SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Monday marked the end of an era in the small town of Parker as demolition crews began taking down the Turner County Courthouse.

It’s been a pillar of the town’s Main Street for over 120 years.

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Although it was deemed unsafe by structural engineers, the town’s residents say it was still hard to watch.

You could say this is a crash course in history.

A small crowd gathered around to watch the most iconic structure on Parker’s Main Street come tumbling down.

“Huh, well history is going down today,” former Turner County Sheriff Byron Nogelmeier said.

Byron Nogelmeier, who spent his entire 36 years in law enforcement at this courthouse both as a deputy and sheriff, says he thought about all the memories he had inside this building as he watched the demolition.

“A lot of crazy things have happened here throughout my career, I don’t even know where to start,” Nogelmeier said.

While it served its purpose for the county for decades, the structure ended up having just too many structural flaws to even consider renovating it.

“Water started to leak in our office and leaked for quite awhile and that just kept getting worse and we we had some of the black mold issues and things like that and it was beyond the point of repair,” Turner County Sheriff Jamie Buteyn said.

Jamie Buteyn is the current county sheriff. He says the courthouse and its dome were an eye grabber.

“You turn down Main Street you know the old courthouse sitting there it’s kind of cool,” Buteyn said.

But as they always say, nothing lasts forever.

“It’s sad, but you got to go out with old and in with the new, you can only put so much lipstick on a pig,” Nogelmeier said.

The county has plans to build a new $19 million courthouse in the same location, but county officials say that’ll take at least a year and a half.