PROCTORVILLE — Deborah Burgy was sitting outside on her porch Wednesday afternoon when she got to see a piece of her neighborhood’s history come down in a scene she described as “awesome.”

The old green and rusty Proctorville water tower’s top — the most prominent part of the structure — crashed into the ground Wednesday afternoon.

People in the neighborhood flocked to their porches and people in the community gathered at the corner of Walnut and Front streets to see the spectacle.

Burgy said she had been outside enjoying the sunny, warm weather and watching the workers atop the tower, but she didn’t know what she would see.

“I saw them working on it and they were burning (using a torch) to take the top off,” Burgy said. “And then ‘Kaboom.’ It was just awesome. I never seen anything like it.”

Burgy, who has lived on Front Street for about three years, said everything happened so fast that she did not even have time to get her camera.

She said it is nice to have the 1930s-era tower finally torn down. It has been out of operation for more than three years, when its 120,000-gallon capacity replacement was erected next to it.

Fred Cooper, who lives about 10 feet from the water tower, said tearing the top of the tower down seemed pretty simple for the crews, kind of like cutting down a tree. There was a pretty loud thud, he said, and lots of rust flying in the area, but other than that, it looked simple.

“I think everybody knew it had to come down,” said Cooper, 73, a village councilman and is a former employee of the Proctorville Water Company. “It was dangerous it just standing there.”

A $21,300 Community Development Block Grant enabled to the tower to be taken down. Cooper said he and other village officials are thankful for that money because he said

it would be impossible for the village to take it down with their own funds.

Although some people in the community have complained about the looks of the tower and its uselessness, most people on Front Street said they are not really affected by the dismantling of the tower.

“I really didn’t care one way or another,” said Cheryl Delaney, who also lives on Front Street. “I went out to watch them working, but it doesn’t really affect me.”

The rest of the tower will be taken down piece by piece. The work should be completed this weekend.