Contractors have begun deconstructing a 160-year-old dam on the Grand River in Lyons.
MLive reports that workers removed the top 2 feet of the 9-foot-high Lyons Dam on Wednesday.
Village president Jack Proctor says two more feet will come down Thursday as it's gradually removed over the next several days.
The dam removal is the culmination of an emergency repair operation that began last month after the west edge of the dam failed and began eroding a bluff where houses stood.
The erosion also threatened the only highway bridge crossing the Grand River.
The dam has been a fixture in Lyons since 1857, when residents created a dam with cobblestones and timber in order to power a flour mill.
Consumers Power Co. built a hydroelectric plant in 1913 to use the power generated by the falling water.
