It’s not every day that a former industrial site is imploded in a scheduled, public event.
Estimates were that more than 500 people watched demolition crews blow up the former Jefferson Smurfit Paper Plant’s smoke stack and water tower this morning.
It was quite a show. But some people were angry because only the smoke stack and water tower were blown up, not the entire building.
Here is an excerpt from an e-mail that came shortly after the event from retired Evening News copy editor Henry Passenger:
“Those same hundreds were upset (some almost angry) when it turned out that the implosion was limited to the water tower (behind the trees and shrubs) and smokestack (behind the building).”
Henry and others pointed out that the story in The Evening News Wednesday said the Smurfit building would be imploded.
Sorry, our mistake. It was never the intention to suggest that the entire building would be part of the explosion – just the more dramatic parts, the tower and stack.
The rest of the building will be destroyed in more traditional fashion, with bulldozers and other heavy equipment.
Still, the giant smoke stack made a dramatic, if short-lived, fall from the sky. You can see the video of the crash, followed by interviews with some people who watched and others who worked at the plant, by clicking here.