FOLEY — A monument to the heyday of agriculture in Baldwin County has been reduced to rubble.

The huge, hulking warehouse on East Myrtle Avenue that once housed the People's Fertilizer Co. has been a source of complaint and controversy in recent years. The building until recently sat alongside the city's new walking path and drew the ire of many who saw the old structure as an eyesore. What's left now is the cleanup from the demolition process.

"I had sent the Inspection Department down there (a month ago) to start the condemnation process, when they approached the owner of the building and asked for access," said Mayor John Koniar this week.

"She said fine, you can come in, but next week we're going to start the demolition process."

Koniar said he's pleased to see the old building down. The "heart pine" with which the building was constructed was one reason it withstood so many hurricanes, he said.

"We've had a lot of complaints over the years as you know," the mayor said, noting the building's proximity to the walking path was one reason for those complaints.

As for plans for the property once the mountain of rubble is removed, Koniar said he doesn't know.

"I don't know when it was built. It was always there," said Charlie Ebert Jr., local historian and civic leader, of the People's Fertilizer building. Ebert, a longtime city councilman, was born in Foley.

He said the building was enlarged through the years, and the business itself, which manufactured bags of "Old Baldwin" fertilizer as a subsidiary of International Mineral & Chemical Co., closed its doors 10 or 15 years ago.

Back in the day, when agriculture was king, Ebert said a lot of fertilizer was needed, especially for crops like potatoes. Peoples's Fertilizer would wait until crops came in to get their money from farmers who were patrons of the business.

"I hated to see it go in a way," said Ebert of the old building, "but I always worried about it in a fire." He said above ground storage tanks once set close to the building as part of a gas distribution operation.

Environmental concerns about the People's Fertilizer property, what with all those years of chemicals being onsite, have been bandied about for years. Koniar, however, said he isn't aware of any pending issues in that regard on the East Myrtle site.

"Once it's demolished and the new owners want to do something on there, they will have to address any environmental issues," he said.