The roof of the Chivilingo Hydroelectric Plant in Lota, in the south of Chile, has collapsed after decades of neglect.

Commissioned by the wealthy Cousiño family in 1896, designed by Thomas Alva Edison and opened in 1897, many consider it to be an engineering milestone of the late XIX century, until Thursday.

After its opening it became the first plant of its kind in the country and the second hydroelectric complex in South America. Hitherto, it remains one of the oldest of these type of builings standing up on Earth.

Well, sort of.

Chivilingo Hydroelectric Plant
Chivilingo Hydroelectric Plant

The plant literally powered the blooming mining industry that Lota had in the 1890s, mainly coal, which up until then relied entirely on horses and carriages.

The thriving business required electric trains to be incorporated into daily activities, so the plant was conceived to power that.

Besides, by 1895, the underground sea mine was already 12 kilometers long, so electricity became a pressing issue in the area.

Luis Cousiño’s widow, Isidora Goyenechea, made her late husband’s dream a reality: the construction of the plant was executed by US company Consolidated Co. and the equipment was brought from Nuremberg, Germany, by Schuckert & Co.

Bulls had to carry the freight from the Lota port, but the team encountered another problem when construction began: they did not have cement, which was replaced by using sediment from the Chivilingo River, seashells and eggs.

Upon completion, the plant was able to produce 400 volts (that increased with later improvements) in a five hectare lot for 77 years, until 1974.

Not only did the plant help mining, which slowly started to decline until Lota became one of the poorest cities in Chile; but it also fostered several other businesses and companies in the Bío Bío region.

Chivilingo Hydroelectric Plant
Chivilingo Hydroelectric Plant

When it closed, the regime led by general Augusto Pinochet tried to sell the plant to the United States, but they failed.

In 1990, the Chilean State declared the building a historic national monument and in 2004 it was recognised as a “milestone” by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

In 1998, the City Council allowed a non-profit organization to run the place, so it became a minor tourist attraction.

Chivilingo Hydroelectric Plant
Chivilingo Hydroelectric Plant

The hardest blow for the power plant was the 2010 8.8 magnitude earthquake.

Then, it officially closed its doors to the public.

Today, almost a day after its roof collapsed, the Lota City Council announced US$119,000 in public funds to repair the building.

Every Summer around 15 thousand people camp near the plant, as the land that surrounds it became a holiday center, ran by a private developer.