Gone

By Eddie West Staff Writer

The sun rose on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) iconic cooling tower located in the Dixon Springs area for the final time Thursday morning.

Around 6:30 a.m., the 540 foot tall tower began sinking directly downward as if it were being swallowed by the ground underneath the structure.

A second later a loud bast could be heard in the distance, followed by a dingy white, cloud of smoke rising upward as the structure disappeared from sight.

Within seconds, what had taken months to construct no longer existed.

Built in the 1970s, many viewed the cooling tower as a blemish to an otherwise picturesque countryside setting. 

For those too young to have experienced the tower’s   controversial origins, it was a nostalgic moment as the man made structure vanished beneath its tree-lined surroundings.

The event will be remembered for years to come for those who made the pilgrimage to watch the spectacle.

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