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Also known as: Old Chicago Water Tower
Built:
1867- 1869
Designed by: William W. Boyington
Renovated: 1913-1916
Renovated: 1978
Type: Museum
Stories: 4
Maximum height: 138 feet / 42 meters
Location: 806 North Michigan Avenue
City: Chicago
State: Illinois
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I
n the middle of a city known for its towers of glass and steel stands a tower made of stone that looks out of place. The Old Water Tower looks like an oversized set decoration from some Elizabethan play. But this isn't knights slaying dragons, this is the city slaking its thirst. Before electric water pumps were invented, the city's drinkig water came ashore from Lake Michigan thanks to inventions known as Corliss engines. These trapped water several miles offshore and moved the water into the city via an undersea tunnel. The system worked, but was not without its flaws. There were vast fluctuations in water pressure, and this immense tower was designed to regulate that. Behind the neo-gothic facade is a 138-foot-tall standpipe that helped control the city's water pressure. Electric water pumps have long since made the Corliss engines redundant, so now the tower regulates the city's flow of tourists. Since the 1970's it has served as a tourist information office.
**The limestone for the tower was quarried in nearby Joliet, Illinois.
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