OXFORD -- As the fabled 1920s water tower came down Wednesday, piece by piece, 13-year-old Lisa Schult sat behind a little stand across the street.
No lemonade here. She sold metal chunks from the 135-foot tower. The average size was that of a paperback book.
"I started selling them only 15 minutes ago," she said, "and already I've sold two."
Jagged and dark, the metal display immediately attracted attention. You can buy a piece of Oxford history for $2-$8, unless you want it by the ton.
There's plenty left. It's $105 a ton if you can carry it away; $210 a ton if you want it cut.
"Oh, I've got mine," said Beverly Thompson, 38, of Oxford. "I had to buy it. The tower's been here all my life. It's Oxford." As she walked away, Scott Barnhart, a gas station owner, yelled: "You'll look good with a piece of that stuff."
"Right!" Ms. Thompson said.
"I think it's like selling a piece of Mount St. Helens," Mr. Barnhart said. "Everybody should have it to remind us of the tower. I've looked over at that sucker all my life. Before this is all over, I'm sure I'll have a few pieces on my station floor."
Last November, voters decided in a nonbinding referendum to tear down the tower, although later a pro-tower faction raised $100,000 to keep it and launched an unsuccessful effort to save it in July.
The tower debate created hard feelings in the hometown of Miami University. Many alumni remember the tower fondly as a meeting place.
Lisa's father, Paul Schult, 49, a tower supporter and local photographer, obtained the metal through a subcontractor for the Pittsburgh Tank and Tower Co., which will demolish the tower by Saturday.
"This is what happens when you get involved in a cause," he said. "Now I can add this to my resume: scrap metal dealer.
"Seriously, the idea is to keep pieces of the tower with us personally. This way, we'll always have the tower right here in Oxford."
In July, Lisa stood in front of City Hall carrying a sign that read "Tower Power," so she feels qualified to sell the tower's scrap. Her father will give her a percentage of the profits.
Subcontractor Ronnie Howard, from Henderson, Ky., bought all the tower metal, and he wants to sell it fast, so he asked Mr. Schult to help.
"We'll sell what we can here," Mr. Schult said, "and the rest of this stuff will go to scrap. So people had better act quickly. The crew guys will leave here by Saturday. Before they go, they'll give . . . pieces to kids. I'll use the tank's ladder on the catwalk of my home."
Lisa said she will sell the metal from her stand, on the Marathon station property on Main Street, for the next couple of days, from about 10 a.m. to whenever she wants to close.
"It's a little different than what I expected to be doing this summer," she said.
![[oxford tower]](/editions/1998/08/06/tower_317x500.jpg)