ANACONDA - The giant smelter stack that looms over the city of Anaconda was shut down permanently 45 years ago, forever changing the economy of Anaconda and Butte, but this massive monument to industry still has significance today.

Watch: History behind the Smelter Stack; the largest free-standing brick structure in the world Anaconda's famed smelter stack closed 45 years ago

“Thirty-two hundred people in Butte and Anaconda that lost their jobs on that day when they made that decision,” said Fritz Daily, who was a state legislator at the time of the closing.

It was Sept. 29, 1980, when the Atlantic-Richfield Co. closed the smelter. The 585-foot - tall stack is the largest free-standing brick structure in the world. At the time of its closing, the city considered demolishing it.

“I

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