RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A coal-fired power plant that opened in 1961 in Rapid City is being taken down this summer.

The Rapid City Journal reports the Ben French Generating Station was decommissioned in August 2012 as operator Black Hills Power moved toward using natural gas. The site was named after former Black Hills Power & Light president and board chairman J.B. "Ben" French.

Black Hills Power spokesman Mutch Usera says the plant's smokestack was decorated at times for the holidays. He says the plant will be taken apart slowly over the next three months. A brick building on the plant's east side will remain, and the site will be replanted with grass and trees.

Company vice president Vance Crocker says the plant and two other coal-fired facilities have been replaced by a natural gas plant that went online in October.

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