I thought this video, which shows a 100-year-old manufacturing building in Lawrence, Massachusetts being demolished, was pretty cool. In its heyday, Lawrence was an important textile manufacturing center due to its location near water to power the mills and proximity to Boston. However, it suffered a major decline when that industry all but disappeared from the U.S.

Smokestacks symbolize manufacturing for many people, even though most manufacturing facilities no longer have them. Not only is it interesting to watch the smokestacks come crashing down, but the symbolic value for our declining manufacturing base in the U.S. is hard to miss. What do you think is being built in place of this factory? It’s actually a HUBZone development with commercial space for a variety of uses. It’s an SBA program to attract businesses to a financially distressed area. Perhaps smaller manufacturing companies will rise from the ashes of the smokestacks.