Trenton Channel Power Plant to be Detonated

[Lowell]

Two 563-foot [172 m] high metro Detroit-Windsor landmarks are soon be gone.

The Trenton Channel power plant, which was nearly 100 years old when it was idled in 2022, is slated to be razed to allow the site to be redeveloped.

The demo dates for the old coal-fired facility, known as the Trenton Stacks, have been set for March 1 and May 17, the utility said this week. Depending on the weather, those dates may change, but residents should be prepared whenever the demolition goes off to hear and feel - the blasts. Detroit Free Press

The two stacks Trenton Channel can be seen in this photo I took from my former apartment in the Millender Center [now called the Millie on Brush]. Fermi nuclear plant appears steaming to the left on the horizon, the three stacks of the Rouge River Power plant stand to the right.

[MikeM]

Cool view, which demonstrates the disorienting geography of the area. The three stacks on the right are DTE's Monroe power plant - the most distant of the three plants. River Rouge would be off the right edge of the photo, and you would probably see part of the Ambassador Bridge as well.

[Richard]

Some may think they look ugly,but I also think the contrast with the sky looks pretty cool also .

All of the people paying crazy money for industrial lofts,just need to look outside to see the beauty.

[Gistok]

American's need to learn from the Brits....

https://batterseapowerstation.co.uk/

[Zacha341]

^ Nice site! Impressive reuse of this plant.

[Richard]

Average house in London is $700,000 in the south London hoods a 2 bedroom apartment is $2800,so it is like putting a playground for the upper classes in Manhattan.

It’s not a matter of learning from the Brits because they are no different then us,Go to the seaside resort of Blackpool and you can buy a historic hotel for $40k,go to South Beach and the same thing will be in the millions before rehab.

We already learned from the Brit’s,throw the tea in the harbor.

Anywhere you go in the world the upper classes do not shop at the dollar store.

It is a pretty cool adaptive re-use but then again Europe did rebuild citys back to original after they were bombed out during WW2 for the most part where as a rule we take the stance of new is better.

But in Detroit as well as other cities there are those who are finding adaptive uses for obsolete buildings while saving them,so it’s hard to say or fit everybody in the same box.

Where I am at they converted the old power station on the river as a city walk type development with boat docks etc.

To get it off the ground the city leased the building to a developer for $1 per year,when they can keep the wanna be thugs away it’s pretty cool place to spend an evening dining and checking everything out,weekends pop up local artists set up etc .

It had sat vacant since the 1950s,nobody was in a hurry to demolish it because they understood that because it was an eyesore today does not disqualify it as a diamond in the future.

COD has a lot of opportunities with the river.

[mtburb]

This is unfortunate, the Trenton Channel's tall height made it easily recognizable from any distance, and was useful as a guide to indicate where you were, like if you were lost and could see the towers you could just look at them.

A photo my brother took of the two stacks last Friday [[February 9, 2024) from West Jefferson and Van Horn [[almost directly at its front entrance), quite possibly one of the last photos ever taken of Trenton Channel. Out of frame on the right is a vacant former McDonald's restaurant that closed last summer [[partially possibly due to Trenton Channel's closure).


A photo I took on July 29, 2017 from the roof of the Guardian Building that shows the Trenton Channel in the horizon. To the right are the two stacks of the Monroe plant, the long building to the right of Monroe but very nearly in the horizon is the former McLouth Steel plant [[itself now demolished), I believe the horizon silhouettes to the right of McLouth are Toledo, and the foreground buildings are Windsor.


In addition to the McLouth and Trenton Channel demolitions, another long-abandoned Trenton riverfront landmark, the former Riverside Hospital, is currently being demolished as well. Between these three demos, could this open the door for a greater revitalization of the Trenton riverfront?

[Lowell]

Cool view, which demonstrates the disorienting geography of the area. The three stacks on the right are DTE's Monroe power plant - the most distant of the three plants. River Rouge would be off the right edge of the photo, and you would probably see part of the Ambassador Bridge as well.

Good eye. You are quite right that those are Monroe's stacks. I jumped to the conclusion because of the three stacks. Here is River Rouge Plant on the right of this photo, and much further upstream from Trenton, also with three stacks. One might think you are a frequent flyer to catch that one.

[MikeM]

I am familiar with seeing it from that vantage point quite often. Your photo must have been taken between 2012 and 2015. The plant's two original, taller 800' stacks were dismantled over that period, the first in 2011-2012, and the second in 2015, so there was a 3-4 year stretch where it had three stacks. You can see the taller one in the middle is not in use in your photo. mtburbs' later photo shows the remaining two 580' stacks.

[slick]

Demolition delayed for DTE Trenton Channel Power Plant stacks [[detroitnews.com)

There will be a big boom, but not Friday!

[Meddle]

Map says 11 miles.

[XDetroitr]

As a former resident of Grosse Ile, I can tell you that everyone on the island is happy about this. The power plant is the last of many industial sites along this stretch of the Detroit River channel facing Grosse Ile to be removed.

[Pam]

Demo video:

[Jimaz]

Thanks, Pam. I was wondering where the video was.

I heard they used 500 lbs of dynamite per stack. So that's what 500 lbs can do.