It was as symbolic to Janesville, Wis., as the Gateway Arch is to St. Louis and the Empire State Building is to New York. But Janesville's smokestack had been there even longer, towering 200 feet above the General Motors plant for the last century.
GM closed the plant a decade ago, but the smokestack remained — until it disappeared in a matter of seconds last week.
Workers demolishing the plant for redevelopment unceremoniously pulled the narrow column of bricks to the ground. "The end for an icon" read the bold headline atop the front of the next day's Janesville Gazette.
The Gazette also chastised the site's owner, Commercial Development Co., of St. Louis, for failing to alert anyone who wanted to witness the once-in-a-lifetime event, saying the developer "didn't make friends by keeping residents out of the loop." The demolition occurred early on a Sunday morning, a time seemingly designed to minimize onlookers. Even the fire department was surprised.
Among the few witnesses were Andrew Sigwell, who owns a bar next to the plant, and Josh Marx. The two have been documenting the teardown daily for the last year via drone camera. They noticed signs that the smokestack's demise was imminent and filmed it toppling into a cloud of dust and snow.
The smokestack fell three days short of the plant's 100th anniversary, and its loss came as another blow to many longtime residents.
"Many nights that smokestack helped me find my way home," a woman wrote on the Facebook page "Janesville GM End of an Era."
"That smokestack ... was in the background everywhere I went, from when I was a kid until I was an adult," another commenter added. "It's a sad day."
