Description

Today, there are thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of water towers located throughout the landscape of the world, like New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburg and beyond.  These iconic symbols of an era within the United States’ development are still being used daily today.  There are penthouses, apartment buildings, and even restaurants that are provided their daily water from the ground level and stored in these tanks. As a part of the Americana of our country, architects and builders have taken varied approaches to incorporating water towers into the design of their buildings. On many large commercial buildings, water towers are completely hidden behind an extension of the facade of the building. For cosmetic reasons, apartment buildings often enclose their tanks in rooftop structures, either simple unadorned rooftop boxes, or ornately decorated structures intended to enhance the visual appeal of the building. Many buildings, however, leave their water towers in plain view atop utilitarian framework structures Historically, railroads that used steam locomotives required a means of replenishing the locomotive’s tenders. Water towers were common along the railroad. The tenders were usually replenished by water cranes which were fed by a water tower.  We also have many railroad water towers that have been maintained over the years.  Many of these water towers have been relocated to areas where they have been preserved, while others, even not in use by the railways are still in place and can be photographed pretty easily.