Leveling a landmark

It took about 15 seconds Sunday to reduce the 21-story Martin Tower to a pile of rubble, as HRP Management, LLC, owners of the 53-acre site, make way for new development.

As puffs of smoke and flames signaled the start of controlled explosions set by demolition contractor Controlled Demolition, Inc., the former world headquarters of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation seemed to stiffen before the four crucible wings started crumbling as the structure dropped under its own weight.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of spectators, were drawn to the area surrounding the exclusion zone to view the implosion spectacle.

“It took us three years to build it and it only took 15 seconds to demolish it,” one man was overheard saying, an obvious reference to his involvement in the construction of Martin Tower between 1969 and its opening in 1972.

Mike Kramer and Amey Senape, founders of Save Our Steel which advocates the preservation of history and reuse of former Bethlehem Steel buildings in the post steel production era in Bethlehem, brought their daughter, Chiara, with them to witness the implosion. At their vantage point near the entrance to the City of Bethlehem compost center, they posed for photos with Martin Tower in the background before the demolition took place a moment or two after 7 a.m. Senape said her daughter kept questioning why the building had to come down.

As the building collapsed into itself a large cloud of dust rolled up and over the site and eventually found its way out and over the area. Southside resident Stephen Antalics Jr. watched it from his front porch vantage point higher up on Ridge Street and later described the particulate cloud as “spreading out to easily one to two miles.”

“You could see the cloud rising,” said Antalics, a scientist who expressed his concerns for its effect on both short and long term public health.

Later in the day area residents were seen walking the sidewalks outside the Martin Tower implosion area to view the huge pile of twisted steel I-beams and concrete chunks and to take final photographs of the day’s event.

In the end, a structure that had provided a landmark for residents and travelers in and around the Bethlehem area for 47 years was gone, now confined to history, and the Bethlehem community must look to the future development of the site over the next few years.