued the city over the demolition of the building, and a jury awarded him $88,000 more than what the city originally paid him for the property.