Mood mostly festive at Gettysburg Cyclorama demolition

The mood was festive as more than 50 people stood outside the old Cyclorama building on Saturday morning to watch a part of the major demolition of the circular building, taking photographs and recording videos of the gray building falling to the ground.

The crowd held cameras and cellphones to document the moment as workers destroyed about a third of the building. They said the demolition will continue Monday morning and is expected to take the entire month to complete.

Mary Luquette was one of the many snapping pictures with her cellphone, planning to send the pictures to her brother in Maryland. He would be jealous he missed the demolition, she said with a laugh.

For the Gettysburg resident, the building is a part of the town's history. But Luquette was also excited to see it fall.

"It's cool to watch a building being torn down - that's part of the thrill," Luquette said.

The building, which overlooks the ground where Pickett's Charge reached the Union line, was built in 1962, as part of the national Mission 66 initiative that opened visitor centers in parks across the country in recognition of the Park Service's 50th birthday. The building housed the painting depicting Pickett's Charge until 2008, when the painting was moved to the new visitor center and the Cyclorama's doors were closed.

But the Park Service has planned to demolish the building since 1999. Legal issues set the demolition planning back over the last several years, but now the Park Service hopes to have the demolition completed by the 150th anniversary celebration.

The Saturday morning demolition of the Cyclorama was a day Barbara Finfrock sometimes thought would never come. The Gettysburg resident, along with her friend Jerry Coates, has been fighting to tear down the Cyclorama for almost 20 years.

Without the building, the battlefield will go back to the way it should be - the way it looked when the soldiers fought and died, Coates, of Littlestown, said.

"It's an exciting and historic day," Coates said.

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Mood mostly festive at Gettysburg Cyclorama demolition