Feed tower has backbone
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, December 3, 2005
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Thousands of spectators gathered Saturday to watch the demolition of the city’s tallest building – but the Zip Feed Mill tower was stronger than it looked.
The 202-foot-tall concrete structure dropped slightly, leaned a little – and stopped.
The abandoned feed mill elevator in downtown Sioux Falls paled in comparison to structures such as Chicago’s 1,450-foot Sears Tower or even North Dakota’s 242-foot state Capitol in Bismarck, but it was considered the tallest building in South Dakota.
That was enough to draw people outside, with temperatures in the teens, to watch the demolition.
Crews had drilled holes into the tower’s supporting columns and stuffed them with explosives, intending to drop the tower into a heap of rubble.
However, the tower collapsed into the structure’s basement and wedged there, said Eric Schuler, project manager for the Henry Carlson Co., a general contractor. The structure was stable, and crews planned to return Monday to knock it down with a crane, Schuler said.
“It’s not an exact science,” Schuler said. “We’ll get it down safely.”
The site’s co-owners, Raven Industries Inc. and Howalt-McDowell Insurance Inc., turned the event into a fundraiser for the Dakota chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and sold $1 raffle tickets for the chance to trigger the blast.
The raffle tickets raised $25,000 for the charity. Corporate sponsorships, VIP admissions and T-shirt sales raised the total past $140,000.
The tower was opened in 1956 as one of the most modern feed elevators of its time, but ceased operations in 2000. It sits on a bare lot in an industrial section just east of downtown along the Big Sioux River in this city of 134,000.
The Zip tower will be replaced by a $15 million office and retail center, and possibly a new events center. Construction is expected to begin in the spring.
Associated Press
Dust and smoke billow from the Zip Feed Mill tower Saturday in Sioux Falls, S.D., after a demolition effort failed.
