Contractor RTS Shearing of Jamestown, North Dakota, began chewing away at the first of the four columns on Wednesday, February 22, 2017.

The four concrete columns that straddle the Canada-U.S. border were built in 1982 to commemorate the garden’s 50th anniversary. The tower’s four columns represented people arriving from the four corners of the world to form two distinct-but-similar nations with a common base in democracy.

The 120-foot-tall tower started falling apart in 2011. The concrete began dissolving and the failing foundation was causing the monument to lean. A security fence was placed around the perimeter of the tower to protect visitors from falling chunks of concrete.

If funding becomes available, the Peace Garden Directors would like to replace the symbolic structure, however no decision has been made. Last year 20 architecture firms from across Canada and the United States were invited to submit design proposals for a new monument. To rebuild a new structure could have a price tag as high as $8-10 million – that means a new structure likely won’t be in place for several years.

It is expected to take seven days to complete the demolition of the concrete Peace Towers, at a cost of $222,000 to the Garden.

by LORRAINE HOUSTON, Editor

PHOTOS BY ANNA LATIMER