BETHLEHEM, Pa. – A year ago this time a pile of rubble could be easily seen along Bethlehem’s Eighth Avenue. It’s a change of scene now, as the site is cleared.
The implosion of Martin Tower is a sight many will never forget.
“Not every day you get to see a 21-story building fall like a stack of cards going down,” said a viewer last May.
The May 19, 2019 fall of history made way for a mountain of rubble.
Martin Tower site in Bethlehem on May 19, 2020, one year after the building was imploded
Chris Post | 69 News
“A beautiful iconic building, will not see something like that built again,” said another that day.
A year later the 16 tons of Martin Tower debris is dust as the 53-acre Eighth Avenue site is cleared.
Martin Tower site in Bethlehem on May 19, 2020, one year after the building was imploded.
Chris Post | 69 News
“Consider that part of the city and the long history associated with it is important to us, so to get it right is what we are striving to do,” said Alicia Miller Karner, Bethlehem’s head of Community and Economic Development.
Karner adds the developers plans of a trio of office buildings, retail, a restaurant, and hotel are still a go but the city isn’t taking anything for granted in this current climate.
“Particularly with a pandemic we have no idea how dramatically things may change on any project in the city,” Karner said.
“From a visual standpoint it impacted the skyline a lot,” said historian and photographer Glenn Koehler.
Koehler had a balcony seat to history, as he captured Martin Tower’s demise from a helicopter. But he is keeping the history alive.
As part of the National Museum of Industrial History he’s preserving, cataloging, and archiving thousands of the tower’s artifacts and blueprints.
“Has names on it, a humanistic element to it. Wasn’t just a company, it was people’s lives, a significant part of their lives,” Koehler said.
The developers HRP Management were able to work through the pandemic. They did not return our call for comment.
The city says it’s a year and half timeline to get the site ready for new construction.