JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) – Demolition has begun on a Joplin hospital that took a direct hit from a deadly May 22nd tornado. About 1,000 people turned out yesterday for a ceremony at the shell of the once-bustling St. John’s Mercy Hospital.

Speakers talked about the history of the hospital before a wrecking ball ceremonially smacked the side of the building a few times.

From there, the crowd went to a groundbreaking ceremony three miles away.

The crews rebuilding the hospital are trying to save as many trees as possible from the site where a new building is being constructed. The twister stripped thousands of trees of their limbs. That’s why officials have been so committed to salvaging trees at the site of the new permanent hospital, three miles away.

Officials with the parent company for the hospital, Mercy, say more than 470 saplings have been dug up and moved to a tree farm in nearby Aurora. The goal is to move 400 of them back to the site of the new hospital when construction is completed.