(KAIR)--After months of delay, the first demolition blast on the former US 59 Amelia Earhart Bridge finally took place Wednesday morning.

Hundreds of Atchison residents, ranging from the very old to the very young being pushed in strollers, gathered at the Riverfront Park in Atchison early Wednesday morning to witness a piece of Atchison history come down.

Demolition on the 76-year-old Amelia Earhart bridge turned out to be a very popular event. Crowds were gathering as early as two hours before the scheduled 9:00 blast time in order to get the best view possible. Atchison resident Virgil Holland was there since about 8:00 and he says he was not about to miss this event, since he had already missed the Pony Express Bridge demolition.

Jennifer Ellis was there with her friend's daughter, 9-year-old Kaitlyn Servaes,  who had been out sick from school the day before and was just well enough today to be able to witness the event. Ellis says that she thought it was important for Kaitlyn to witness a piece of Atchison history come down. This was not her first demolition event, as Kaitlyn also saw the old hospital come down.

City officials were also on scene. Atchison City Manager Trey Cocking expressed relief that the demolition was finally taking place, and says that it had to be done, despite some residents who would have liked to have kept the old bridge.  He says that maintenance on the structure is an absolute nightmare.  He had a chance to walk under the old bridge and notice that there was concrete rotted out, among other deficiencies. It was just not possible to keep the bridge, since it would cost too much money to maintain it.

The second planned blast is scheduled to take place on Friday afternoon at 2:00. This is a change from the original time of 9:00. Kimberly Qualls, from the Kansas Department of Transportation, says that the time change was needed in order to give crews as much time as possible to clean up the debris from the first blast.