At approximately 4:30 p.m., the construction crew is a little less than halfway done demolishing the dam.
Elissa Maudlin | Daily Journal
By Elissa Maudlin | Daily Journal
EDINBURGH — The Edinburgh community gathered to witness the final moments of the Thompson Mill Dam this week.
A year after the Thompson Mill Dam burst in Edinburgh, the structure was largely demolished Wednesday afternoon into Thursday. Dozens of community members watched the demolition and reflected on their memories of the dam outside Gary’s Dam Bait Shop.
W Enterprises, a company contracted with Ecosystems Connections Institute, is completing the work. The contractor is removing the limestone slabs from the dam using an excavator. The stones are being moved to a site in the town, with some of the limestone to be saved for a future dam remembrance project. Once all the stone is removed, the company will clean up debris caused by the demolition, said Jerry Sweeten, senior ecologist for Ecosystems Connections Institute.
The stone removal is expected to be completed by the end of the month. The river is expected to be back to its natural state within a year, Sweeten said.
Ecosystems Connections Institute assisted the town with securing a federal money for the dam removal, which allowed them to get it removed at no cost. The company is also providing project oversight and permitting. Sweeten also said there is a full-time archaeologist documenting the history of the dam and ecological work being done to determine how the stream physically changes. There will also be monitoring of the impact on fish and mussels.
The demolition is being funded through bipartisan infrastructure legislation and a program administered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service through the National Fish Passage Program. Demolition costs are estimated at about $350,000, Sweeten said.
The 10-foot limestone dam was built in 1884 by John Thompson who ran the former Thompson Mill. The dam was created to make sure the mill’s waterwheel had enough water supply but it has not been operational since the mill closed in 1957. The dam is said to be among the first stone dams to be built in the Midwest, according to a historical marker.
After the dam burst in October 2023, the Edinburgh Town Council determined demolishing the structure was the best course of action. Officials say leaving the dam to deteriorate further would be a safety hazard and obstruct recreation on the Blue River. The cost to repair the dam was also projected to be around $3 to 5 million and even if the monies were to be acquired, DNR would not approve the permits for the dam’s restoration since it is a low-head dam, according to town officials.
Community members have good memories of the river surrounding the dam through fishing, swimming, tubing and other activities, but its history isn’t all positive. The strong currents around the dam notably caused the death of two Franklin teenagers in 2014, and a third death from injuries related to that incident a few years ago. According to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, even the strongest swimmers wearing flotation devices have drowned at low-head dams because of the intense water currents they create.
Residents react
Husband and wife Jackie and Phyllis Smith, 74 and 68 respectively, came to see the dam Tuesday before the demolition stone removal process.
Jackie Smith said seeing the dam come down “breaks my heart.”
“We’d like to keep it but we can’t,” Jackie Smith said. “It’s not meant to be.”
For Phyllis Smith, like several others in the community, the dam is attached to Edinburgh’s history.
“It’s been there my whole life,” Phyllis Smith said. “And it’s just part of the Thompson Mill that was over here, the history back to Edinburgh, and it hurts seeing it looking this way, looking like this (in disrepair and not functional).”
On Wednesday, Chris Gill, 67, a lifelong Edinburgh resident said the dam coming down is “like taking away a kidney from me.”
“It’s hard to give up something you’ve seen all your life and has been a fixture in your life all your life,” he said. “Just like tearing down any other historical structure.”
Chris Link, 48, said he spent so much time at the dam that he basically “lived down here” from the age of six to 13. He would fish when it got daylight, walk across the dam and swim under the bridge and floated in the river on “tractor tire tubes” traveling to the 31 bridge.
Others like Marty Burton, 59, and Dan Burton, 63, used to walk, fish, swim and play at the dam. They said it was “our playground” growing up, floating on inner tubes in the Blue River and jumping off of a tall ledge of the dam into the water. Marty Burton was wearing a necklace Wednesday that was made from a rock he found at the dam.
Although they understood the decision to demolish the dam, they said they were sad about it.
“It’s a memory and it’s what makes this town what it is,” Dan Burton said.
There were different thoughts about whether the town made the right decision by demolishing the structure. Some people believed the dam should’ve been saved, while others understood the decision despite their emotional attachment to the dam.
Travis Bowman, 71, said he has been waiting for the dam to come down. He has thought for a while it should be demolished and the river should go back to its natural state.
“It’s served its purpose and now it’s time to go back to the way the river used to be,” he said.
As Melissa Buck, 59, filmed the dam coming down with her cell phone to remember its last moments. Her memories of the dam include her father painting the dam on a school bus he used as a camper and her going on one of the land islands near the dam when she was maybe 13 years old because she had never done it, even though her dad told her not to.
“When I think of Edinburgh, this is what I think of (the dam),” she said.
For one group of sisters, the dam was tied to memories of their father. Misty Hogan, 49, said her dad loved the dam so much that they put a photo of him at the dam on his tombstone. The anniversary of his death was Oct. 17.
“I couldn’t help standing here and being emotional because it was his favorite place ..,” Hogan said. “It’s very sad. This is an icon of our town and to think that we’re never going to have it here … it’s going to be like something’s missing.”
The demolition brought out multiple generations of dam fans. Michelle Leeper, 48, watched the demolition with her two young children Keara, 8, and Khloe, 7. Leeper said she grew up here with generations of her family fishing at the dam.
As she stood watching with her two young children, she thought about the fact that her kids would be the last generation to see the dam.
