Patient residents gather to watch dismantling of smokestack in Glen Rock.
Slowly and steadily, the bricks of the iconic smokestack at the Foust Distillery property in Glen Rock started coming down. But plans to dismantle the lightning-damaged smokestack on Tuesday did not go as planned.
“It is really solid and we want to get the unstable part down,” said Phil Robinson.
Robinson, who co-owns the property on Distillery Road with Baron Matthews under the Roma Partnership, called the project “a challenge.”
Safety precautions led them to forego using dynamite or a wrecking ball to demolish the structure.
The smokestack needed to be removed after being struck twice by lightning during a thunderstorm two weeks ago. The smokestack was originally equipped with lightning rods, but it was only discovered after that storm that those had been removed, said Phil’s son, Matt Robinson. He suspects they were stolen.
Read more or view a video of the problematic demolition here.
