A Look at Water Towers
Water Towers Serve as
Identifiers, Reminders, Landmarks
Quarterly Newsletter of the Minnesota Department of Health Public Water Supply Unit, Waterline
For
many communities, a water tower is a part of its identity. Driving through
the prairies of Minnesota, travelers are alerted to the coming of a town
by the sight of a water tower poking up beyond the horizon.
Some cities are bolder with the identification they put on their water towers. The Barnum water tower proudly proclaims itself Home of the Bombers, and Buhl uses its tower to lay claim to Finest Water in America. The tower in Staples notes 100 Years of Progress while the back side of the water tower in Sauk Centre serves as a reminder to its Original Main Street. Pequot Lakes needs no further words to inform visitors of its great fishing. Its water towerwith red on the bottom and white on the topis in the shape of a bobber. An even different shape is the tea-kettle look of the tower in Lindström.
Even
on conventionally shaped tanks, designs can be distinctive. Watertown
lives up to its name with the bottom portion of the tower painted in
the shape of waves. The cities of Sauk Rapids and Fosston took the effort
to have their tower painted like a hot-air balloon. The city of Princeton
also made the effort to make its tower a thing of beauty, with the letters
of the towns name reflected in a painting of a lake below the lettering.
Some
towers, no longer storage vessels for water, still provide a historic
function. The tower on the corner of Sixth and Washingtonin the
heart of Brainerdwas the first all-concrete elevated tank used
by a municipality in the United States. It was widely pictured on postcards
and maps and, even though it was drained in 1960 following construction
of a new tower, is still the prominent feature in the citys logo.
And, finally, some towers are now nothing more than fond memories. When Eveleth constructed a new tower next to the one it was replacing, the city identified the old one as Hot and the new one as Cold, prompting some visitors as well as residents to inquire if the city really had segregated its hot and cold water. The conundrums have come to a close, however, as the abandoned Hot tower was finally dismantled in the winter of 1996-97.
Where
Are We!!?
Its not just automobile travelers who count on water towers for
their sense of direction. In 1960, a DC-3 carrying the Minneapolis Lakers
basketball team drifted off course while bringing the team home from
St. Louis. With electrical power gone and guidance instruments also disabled,
pilot Vern Ullman buzzed a water tower in Carroll, Iowa in an attempt
to find out where he was; alas, much of the towns name was obliterated
by snow, and all Ullman could make out were the letters -L-L. Fortunately,
Ullmanstill not knowing where waswas able to land the plane
safely in an uncut cornfield.
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