A Derby snow removal crew quickly cleared Route 34 after a metal facade plopped onto the road Friday at about 11:30 a.m.
The call initially came in as a partial building collapse at an old industrial building on Route 34 (Roosevelt Drive) next to the former Derby Cellular Products, just east of North Avenue and the Dew Drop Inn.
Derby Fire Chief Thomas Lenart, Jr. said the metal facade had actually crumbled to the sidewalk during the height of last weekend’s blizzard. Somehow the metal fell Friday into the road, perhaps by wind or during snow removal.
Lenart said a Derby Department of Public Works crew was nearby.
A font-end loader lifted the metal off the roadway and life returned to normal in the All-American Valley.
We’re told the building where the metal crumbled is known locally as the old power plant.
The Route 34 corridor there has an important place in Derby’s industrial history, as it was formerly home to the Williams Typewriter Company (inc. 1889), the American Typewriter Company (inc. 1893), the United States Rapid-Fire Gun and Power Company (inc. 1902), and the power plant for the Derby Gas Company, according to a Robert Novak-penned piece on the Electronic Valley.
Later business along that stretch included Hull Dye, Trim Products and the aforementioned Derby Cellular Products.
Tom Harbinson’s IDA International is still going strong, located closer to the Derby dam.
