Watching the Dust Settle

This photo of MSU's Gage Towers is from the 1960s.

It was June 29th, 2013, just over two weeks ago, that Minnesota State's venerable Gage Towers came a tumbling down.

Gage, which served as the on-campus home for more than 50,000 students since opening for business in 1965, stood as one of the most recognizable landmarks in the greater Mankato and Southern Minnesota area.

For those of you who had made the southern trip down Hwy 169 at night, the lights atop Gage served notice that you were getting close to town.

It's likely that if you went to MSU you either lived there at some point or were best buddies with someone who did.  You might have met your wife or husband there.  Your kids might have lived here. You probably remember having pizza delivered there and getting letters from your mailbox there. Former students have mentioned water gun fights, elevator issues, the radio station in B tower, bunk beds, funny hall directors and tossing various items out of windows.

If you needed to give someone on-campus directions, Gage was often used as a reference point.

The implosion didn't take to long and there's plenty of video available online in the event you'd like to have a look including HERE, HERE and HERE.

The Minnesota Vikings, who report for their 2013 summer training camp July 25th, have also used Gage as their residence since selecting Mankato for their preseason workouts back in 1965. And not only will the Vikings' organization have to sleep and eat in unfamiliar digs beginning this summer, but the fans who attend training camp will undoubtedly notice something amiss.

They say it's going to take about 30 days to clean up the rubble, essentially erasing the remaining vestiges of the 135-foot towers that cost $2.57 million to build.

It's going to a lot longer than that to erase the memories.

 

Requiescat in pace Gage Towers

It's great to be a Maverick!