The Portland Water District has torn down the water tank behind Windham Town Hall, the culmination of the Libby Hill Water Storage Tank project.

The 86-foot Windham Center Tank was constructed in 1950 and capable of holding 200,000 gallons of water prior to being taken offline in late summer 2025.

The tank is owned by the Portland Water District, which hired a contractor, Almighty Waste, to demolish the structure. According to a post on the town of Windham Facebook page, demolition is expected to take one to two months, with steel from the tank to be cut up into smaller pieces and used as scrap metal. The demolition will also include the removal of the concrete foundations on which the tank is built, as well as a brick building on the same water district land.

Portland Water District Communications and Public Relations Director Michelle Clements said the demolition is the final step in the modernization of Windham’s water delivery system. The centerpiece of the project is the Libby Hill Water Storage Tank, located in the East Windham Conservation Area and capable of holding up to 1 million gallons.

Project head Kyle Jacobson said the new tank, which serves Windham and part of Falmouth, was installed over the course of 2024 and 2025, and has been operational since 2025. Unlike the Windham Center Tank, which was an elevated structure reminiscent of a water tower, the Libby Hill tank is located on the ground. The water from the tank is pumped in from water district facilities at Ward’s Hill in Gorham and Pride’s Corner in Westbrook.

Jacobson said the reason for the old tank being elevated was to help provide pressure for the water system. The new tank, he said, fulfilled the same purpose.

Jacobson also said the water tank had reached the end of its useful life, with the steel tower rusting in several areas. In addition, the size was not large enough to meet fire flow recommendations.

The water district is connecting the new tank to its system by installing a 13,500-foot water main on Chute Road. Construction on the main, which will stretch from the tank to the Windham-Gorham town line, began in April, and is expected to be finished by September. Fire hydrants will be installed along the length of the main at intervals of approximately 800 feet.

The demolition of the water tank drew a mixed response from residents on social media. On Facebook posts about the removal, residents reminisced about seeing the water tank constructed, playing on and around it, and making up stories about it being an alien from “War of the Worlds,” or the lair of the villainous S.P.E.C.T.R.E. from “James Bond.” Others condemned the town and water district for destroying a piece of town history.

Meanwhile, Todd Hayman, a resident of Gray, said if there was no use to the structure, it might as well come down, citing the danger of a lightning strike.