PLAINS TOWNSHIP -- Crews tore down the main part of a landmark in the Wyoming Valley: the old water tower at the VA Medical Center near Wilkes-Barre.
Piece by piece, it came down on Wednesday and many people say they'll miss seeing it on their drive into the Wyoming Valley.
For decades, drivers used the old VA water tower that sits near the Cross Valley Expressway and Interstate 81 near Wilkes-Barre almost like a GPS.
Now, it's no more. Crews tore down the 1950s structure and replaced it with a bigger water tower designed to meet the needs of the expanding Veterans Affairs medical center.
“The amount of water we need to store changed, or grew, so we needed a larger tank to meet that need,” said Christopher English, a VA Medical Center engineer.
The new water tower can hold a four-day supply of water if there's ever a big water main break or natural disaster, but many will miss that iconic structure they've been so used to seeing for so many years.
“I think everybody's going to miss it. It's an icon,” said Linda Dombrosky.
“So many things you get used to seeing after you get a little older, and you do miss them when they're gone, because you get accustomed to them being there,” said Joanne Foster of Honesdale.
Crews realized that, so they modeled the new tank after the old one.
“We wanted to make sure the logo and everything could be visible from the highway sort of as a, as I said, a landmark,” said Bob Calarco, a VA Medical Center engineer.
Officials from the VA say all that scrap metal from the old tower will be recycled.