Smokestacks coming down at old S. Ind. ammo plant

CHARLESTOWN, Ind. — Crews are taking down a row of 150-foot-tall smokestacks that were part of a power plant at a closed military munitions facility in southern Indiana.

Workers on Thursday toppled one of what had been six smokestacks at the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant near Charlestown. Crews used a jackhammer to punch holes in the bottom of the concrete and steel structure so it would collapse.

Demolition of the power plant built during World War II is part of work to clear the 6,000-acre site for an industrial park.

The News and Tribune reports that Charlestown Mayor Bob Hall called the smokestack demolition symbolic of the community closing a chapter of its history.

The military closed the plant across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky., in 1992.