Familiar elevator tower in Millcreek Township toppled at Haysite Reinforced Plastics plant
A piece of Erie manufacturing history came down on Saturday as the tower was torn down at the Haysite Reinforced Plastics, LLC manufacturing site, 5599 Perry Highway in Millcreek Township.
At about 11:45 a.m., excavating equipment with steel cables attached to them and to the tower pulled down the 150-foot-tall structure after some of the tower's internal steel was cut. As it fell, about 50 spectators watched from a safe distance.
The elevator testing tower was first used by Turnbull Elevator Inc., which acquired the site in 1965 for $2 million with the help of the Greater Erie Industrial Development Corp. and built the 100,000-square-foot plant.
The 15-story tower was built in the summer of 1966 and opened in early 1967. In an article early that year in the Erie Daily Times, plant manager Barry Hercus said the tower was the tallest elevator test tower in North America at the time. But elevator work at the site didn't last long. Dover Elevator Co. acquired Turnbull in June 1966 and closed the facility in late 1968.
Zurn Industries then acquired the site, which they planned to use as its corporate operations center and testing site for its Haysite reinforced fiberglass plastics division. Haysite Reinforced Plastics, LLC now occupies the site.
Further information was unavailable from the company about the reason why the tower was brought down Saturday.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Haysite elevator tower demolished at Millcreek industrial site
