99 Stories of God

30. Satan’s Leathery Wing

The Cedar Rapids Historic Preservation Commission is asking the City Council to examine alternatives to razing the one-hundred-year-old smokestack at the former Sinclair slaughterhouse complex.

The Commission requests additional time for professionals to study the brick chimney and building surround for possible uses.

It’s really beautifully constructed, a member of the Commission wrote. You just don’t see this quality of construction anymore. And of course, it’s a landmark. It’s the city’s one landmark, really.

An animal rights group also hopes to save the smokestack from demolition and is collecting signatures and money for the purpose of creating a museum addressing animal cruelty.

A spokesperson for the City Council said all petitions concerning the smokestack were welcome but that the animal rights group’s intention was divisive and inappropriate.

Those people are practically terrorists, the spokesperson said. We’d be a laughingstock if we gave them the time of day.

The Sinclair operation mostly processed horses.