NEWS

Raffle offers chance to blow up Hamilton smokestack

Phillip Bock
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

TWO RIVERS – If you’ve ever dreamed of pushing the button to blow up a building, a group of L.B. Clarke Middle School students might be your best bet.

Students from the school’s National Junior Honor Society are holding a raffle in which the winner will be given the opportunity to push the button to bring down the Hamilton smokestack. The 230-foot-tall brick structure that has stood downtown for more than 100 years is scheduled to be toppled by a dynamite blast at 1 p.m., Sunday, May 31.

“We’re holding a raffle for the opportunity to essentially hit the button that blows up the Hamilton smokestack,” Emilee Rysticken, president of L.B. Clarke’s NJHS, said.

The winner of the raffle will be stationed near the 17th Street bridge in Two Rivers and will push the button that alerts the crews to activate the dynamite blast.

“It’s not for a monetary prize, not for something you can drive away in, but it is to be an integral part of a very historic event,” Two Rivers City Manager Greg Buckley said. “We’re looking at setting up a fairly prominent location on the east approach to the 17th Street bridge, still safely outside the 500-foot zone that people have to stay out of, with the stack immediately in the background.”

An elevated platform will be set up and the high school band is scheduled to play prior to the detonation.

“There will be an opportunity for someone to press on the plunger. Obviously they will not really be blowing up the building, but it will be timed to coincide with the detonation,” Buckley said.

Raffle tickets are $5 and will be available starting Thursday at school offices in Two Rivers and at several local businesses including Piggly Wiggly, Schroeder’s Department Store, Inman Jewelers, and Mobile 310 Mart. A total of 1,000 tickets will be available from Thursday, May 21 through Saturday, May 30.

“If I would buy a ticket, I know that I would have a 1 in 1,000 chance, which I know is a lot better than a lottery,” L.B. Clarke teacher Matthew Slattery said.

Proceeds from the raffle will go toward the NJHS program at L.B. Clarke and be donated to the city to create safe pedestrian crossings to Mariners Trail.

“We’re raising money to help out at crossing points and put up lights for safer crossing points instead of people just walking and biking and trying not to get hit by cars,” Rysticken said.

“We’ve all had similar experiences of feeling like we almost got hit, so we agreed on that (cause),” NJHS member Emma Burbey added.

Buckley said the city has worked with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to identify three locations along Memorial Drive suitable for pedestrian crossings: the Lake Street intersection near McDonald’s, Madison Street intersection near Lakeshore Park, and the Columbus Street intersection.

The Madison Street crossing would be the first to be upgraded, as it ties in with planned trail and park improvements, Buckley said. The crosswalks would utilize Rapid Random Flashing Beacons, solar-powered yellow strobe lights activated by pedestrians that alert motorists to the pedestrian crossing. The crossings are estimated to cost $15,000, with the Columbus intersection estimated at $20,000 to $25,000.

The National Junior Honor Society is an academic club that strengthens student’s leadership, scholarship, service, character and citizenship, according to its website. The group is teaming up with the City of Two Rivers for the raffle.

The smokestack is the last structure remaining on the former Hamilton Manufacturing property, which is owned by Fisher Scientific International, a limited liability company affiliated with Thermo Fisher Scientific. The site was cleared of 1.2 million square feet of factory and office buildings during the past year.

“It’s been in the community since the late 1800s and a lot of families have gone through it for employment,” Slattery said. “It is a really sad thing if you think about it. Taking the building down could be something that could rip the community apart, but the falling of the smokestack could be something that could unite the community.”

Dynamite is expected to be placed in bore holes near the base of the smokestack, then detonated, causing the smokestack to fall toward the East Twin River.

Occupants of buildings within 200 feet of the stack will be asked to evacuate their properties from noon to 1:20 p.m. that day and residents within a 500-foot radius will not be allowed outside or on the street during the detonation. The city will have designated outdoor public viewing areas on the east side of the East Twin River.

A back-up date of Monday, June 1, has been set if weather conditions are not favorable May 31.

Phillip Bock: (920) 686-2966, pbock@htrnews.com, or @bockling on Twitter

Where to get your tickets

Raffle tickets are $5 and will be available starting Thursday at school offices in Two Rivers and at several local businesses including Piggly Wiggly, Schroeder’s Department Store, Inman Jewelers and Mobile 310 Mart. A total of 1,000 tickets will be available from Thursday, May 21, through Saturday, May 30.

Proceeds from the raffle will go toward the National Junior Honor Society program at L.B. Clarke and be donated to the city to create safe pedestrian crossings to Mariners Trail.