Brigham City armory collapses
“UNSAFE”-“DO NOT ENTER OR OCCUPY” “WARNING: This Structure has been seriously damaged and is unsafe,” reads a sign posted on a make-shift fence surrounding the wreckage created by the collapse of the National Guard Armory building in Brigham City.
Thursday afternoon the old building gave a rumble and within seconds the roof and second story had collapsed, said Jason Scott of Scott Construction, who was working in the building at the time of collapse.
The second floor was a gymnasium with a stage which had once hosted famous names like Bob Hope, John Wayne and Bing Crosby during its peak use as a community center. The Building was built in 1918 and, during WWII converted to an Armory.
In the 1960s the building was occupied by the Box Elder School District and used as a bus depot. With the building of a new bus depot, the building was sold into private ownership.
“Wood went that way, bricks went that way. Then boom it just fell.” said Alexis Serna age 11 who was walking down the street past the building to meet her friends at the time of the collapse.
Bricks littered the road, piled in a huge mess surrounding the building.
No one can say why the collapse occured, but speculation placed the blame on poor drainage and icing along with the wieght of the melting snow build-up.
-michaelsharp@cc.usu.edu