Neumaier Hall Implosion (Moorhead State University)

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frigilux

frigilux

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I'll probably have my ass handed to me for putting this in the Super forum, but it involves massive amounts of explosives, which I think can be twisted into "products for the home." LOL

I lived in this dorm with my roommate Greg from August of 1978-May of 1982 at what was then called Moorhead State University in Moorhead, MN. It was the newest dorm on campus, having been opened in 1970,  and at that time was the tallest building in the twin cities of Fargo/Moorhead. (Fargo being across the bridge in ND, of course).

Unfortunately, due to something weird with how the building settled, poor Neumaier Hall was already leaning by the time we moved into it. The elevators got stuck on a routine basis. Fortunately, I lived on the 4th floor and almost always took the stairs.

Our room was #403. Count three windows up way over on the left. It is partially hidden by the tree. If you watch, you'll see a big puff come out the front and side windows of the room right above ours. It was imploded in 1999.  Explosives were planted in the lobby, 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 12th floors of the 15-floor building.

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">OBLIGATORY APPLIANCE-RELATED INFO:</span> Our floor had a Whirlpool belt-drive coin-op washer with matching dryer. There was a deep laundry sink between the washer and dryer, so I bought a used Kenmore portable dishwasher and placed it in the space between the side wall and the washer in the small laundry room. It fit perfectly. As far as I know, we were the only floor on campus with its own dishwasher. You should have seen the looks Greg and I got as we wheeled it up the sidewalk and into the lobby elevator!

 

I just noticed that 'Neumaier' is misspelled in the title line of the video.

Anyway, enjoy the show!


[this post was last edited: 10/9/2019-12:36]
 
That reminds me of when Sander Hall at UC was demolished by implosion in 1991. The 27 story dorm was built in 1971, and had various issues. It seems that a lot of buildings constructed during that time period were lacking in quality.
 
The newest dorms at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo were of this same vintage when I was there.  They were ugly bauhaus-meets-bunker looking, with solid concrete walls inside and out, suggesting projects that belonged in East Berlin and no doubt designed by an alumnus of their Architecture and Environmental Design curriculum.   They were only three stories, but I have a feeling they'd be difficult to take down, presuming they haven't been already.

 

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A reminder of the commie-block era

prefab concrete panel high rise housing in the UK, and Europe. Fast and cheap to build after the Krauts blitzed so much in WW2. Then the Soviets built them, and told their own and the world they were all middle class. (Movietone News reels on Turner Classics from the era.
Many in the former eastern block still live in them. No Tanks!
The panels often did not fit together well, as the slabs were poured on site.
Second problem was the lag bolts transferred the cold and damp to the drywall, and many were heated with high humidity steam, or even oil fired space heaters. This caused mold, so residents were sick a lot.
I've studied civics on my own, and public housing, etc. It only works until the budget to maintain them dries up. Then you have gangs take over because they feel trapped, and had no way to rise up above poverty. They deal and use drugs, mug, and even murder, symptoms of "behavioral sink". The film Harry Brown with Michael Cain is a good example. He grew up in the Walworth section near Brixton, in south London and said it was real.
It seems we often do not learn well from history. When you have a central axis of control and power, dictating how we must live, if you are not in the top 3 percentile of wealth, you are F-ed. Once you see uprisings from economic strife, famine, disease, and displaced people whose land and homes have been taken away, other localized nations can get involved, and who knows what can happen next.
Peace!
 
Eugene, I wonder if it has anything to do with my having copied and pasted the image onto my post.

 

I love that the abomination known as Yosemite Hall made it onto a "brutalism" site!  Very deserving!  I suppose it's sister dorm, Sierra Madre Hall, was inducted at the same time.

 

This picture shows the cell block look of the rooms.  The vertical blinds don't help matters any.  We had curtains when I was there.  Lighting was, and apparently still is, provided by florescent tubes hidden atop the closets. 

[this post was last edited: 10/11/2019-01:13]

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I'll probably have my ass handed to me for putting this in the Super forum

I'll let it go this time Eugene ;-) because I went to NDSU across the river in Fargo in '81 so we could have even met as our times overlapped! I graduated high school in Fort Lauderdale, FL in June of '81 and in Sep '81 left for Fargo to go to NDSU.
 
Robert- Sent you a message.

Ralph- Wow, those dorm rooms aren’t exactly warm and inviting are they? The oddest dorm room I lived in was in Nelson Hall my freshman year (Sept. ‘77- May ‘78). You can see Nelson in the video above—it’s the round building. The rooms were shaped like a piece of pie, being narrowest at the doorway. Trying to fit room-sized rugs in those rooms was interesting.

Sidebar: Kevin Sorbo (who would become TV’s ‘Hercules’) lived on my floor in Nelson Hall. He partied in my room a number of times. I’ll have to dig through my Polaroids. I know he’s in a couple of them. Of course, he was just another college freshman at the time. I only knew him while living in Nelson. Years later I started seeing him on TV and in People Magazine!
 
I have to admit that as I watched this video, I entertained myself imagining that it showed the unfortunate result of a malfunctioning still being used to make booze for Friday night's big party. LOL
 
Reminds me of our old Hudson building in downtown Detroit... That had to get blown up in a very similar method, after it sat mostly unused & very uninhabitable, as glorious and prominent a landmark it had long been...

And even it being the very first & most famous Hudson's in Detroit, free-standing and a true department store, multi-floors, a Santa Claus every Christmas season, and all...

And what about all the booze that must have been made or at least bought for THAT event at your dorm/hall? Great presentation, great show!

-- Dave
 
Dave, Eugene, Robert; etc.

That makes two of us Eugene. I've been an ass for far less, and worse. Gracious of Robert and all, so I apologize for taking the bait, and accept half the blame. There are definately "explosions" in the home of the vocal sort in a family voicing various thoughts and opinions. The generation gap of the 70's, one on TV called meathead, his father in law the bigot, and mother who never said a nasty word to anyone on the sitcom.
I should join dirty laundry forum. Someone wise told me that opinions are like a thing we all have one of. If no one wants to hear them, well then, why bother?
We were watching a documentary 2 weeks ago on Israel. A young man said it's in his blood, 'cause since he was a kid he never shut up. I'm much better today than then, and do try listening better as well.
That said, if dirty laundry is only in a supermarket rag publication, how many read them? You're reaching a small number, and if your info. or opinion can be valuable or educational, not enough people hear it.
Poor old JL Hudson's dept. store. My mom Loved it during the holidays. I never got to see the Christmas display on the top, floor. She always went on a Monday, when I was in first grade. I still have the nativity set she bought there form Italy in 1966, shortly after we moved here from Pittsburgh. I do remember visiting Santa at Kaufman's, Horne's, and Gimbles there though. I recall the first time I was able to ride in the font seat of my dads car, about age 3.
I also still am having a time of it seeing all the malls become empty of stores.
Seems the only constant is change. Well, then that's how I roll too. If I didn't like a path, I carved myself a new one. No regrets. Live and learn.
 
Okay, our old Hudson’s: I forgot “Iconic” as in Ren Cen and the Detroit River, as well as that man “thinking” and last of all our ball fountain...

Really, how did a mere destruction on a structure revealed as an icon turn into this?

If this is inappropriate for a general topic for all to be involve or discuss then maybe this belongs in As The Tub Turns, as I don’t find anything about this so volatile or disturbing that it belongs in Dirty Laundry...

I won’t mind ponying up another thirty-day membership (and that was fastest thirty days—compared to what jail would be like!), so with that, I have nothing more to say...!

— Dave
 

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