The housing crisis claimed another victim as the Story City Pella plant closed its final window on Thursday.

The plant’s remaining 244 workers had a final celebration Thursday to commemorate the plant’s 10 years of operation. The last window rolled off the assembly line Wednesday, said Katherine Krafka-Harkemakk, Pella spokeswoman. The only work that remains to be done is clearing out supplies and machinery and cleaning the plant, she said.

Krafka-Harkemakk said Pella Corporation will continue to produce doors and windows at 13 other locations across the U.S., and that the sub-prime housing market caused the plant’s closure. She said the closing affects 47 communities in several counties.

“As result of an excess of supply and due to a downturn in the housing economy – it forced this closure of this plant,” she said. “This is the sound of a slowing economy. We consider a plant closing a last resort.”

The good news, she said, is the number of former employees who have taken advantage of Pella’s extensive worker relocation efforts. Since Jan. 9, when Pella Corporation announced it was closing the facility down, the company has hosted two career fairs, providing career services and more than 200 prospective employers. Some of the employers present at the fairs were area businesses Barilla, Cargill, Hagie and Sauer-Danfoss, all of which have hired former Pella employees. Other former employees have found jobs in fields as varied as law enforcement and the state government, she said.

“Many of these people have already accepted jobs,” she said. “And some folks are going to be returning to school at Iowa State and DMACC. We’re very pleased that folks are able to do that.”

Even so, Krafka-Harkemakk acknowledged that the plant’s closing has been hard on everyone involved.

“The team members have been very professional, very positive and very committed in helping us wrap our work at this facility,” she said. “But its been tough – and we recognize that.”

The party organized by the remaining employees had what she described as a “celebratory atmosphere.”

“We did a lot of celebrating today,” she said. “We had a get-together this afternoon and literally shared hundreds of photos and a decade’s worth of memories.”

Some employees were understandably upset about the closing.

“It’s a disappointment. The plant was good for the community,” said Pamela Hunter, Story City resident. “I knew everybody that came in for their lunch breaks.”

Other residents said Pella did a good thing trying to help their workers in every way possible.

“Its not as tragic as it sounds, but there was a lot of people from the area losing their jobs,” said Frank Freeman, Ames resident. “There’s this belief that when the economy turns around and there’s another big housing boom – then they’ll be back.”