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In recent years, the Weirton community has watched as some of the city's biggest landmarks have changed or been taken down.
The buildings of the once-thriving Weirton Steel Corp. is the best example, of course, as the BOP, open hearth areas and other buildings which once hosted mill operations have been torn down to make room for future development opportunities.
The former Serbian-American Cultural Center building is now used as the main operations hub for Lauttamus Communications.
Buildings which once housed a church and the local Oddfellows chapter are gone, with the land now used for parking.
The property which was once the site of Cove Valley Lumber is also a parking lot, with part of it the home of Weirton's skate park.
The state office building once was used for parking by the Weirton Police Department.
Another lumber yard spent some time as a car dealership, and now is a popular restaurant.
The building of a once-popular restaurant, closed because of damage from Hurricane Ivan, is now used as a medical marijuana dispensary.
I truly could go on with just the things I've remembered over the last 20 or so years. I'm sure others, whose detailed memory goes back farther, could tell even more.
I bring this up, of course, because of the impending demolition of the Margaret Manson Weir Memorial Pool.
According to Weirton Parks officials, the pool will begin coming down as early as Monday, bringing to an end the history of the community landmark.
The Margaret Manson Weir Memorial Pool, commonly referred to as Marland Heights Pool because of its location in the neighborhood and park of that name, was completed in 1934. It was designed by famed architect Wesley Bintz and built with funds provided by the David Weir Estate. The name came from Margaret Manson Weir, the mother of E.T. and David Weir who founded Weirton Steel.
Unfortunately, the pool was closed in 2005, with the Weirton Park Board at the time citing low usage and increasing costs to keep it operational.
For a short time, the pool was used as a haunted house attraction operated by the Park Board. A local theater group stepped up to operate such an attraction at the pool at one point after its closure, although allegations of damage to the building resulted in that, too, ending.
Then, in 2014, a group of residents coming together as the Marland Heights Community Association, leased the pool from the Park Board with the intention of raising enough money to reopen the facility. Following a few years of fundraising efforts, the group decided to terminate the lease, with much of the funds it had raised used to purchase new playground equipment for Marland Heights Park and make other investments into the park.
The pool building has sat there ever since, slowly crumbling away and becoming a safety hazard. There also have been reports in recent years of youth scaling the wall and climbing into the pool basin, causing additional damage.
It will be sad for many in the Weirton community, and beyond, to see this landmark come down. It was a focal point for several generations of Weirtonians who have memories of swim days, fun with friends and family, community picnics and more in and around the pool.
Those memories will remain, much like other aspects of our community which are no longer here.
Park officials have promised to reach out to community members for input on potential future uses of the land, which, hopefully, will be there for future generations to help more Weirtonians make their own memories.
Change happens, whether we like it or not. Sometimes it means saying goodbye to something that has been special to us to make room for something to be special for the future.
(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is managing editor of The Weirton Daily Times, and can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter @CHowellWDT)