Once crews took down the exterior wall, the inside just collapsed, Smith said.
PHOTOS: Crowell-Collier demolition
Smith said the demolition company is keeping dust from the building contained by flooding the building with water.
Tony Smith Wrecking Supervisor Aaron Bush said previously any dust coming from the nearly 100-year-old building is safe, as asbestos was removed in 2015.
“There’s no reason to be concerned. The buildings have been completely cleaned out,” Bush said previously.
Smith said the project is on track, and could be completed by as early as Christmas.
MORE ON CROWELL-COLLIER: Plans unclear for Crowell-Collier site in Springfield after demolition
Crowell-Collier was once the printing home of the world’s largest magazine publishing company. It closed as a publishing plant just before Christmas in 1956.
The property was sold to Harry Denune in 1972, who used it to house his Dixie Distributing Co. motorcycle parts business.
The property caught fire in 1999 and again in 2011 before Denune sold it to Mosier Industrial in October of 2011 for $1.5 million.
The once 900,000-square-foot structure occupied an entire city block, and was the largest in Springfield, before demolition of some of the property began in 2014. The structure had about 400,000 square-feet left to be torn down when demolition of the complete structure was announced in August.
The city of Springfield received a demolition permit on July 11 of this year for the remaining sections of the building and approved the permit a week later.
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