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"They had to work on a Sunday because that is when the least amount of traffic on Fifth Street occurs, but there were no problems reported," Peters said.
Skyview Construction crews used a large crane to hold up the structure while workers cut the bottom of each of the four legs with torches.
The entire tower then was lifted by the crane and placed on its side in the middle of East Fifth Street so welders could cut up the legs of the tower and remove them.
AT&T leased the tower for cellular telephone purposes. However, AT&T built a new monopole tower about 100 feet west of the original tower on MacArthur Street.
The new tower can support more antennas than the old structure, Peters said.
"The agreement was that once the new monopole was built, the old one could be taken down," Peters explained. "Plus, we don't allow that many cell towers that close together."
The original tower was initially converted to a cell phone tower in the mid-1980s by AT&T, which was known as Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems at the time.
Before then, the tower originally served as a support structure for a water tank at the former Deb Shoe Factory.
"When the shoe company was there, it was used as a water tower for fire protection at the factory, but when the tank became deteriorated, the tank had to be removed," Peters said.
The tower is owned by the same individual who owns the MacArthur Park Senior Apartments. Before that, Eckelkamp Enterprises owned the tower.
