Remembering the Public Square implosion

CLEVELAND - A gorgeous October morning in 1982 was the setting for a memorable demolition of two historic Cleveland buildings.

It was Oct. 3, 1982, and the buildings were the Cuyahoga and Williamson buildings to be exact. They were ornate buildings from another era considered to be 'blighted' so a new skyscraper could rise downtown.

The Williamson Building was 17 stories, built in 1900. I recall near the end of building's life a Times Square-style news ticker running along two of the building's sides just above a Cunningham Drug store.

The clock above the entrance you'll see in the video is today above a Malley's candy store in Rocky River. The Zeisler Morris Management Company salvaged and restored the clock and placed it in their Westwood Town Center shopping complex on Center Ridge Road. A plaque in the shopping center commemorates the clock.

The Cuyahoga Building is to the left as you watch the implosion. According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the building dates back to the early 1890s and its entrance was dismantled and later reassembled as the entrance of Western Reserve Historical Society library.

Sohio had its world headquarters here in Cleveland and the building was to become the Sohio Building. Along the way, Sohio became BP America, and the building was known as the BP Building until this past June when Huntington Bank became its major tenant and another name change was in order.

The building's structure was designed to not be taller than the Terminal Tower. I remember there being talk of a Cleveland zoning ordinance -- or an unwritten rule at the time -- of no building being permitted taller than the Terminal Tower, but I was unable to find any such rule, not saying it didn't exist.

The WEWS staff covering the event were Eileen Korey anchoring our live coverage from atop Stouffer's Inn On The Square (now The Renaissance), along with videographers Jim Lentz and Rich Geyser. Reporter Alan DePetro and videographer Brian Archer shot the street level story and I was in Chopper 5. As a side note, all four videographers are still at WEWS.

There was a chopper no-fly zone near the implosion and we shot from a long way to the east of downtown. 1982 was long before gyro-stabilizing cameras, so I wore a harness and hung out the side door of the helicopter with the camera on my shoulder, hence the shakiness.

The video clips show the buildings being prepped for demolition in the days before the implosion. Next, we wipe to edited-down live coverage, and then Eileen Korey's piece that ran in the 6 p.m. newscast. Note the interview with then-mayor George Voinovich and the sketch of the Sohio Tower.

The last piece is Alan DePetro's story from street level. You'll see the scooters Cleveland Traffic Enforcement used in 1982, as well as a glimpse of the RTA information booth on the square. DePetro's story remains one of my favorites.

Enjoy.