The skyline in Marysville, Michigan underwent a dramatic change yesterday as the 93-year-old DTE Energy power plant, known as “Mighty Marysville”, was imploded to make way for new developments.
Detroit News reports that the smokestacks from the power plant were visible from both sides of the St. Clair River, which separates Michigan from Ontario.
Now, after a series of thunderous crackles and a subsequent giant dust plume, nothing remains of the site other than a mound of rubble.
Spectators on both sides of the St. Clair River came to observe the implosion of the unused plant, which is located approximately 55 miles northeast of Detroit.
A resident of Marysville, Becky Brougham, said to the Times-Herald that the building has been there for such a long time that all the residents are used to seeing it. “Hopefully, the city will do something nice with it”, she said.
The building’s been here so long. Everybody is used to seeing it. Hopefully, the city will do something nice with it.
Observers cheered when the building crashed to the ground, but observer Mike McKenna said it didn’t seem as if everyone was happy to see it go. “It was strange,” he said, “because a lot of people were clapping, and other people looked like they were kind of sad”.
The destruction of the Michigan power plant comes fourteen years after its closure by DTE. The plant employed 250 people before it was shut down in 2001.
A former employee of the Mighty Marysville, Eric Larsen, told the Times-Herald that he wouldn’t feel sad to watch the plant come down. “It seems like the right thing to do, to take that down,” he explained. “It will be nice, use that space for something new.”
City officials revealed in October that they plan on using the newly freed up space to build new establishments, such as condominiums and dining establishments. The city plans on allocating space for a park, a gym, a marina, as well as some biking paths.
