End of a Landmark
Crew dismantles water tower
It is visible from Route 100 and has faithfully marked the center of Eshbach since the late 1940s. But the water tower in the small town reached the end of its life on Friday, June 23, when the 106-foot tower was taken down.
Michael Croyle, owner of the property where the tower was located, said the tower reached the end of its life. “It was empty, old and out of use,” he said. C&D Batteries, the original owner of the property, constructed the 75,000-gallon tower for fire protection, probably in the late 1940s, he said.
Croyle, who now makes hydraulic control systems at the site, said the tower will be sold to a recycling dealer.
Allstate Towers from Henderson, Ky., have been given the job of taking down the tower.
Gary Harmon of Allstate Towers said it was a routine job. Allstate takes down structures like the Eshbach water tower across the country. The routine is to either collapse it and lay it on the ground when space permits or precut and then the pieces down with a crane. Because of the tight quarters, they opted to use the crane for safety purposes. The entire process from pre-cutting to taking down and cleanup normally takes about a week.
Harmon noted the Eshbach water tower stood 86 feet to the catwalk and 1006 feet to the top of the tank.
The day the tank came down, piece by piece, was rainy and cloudy. The crew worked expertly to finish cutting the tank into manageable pieces and in less than six hours.