AED used explosives on Friday, August 14, 2009, to demolish a 200-foot smokestack on land in South Troy that was once part of an ironworks plant where deck plates for the USS Monitor were made during the Civil War.

From the perspective of the Menands Bridge, it appeared that a cell phone tower was left in the chimney's place as the stack toppled toward the Hudson River. A series of explosions set by Eric J. Kelly could be heard and seen in the seconds before the tower tumbled shortly before 10 a.m.

Now commonly called the King Fuels site, the land the stack stood on is being cleaned up by the city. Crews from Environmental Remediation Services, Inc. (ERSI) led by Project Manager Joey Loudis began tearing down dilapidated buildings on the property earlier this year.

But before it was known for its fuel tanks, the spot was where the American steel industry got its start with the Besser Steel plant built in 1865 off Water Street. It wasn't steel that polluted the 15-acre tract just 200 yards north of the Menands Bridge. It was the making of gas from coke in the early 20th century by the Niagara Hudson Power Corp, a predecessor of National Grid.