Landmark lost

August 21, 1987 — The sound of a horn split the air. Seconds later 10 tons of explosives made a pile of rubble out of a long-time Luray landmark. After 105 years of towering 90 feet above the town, the oldest smokestack at the Virginia Oak Tannery met its end in a cloud of dust Friday afternoon. The demolition was effected with eight pounds of nitroglycerin and took only 11 seconds.

~ From the public archives of the Page News and Courier

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