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A storehouse of local history crumbled to the ground one wall at a time in North Plymouth Monday as demolition crews began tearing down a more than 100-year-old warehouse at Cordage Park.
Building 13, a 10-bay warehouse built in 1904 to store hemp for ropemaking, is being razed to make way for condominiums and parking.
The dilapidated and graffiti-covered building had served as a backdrop to the commuter rail station located at Cordage Park.
Its removal will open ocean views to visitors traveling to town by rail. The vista will eventually benefit apartment units planned for the site of the former Wal-Mart building.
The warehouse site will eventually be converted to parking for oceanfront condominiums.
A Middleborough company started interior demolition work last week and began knocking down walls Monday morning. Timbers from the warehouse will be re-milled and used for flooring.
Bill Rudolph, property manager for Cordage Development, said the demolition should be complete by Friday.
Building 13 was one of 35 buildings at the Cordage Company. Seven of the warehouse’s 10 bays were used to store hemp. The three southern-most bays were reserved for burlap and finished rope.
At its height during World War I, the Plymouth Cordage Co. employed 2,000 workers and accounted for one-seventh of all the rope made in the world. The company went out of business in the mid-1960s.
A storehouse of local history crumbled to the ground one wall at a time in North Plymouth Monday as demolition crews began tearing down a more than 100-year-old warehouse at Cordage Park.
Building 13, a 10-bay warehouse built in 1904 to store hemp for ropemaking, is being razed to make way for condominiums and parking.
The dilapidated and graffiti-covered building had served as a backdrop to the commuter rail station located at Cordage Park.
Its removal will open ocean views to visitors traveling to town by rail. The vista will eventually benefit apartment units planned for the site of the former Wal-Mart building.
The warehouse site will eventually be converted to parking for oceanfront condominiums.
A Middleborough company started interior demolition work last week and began knocking down walls Monday morning. Timbers from the warehouse will be re-milled and used for flooring.
Bill Rudolph, property manager for Cordage Development, said the demolition should be complete by Friday.
Building 13 was one of 35 buildings at the Cordage Company. Seven of the warehouse’s 10 bays were used to store hemp. The three southern-most bays were reserved for burlap and finished rope.
At its height during World War I, the Plymouth Cordage Co. employed 2,000 workers and accounted for one-seventh of all the rope made in the world. The company went out of business in the mid-1960s.
