Lorraine Worsley can still hear the creaking of the floor in the old Worsley’s building at 161 N. Main St.

She also can see the tin ceilings and the 2-by-2 framed paint colors plastered on the walls. Lorraine Worsley remembers the store well, and she and her family will say goodbye to the building that housed it from 1963 to 2014 when external demolition begins at 7 a.m. Saturday.

Although Worsley’s moved to its best-known location in the 1960s, the store’s origins go back to 1927, when married couple Albert Worsley Sr. and Anna Worsley opened it in the same building that housed A. Troutman’s Sons on Main Street.

Albert Sr. moved from England to the United States as a child. Anna had experience working at a Kaufmann’s in Pittsburgh.

“Wallpaper was very big in Europe and not as much here,” said Jean Worsley, Albert Sr.’s granddaughter. “He saw an opportunity. They came to Butler one day, they came across the bridge, and he said, ‘This looks like a great place for us to live.’”

Initially, Worsley’s exclusively sold wallpaper. Jean recalls that her grandfather was one of the pioneers in the region in having wallpaper in stock to sell.

Albert Sr. bought wallpapers by the railroad car during the Great Depression.

“He made all of his money during the depression because people were not working and they had time, so for a buck you could paper your room,” Jean said.

Cheryl Worsley, Jean’s cousin and Albert Sr.’s granddaughter, recalls him telling her that he employed many people at an inexpensive cost during the Depression.

“He said it was just a line of people carrying wallpaper,” Cheryl said.

The Worsley’s carried on tradition by keeping wallpaper in stock through the duration of the business, but they added other services along the way. Knick knacks, furniture and paint became staples of the business.

Worsley’s moved to Cunningham Street in the early 1950s, and began renting the North Main Street location in 1963. It was then that Albert Sr.’s son, Albert Jr. took over the business.

In the early 1970s, he bought the property outright.

Albert Jr. had a knack for capitalizing on trends, whether the hot item was a waterbed or lawn furniture.

“(He had) the ability to change with the times and move ahead, even though it was in this old building that you couldn’t do much with,” said Albert Worsley III, nephew of Albert Jr.

Running the store was a family affair. Cheryl, her sister, Keri, Jean and Al III all worked at the store, while Lorraine, Albert Jr.’s wife, kept the books.

Jean fondly recalled Albert Jr.’s dry sense of humor. He often called the building “The Titanic.”

“Al motivated us by telling us we didn’t work hard enough,” she said with a smile. “And he always said if the ship goes down, it’s going to be our fault.”

One year on his birthday, his family baked him a cake shaped like an iceberg, and put a model of the infamously doomed Titanic in the cake. They wore life jackets and bounded down the stairs of the building, exclaiming, “We’re sinking, we’re sinking!”

While the family members and employees enjoyed themselves, they were very much a business-first bunch.

“We knew how to install,” Jean said. “We could stand there on the spot and go from service preparation up to finished product with every customer if we had to. We all knew exactly what every product that we had did, how it would operate, what it’s limitations were. We were well-schooled.”

Worsley’s adaptability and premier service helped the store become immensely popular. Satellite stores in Butler, Mars, Cranberry Township, Warren and Beaver Falls sprang up throughout the years.

“All the doors would come open,” Jean said. “It was constant.”

Moe Geibel delivered Worsley’s products to customers around town who would walk to the store and place orders.

One recurring customer was Bobbi McFeaters, who works at Natili North across the street. McFeaters remembered buying her daughter a tea set from Worsley’s, and also frequenting the store as a child to look at the dolls and dollhouses.

“The dolls were a big draw,” Lorraine said. “They were so popular.”

Katie Larkin, who also works at Natili North, remembered receiving warm hospitality from Worsley’s.

“The people were very friendly,” she said.

While the Worsleys remembered the 1990s as their most profitable time, they also said it was the beginning of the end for the business.

As online stores and 1-800 numbers became more popular, mom-and-pop establishments like Worsley’s struggled to survive.

“The 800 numbers were the beginning of the fall of wallpaper,” Jean said. “That happened in the early ‘90s. People could start taking wallpaper books home, using our services and getting the numbers off the back of the pages and calling an 800 number and getting it cheaper. They weren’t getting it cheaper, but they thought they were.”

Albert III said store hours also were a factor.

“You can’t really be open the hours that Big Box is,” he said. “That was the demise.”

More troubles came in 1997 when an accidental warehouse fire on 400 S. Main St. started during construction of American Legion Post 117 next door.

“They were cutting pipes coming through, and it made sparks in the wall and ignited,” Al III said.

The warehouse was moved to 152 N. Main St.

When the Great Recession hit in 2008, Worsley’s could not recover.

“When you start putting your own money back and now you’re buying yourself a job, that’s when you look at something and say, ‘This isn’t working for me,’” Jean said.

The business was carried through four generations of Worsleys over 87 years. However, on Oct. 30, 2014, the store closed its doors for good.

“It was sad,” Cheryl said.

Family members moved on to other jobs or retired. Keri is a home health care aid, while Jean is a retired, full-time caregiver. Al III is a commander at American Legion Post 778 in Lyndora.

The building continued to house upstairs apartments that had been a mainstay for decades, as well as Mystique Moon Antiques & Artisans.

On March 8 of this year, a fire started in one of the upstairs apartments.

The Worsley’s were concerned about the building, but more concerned about the people in it.

“That’s what I was worried about, someone getting hurt,” Keri said.

Teams of firefighters battled the blaze for hours and eventually put it out, but not before the building sustained enough damage to be deemed condemned.

The apartments and Mystique Moon’s shop were destroyed. No official cause of the fire was determined. The Worsley’s initially hoped to repair the building, but that would prove too costly.

The family will attempt to sell the land after the external demolition has been completed.

Internal demolition has already been done, and soon, the building will be a memory.

Yet, it is a memory entrenched in the hearts and minds of Butler natives.

“I think it’s a landmark,” McFeaters said. “Everybody knows where Worsley’s is. People ask where (Natili North) is located, and I tell them, ‘Across from Worsley’s.’”

Jean remembered her experience at Worsley’s warmly.

“It was more of a tight-knit community then,” she said. “All the merchants knew each other and socialized, and the customers (socialized).”

Even after the store is gone, a part of the Worsley’s will remain on 161 N. Main St. Some of Albert Jr.’s ashes are in an urn which is in a safe spot in the basement under the sidewalk in front of thebuilding. It will remain untouched during the demolition.

The Worsleys said it was the way Albert Jr. would have wanted it.

Jean spoke of Albert Jr.’s ashes remaining there, stating proudly, “Al Worsley will always be on that corner.”