{"id":5819,"date":"2016-08-18T01:33:40","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T01:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minutes.machine.market\/?p=5819"},"modified":"2016-08-18T01:33:40","modified_gmt":"2016-08-18T01:33:40","slug":"montana-landmark-rocket-slide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/montana-landmark-rocket-slide\/","title":{"rendered":"Montana Landmark Rocket Slide set to be restored with help from NorthSide Welding & Fabrication Inc."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Helena IR<\/a> reports, a landmark piece of playground equipment in Helena, MT the rocket slide began its final journey on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0A metal spiral staircase inside the rocket-shaped structure, fashioned of steel tubing, allowed children to race up to its nose cone. They could take the slide for the quick trip back to earth.<\/div>\n
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On Wednesday, a Terex T 230 <\/a>Mobile Hydraulic Truck crane supplied NorthSide Welding & Fabrication Inc.<\/a> helped a county public works department crew remove the rocket and load it onto a semi-truck\u2019s flatbed trailer for the trip across town to Helena College, where it will be restored.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Just when the rocket will make its return isn\u2019t certain, county Commissioner Andy Hunthausen said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe didn\u2019t put any parameters on that as we recognize it\u2019s an educational project,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hunthausen asked Helena College to help save the rocket, said the college\u2019s Dean Daniel Bingham.<\/p>\n

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People have played on it for generations, and Hunthausen didn\u2019t want to see it lost to history, he explained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re pretty excited about the opportunity to do this,\u201d Bingham said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Restoration of the rocket could be completed by the end of the college\u2019s fall semester that concludes in mid-December, Bingham said. Or it could continue into the school\u2019s spring semester that concludes in May.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What\u2019s important, he explained, is to have the students prepared for the restoration work they will undertake on the rocket.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There\u2019s interest in recreating the slide that was once part of it too, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But before work begins, Helena College needs photos of the rocket as it stood in the park.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And the college would like to collect stories from those who once played on the rocket to use in compiling a history of it, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0\u201cThis will be a great project for us,\u201d Bingham said.<\/div>\n
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Rockets were popular in playgrounds in the late 1950s and into the 1960s. A 1963 issue of Life magazine noted the arrival of Space Age playground equipment.<\/p>\n

\"Terex-T230-crane-1\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe new gear, some of it as colorful as modern art, is as different from the old-fashioned slide, seesaw and teeth-busting swing as Telstar is from a Conestoga wagon,\u201d it reported in a pictorial look at playgrounds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0While the college is donating its labor and related supplies for welding and restoring the rocket, the county will be paying for materials. Anyone who remembers playing on it as a child and would like to make a donation is welcome to do so, Hunthausen said.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0For the last 12 or 13 years, the rocket has been closed to use, a decision made after its slide had deteriorated and required removal, said Keith Hatch, the fairgrounds\u2019 manager.<\/div>\n
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Rust competed with faded red and white paint on the rocket\u2019s six legs. Small, black plastic signs with orange lettering warned against trespassing and said \u201cKeep Out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hatch watched as work began to prepare the rocket for its journey. He said the fair board talked about what to do with it for years. Within the last three or four months, the discussion became more focused and plans started to take shape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With the crane extended above the rocket and connected to it with canvas straps, the county crew used a torch to cut the rocket\u2019s six legs and the steel post that ran upward through the spiral staircase to the spaceship\u2019s nose.<\/p>\n