SHAMOKIN DAM, Pa. -- Part of a former power plant in Snyder County came tumbling down Friday morning.
Two of the old coal stacks at the Sunbury generation plant were brought down and a crowd of people came to watch.
Over 400 pounds of explosives brought down part of the old Sunbury generation plant in Shamokin Dam just before 9 a.m. More than two miles of wire was used to demolish the stacks.
The coal power plant was built back in 1949 and closed in 2014. There' is now a natural gas power plant next door.
Dozens of people were on hand to say goodbye to a piece of Snyder County history.
"It's pretty cool," Kyle Bailey said. "It's not every day you see something like that come down, feel the explosion in your feet when it's going down, too. It was pretty cool."
"It was amazing," said Brach Rosancrans of Selinsgrove. "It was a rush when you saw it come down and heard the explosion. It was kind of like a bass at a concert almost. It's pretty neat though, it is a piece of county history, state history also, and world history, and to see it come down in a matter of 10 seconds was kind of mind-blowing."
The demolition was bittersweet for some of the people who used to work there.
"Things roll back a little bit, you think of all the time and effort you put into the place and it's pretty interesting," former plant employee Dan Namat said. "Hate to see it go because it's a landmark for the area."
"This is where I started with the company in 1978, I still work, I took off vacation today to come and see it. I mean I couldn't pass it up. I just had to come down and see it," said former plant employee Bob Haile.
The stacks were demolished to make room for the natural gas plant right next door.
"To me, it's not a huge deal," Bailey said. "Now that they have the new plant there, it's more efficient and I guess better for the town, so I guess it's OK."
The other two coal stacks are scheduled to be demolished once the debris is cleaned up and officials expect that to take place in the spring.