Automobile plant opened in 1935

MUNCIE — The implosion of a 190-foot smokestack emblazoned with the name Chevrolet marked the end of a chapter in the city’s automotive industry.\nThe Chevrolet plant opened in Muncie in 1935, employing 1,100 people. As many as 3,400 people worked at the plant at its peak in the late 1970s, although only 380 remained when it closed in March 2006.\nThe last remnant of the razed plant came down Thursday in front of crowds.\n“This is the last hurrah,” said Jerry Friend, the city building commissioner. “It’s too bad.”\nOver the years that plant operated as Detroit Diesel Allison Muncie Transmission Plant and New Venture Gear, a General Motors/DaimlerChrysler joint venture. Demolition of the complex has taken several months.\n“It is the end of an era,” said Mike Jones, chairman of United Auto Workers Local 499. “It’s sad to see it go, that’s for sure, but more importantly, what it represented is going away. That’s even sadder.”\nThe city’s other big auto parts maker, BorgWarner, will close its plant in early 2009. As many as 6,000 worked there in its heyday.