Demolition begins on Gettysburg’s Cyclorama building

GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK -- Steve Redding was upset Tuesday as a battering ram smashed into the concrete base of the Cyclorama building, which until five years ago housed a huge circular painting depicting Confederate Gen. George Pickett's "charge" against Union troops July 3, 1863.

"I'm not happy about this demolition at all. I was against it from the beginning," said Mr. Redding, 59, who lives a few miles west of here and visited the old Cyclorama building many times before it closed in 2008.

"I understand the Park Service says this is progress, but if they'd spent a few million on repairs to the old building, they wouldn't have had to spend $40 million on the new visitors center," where the painting is now housed.

Asbestos removal at the Cyclorama building -- a round structure that opened in 1962, in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the Gettysburg battle -- began in late February. Actual demolition began Saturday and will take another few weeks to complete.

On Tuesday, the structure appeared to be about 75 percent demolished, with bulldozers and heavy trucks hauling away large chunks of concrete.

The Park Service wants to restore the historic Civil War battlefield as closely as possible to the way it looked July 1-3, 1863, when thousands of Northern and Southern troops died or were wounded in what became the pivotal battle of the war. That meant the old, empty Cyclorama building had to come down.

It sits on North Cemetery Ridge, which was near the center of the Union army's battle line July 2-3, 1863. It's part of an area of high ground that formed a long, curving battle line called the "fishhook," where Federal troops set up their defenses and held off repeated Confederate attacks, finally forcing them to retreat back to Virginia that July 4.

The site looks down on what is known as the "high-water mark" of the battle, the closest the Southerners came to overrunning the Northern defenses.

Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had moved his troops into Pennsylvania in late June 1863, aiming for a knockout battle that he hoped would force President Abraham Lincoln to end the war and grant independence to the South.

Mr. Redding said, "I understand that federal officials want to restore the battlefield, but then why don't they get rid of the McDonald's fast-food place, and the Friendly's, and the Kentucky Fried Chicken," restaurants that are located nearby on Steinwehr Avenue, just 100 yards from the old Cyclorama?

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Demolition begins on Gettysburg's Cyclorama building