Gettysburg tower imploded

By Melia Bowie

July 5, 2000 Web posted at: 11:08 AM EDT (1508 GMT)

GETTYSBURG, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia Inquirer) -- Amid the crack of cannon fire from battle re-enactors and the cheers of thousands of onlookers, the controversial Gettysburg National Tower crashed to the ground in a massive implosion yesterday.

The tower crashes to the ground

The top of the hourglass-shaped structure - which stretched upward nearly 400 feet to the tip of the flagpole - seemed to hover unsupported for a split second before crumbling downward. In less than five seconds, the steel beams of the two-million-pound tower had dropped like toothpicks.

For some, the privately owned tower, which opened in 1974, was a classroom in the sky that offered information about the famed Civil War battle of July 1863 and expansive views of the 6,000-acre battlefield.

To preservationists and government officials, the steel-and-concrete structure, with two indoor and two outdoor observation decks, was an atrocity that marred the historic landscape.

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"This is sacred ground," Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said yesterday. "Americans come here to learn of their past . . . their heritage. It is our obligation . . . to honor this sacred landscape by preserving it."

Babbit vowed in April 1999 to bring down the tower before he left office - a sentiment applauded by preservationists.

"We have never wavered in our stance that we would do whatever it took to support tearing the tower down," said Barbara Finfrock, president of the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg. "It is an absolutely joyous day for preservationists."

But for cousins Chris and Larry Hardman and Carlton Harbaugh, who opposed the demolition, the event was simply a chance for one last look at a structure they watched go up nearly 30 years ago.

"When I was 4 years old, I got to see that tower being put up, and it's been my life," said Chris Hardman, 32, a lifelong Gettysburg resident. "This was a big tragedy today."

The controversy over the tower, which began as soon as it was proposed in 1972, ended in May, when U.S. District Judge Sylvia Rambo ordered the tower's operator, Overview L.P., to move out by June 15. The government had taken the property by eminent domain.

The demolition, a job valued at $1 million, was done for free with 10 pounds of explosives by Controlled Demolition Inc. of Phoenix, Md., in exchange for the right to videotape the implosion for promotional purposes.

The government placed $3 million in an escrow account toward the purchase price of the 6.45-acre property. The court will decide how much is to be paid to Overview, a Baltimore-based group headed by Thomas Ottenstein and Hans Enggren of nearby New Oxford, who owned the land. Overview was operating with a 99-year lease.

It is unlikely that the $3 million will soothe either party. In 1996, an appraiser hired by the Park Service put the value of the property at $6.6 million; that was cut to $3.3 million in a 1999 government appraisal.

"In my opinion, nobody's going to be satisfied with $3 million," Enggren said yesterday.

Enggren said he had lost a rental property that provided nearly a five-figure monthly income.

"I don't think they're going to pay [Overview] for lost revenue, and they're not going to pay for my rent, so we're both losing," Enggren said.

Enggren was not one of those who stood in the drizzle yeterday to watch the implosion.

"It's too emotional," he said. "I went over there and said my goodbyes all by myself about a week ago."

Officials at Gettysburg National Military Park said they planned to restore the site to its 1863 appearance. The tower's removal coincides with a major park-wide effort to restore the battlefield, where the Union army of Gen. George G. Meade repelled the Confederate army under Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The project is expected to continue for next 15 to 20 years and includes removing non-historic trees, replacing missing fences and orchards, and managing woodlands and thickets.

A crew from Reading will clear the debris from the tower, a job expected to take 30 days.

The tower's five miles of galvanized steel will be recycled, park officials said.

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