Old Hardin sugar factory coming down

The old Holly Sugar factory in Hardin, a landmark since it opened in 1937, is being torn down to provide new equipment storage for a Billings demolition and salvage business.

Amber Yochum of Yochum Contracting said the giant industrial building won't totally disappear.

"We really want to leave the stack, if it is safe," she said. "It's a monument to the people of Hardin."

Although still mulling ideas for the site, Yochum said the company will involve the city of Hardin as plans progress.

"We have a lot of ideas," she said. "We don't know which we'll decide to use."

The company bought the site with the idea of establishing a centralized location for its operation, which serves municipal and county governments from Missoula to Gillette, Wyo.

"We're a small recycling and grinding company," Yochum explained.

Her husband, Charles, operates the business and hires help as needed.

The business grinds up wood and other materials for recycling. Bricks and concrete are ground into material that can be reused as road base.

The sugar factory will be recycled, too, including the steel used in the structure. Yochum said the bricks may be offered on an Internet auction site because of the historic character of the building.

The process of taking apart the factory and its nearby warehouses has already begun. The buildings comprise 37,000 square feet.

Yochum said the real challenge will be taking down three giant boilers that stand two and three stories tall.

No timetable has been set for completing the demolition.

The abandoned sugar factory is a familiar site to anyone who drives Interstate 90 east of Billings. It's located north of Hardin in an area that has been designated an industrial park.

Jeffry McDowell, executive director of Two Rivers Authority in Hardin, said the site is zoned for commercial and industrial use.

The sugar factory closed in 1971, sending the economy of Big Horn County into a tailspin from which it has never fully recovered.

Reaction in Hardin to demolition of the plant was a mixture of sadness and indifference.

"We will miss it," said Mary Slattery, Big Horn County historic preservation officer.

But she is happy that a new business will be moving onto the site.

"We need something," she said. "We need to move beyond the prison. We need to get some other industry."

Slattery was referring to a multimillion-dollar prison in Hardin that has stood empty since it was built in 2007 because it has failed to get a contract to hold prisoners.

source: billingsgazette