Water Tower – Lost In Michigan

The Lighthouse Water Tower

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Water Tower .

I was driving along the St. Clair River near Algonac when I could see what looked like a lighthouse in the distance. I was surprised to see it since I know where all of the lighthouses are located in Michigan in my efforts to visit every one of them. When I got up to the tower I could make out the words “The Colony” on the face of it and I realized it was a water tower. Thankfully a Michigan Historical Marker stands next to it to tell the story, it reads:

Built in 1825 by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Works, this steel-framed water tower was the main water supplier for the “The Colony on the Ste. Claire”; – a secluded residential community established in Clay Township in the early 1920s. The Colony Tower marked the entrance to the Will St. John estate, the home of the real estate developer who founded The Colony subdivision. The 136-foot tower once housed a 60,000-gallon water tank. Constructed with curtain walls and steel plates to resemble a lighthouse, it demonstrates the early twentieth-century penchant for disguising the utilitarian functions of highly visible structures. A light shone from atop the tower, aiding boat and aircraft navigation from 1925 until 1937, when the light was extinguished due to its high operating costs.

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The Wooden Water Tower

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Water Tower .

Among the last of the wooden water towers in Michigan, the Grant Water Towers was built beside the depot in 1891 by the Grand Rapids, Newaygo and Lakeshore Railroad. It cost $1,910 and could hold 42,648 gallons of water. Although train service ceased in 1966, the Water Tower was used well into the 1980s as a water reserve for the fire departmant. In 2008, after being moved 128 feet east of its original location, the cypress and pine tower was restored.

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The Mysterious Water Tower Across The Lake

Posted on February 23, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Water Tower .

When I traveled through the small town of Otter Lake located between Lapeer and Birch Run I noticed an old water tower standing above the trees on the other side of the lake. It seemed strange that the water tower was so far away from the town. I found out that next to the water tower was the old American Legion Childrens Billet. It was an orphanage built in the 1920s for orphaned children. During the 1940’s it was used as a tuberculosis sanitarium. After the cure was found in the late 40s, it was changed back to an orphanage. Trough the years many children lived and grew up in the billet next to the lake until was closed in the 1970s. The property is currently privately owned and used as a treatment center for addictions. Unfortunately, it’s is not accessible to the public.

P.S. If you are wondering about the term billet like I was, the dictionary describes it as A place, especially a civilian’s house, where soldiers are lodged temporarily.

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The Water Tower at the Asylum

Posted on October 14, 2017 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Water Tower .

Standing in the center of the Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital is an ornate brick water tower that looks like it’s out of a fairy tale as if Rapunzel is going to let out her long golden hair out one of the windows. The hospital is no fairy tale of a place and was one of the largest hospitals of its kind when it opened as the Michigan Asylum For The Insane in 1859. To supply water to the hospital a water tower was constructed in 1895. To complement the feel of the hospital architect B. F. Stratton from Detroit was commissioned to design the water tower. The hospital changed names in 1911 to the Kalamazoo State Hospital and in 1978 it changed again to the Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital.

Like with any large psychiatric facility there are stories that go along with it to make you wonder if it is haunted. A doctor was stabbed to death by a patient in 1904 and a nurse was strangled to death when a patent lured her into the basement in 1954. I am not sure if there are any spirits still residing in the hospital, but I am sure that old water tower has bore witness to many things good and bad as it stands tall looking over Kalamazoo and the old hospital.

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The Old Water Tower in Brimley

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Water Tower, Winter Wonderland .

I am not sure if you notice them, but when I am driving around Michigan, I notice all the water towers. It seems like most towns have one and many of them are newer “bulb” style towers with the name of the town on them. There are others that are a little different, maybe it just a smiley face, or it could be an old historic tower like the one in Ypsilanti. I posted about it HERE

While I was in Brimley in da U.P. eh, I notice this old wooden tower. you don’t see too many of the old wooden ones anymore, I wonder if they still use it? Anyway, I am working on getting a collection of water tower pics to put together a list of remarkable water towers in the Mitten State, I just need to get a few pics of the water towers in the south-west part of the state.

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The Beautiful Town of Elsie and it’s Water Tower

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in small towns, Water Tower .

I am not sure why but I like water towers, especially the old ones. Almost every town has one, and they usually have the name of the town painted on them. that must be an interesting job to pain water towers, but I digress. I really like this old tower in Elsie. The name of the town was derived from the first born child in the town, which was Elsie Tillotson in 1857. Her father was the first postmaster.

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Ypsilanti Water Tower – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers, Water Tower .

The Ypsilanti Water Tower was designed by William R. Coats and constructed as part of an elaborate city waterworks project that began in 1889. Located on the highest point in Ypsilanti, the tower was completed in 1890. It is 147 feet high and has an 85-foot base constructed of Joliet limestone. The substructure walls taper from a thickness of forty inches at the bottom to 24 inches at the top. The reservoir holds a 250,000-gallon steel tank. To protect themselves from injury, the builders made three stone crosses; one is visible over the west door. The Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority has operated and maintained the structure since 1974. In 1975 this tower was designated by the American Water Works Association as an American Water Landmark. It was restored in 1976.

Day laborers constructed this water tower which was completed in 1890 at a cost of $21,435.63. The tower and the city waterworks supplied 471 customers the first year. An ordinance passed on April 14, 1898, established a yearly rate schedule. Rates were based on the number of faucets in use, the type of business that customers operated and the livestock they owned. A residence with one tap was charged $5.00; a private bathtub cost an additional $2.00. Saloon keepers paid $7.00 for one faucet, $3.00 for each additional faucet and $1.00 for each billiard table. Each cow a person owned cost $1.00. People who failed to pay their bill were subject to a $50.00 and ninety days in the county jail. Until 1956 this structure was the only water tower in the Ypsilanti water system.

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Owosso Water Tower

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in small towns, Water Tower .

Maybe it’s just me, but I notice water towers, probably because they are the tallest structure in a lot of towns across Michigan. I especially like this one in Owosso with yellow paint, or at least what’s left of its yellow paint, and the fact that its an older tower with its cone shape top. I am not sure what the letting on it used to say but it still is an interesting landmark in Owosso.

P.S. I need to get a photo of it’s sibling across town someday too the sun was not in the right place when I was there for a good pic.

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