Built in 1947, Wahlstrom Hall was named for a former president of the college, the Rev. Matthias Wahlstrom. Wahlstrom had a unique floor plan, with 191 single rooms arranged into 32 sections. While this beautiful landmark on the Gustavus Campus was beloved by many, issues with building codes and safety forced its closing.
Many had hoped the building could be renovated and brought up to code, but this was determined to be too expensive. Wahlstrom Hall was decommissioned on Saturday, May 28th, 2005 and demolition and cleanup began on Wednesday, August 24, 2005.
Web Services recorded the demolition on a webcam mounted in the window of Eric Eliason’s office in Vickner 311. After a long hiatus from the project, we recently finished up a time-lapse video of the demolition.
We created a normal video and one with a soundtrack, just for fun.
Enjoy!