| Summary: | The water tower has served as a landmark for the city of Florence since its construction in 1889 by the Jeter and Boardman Gas and Water Association. The stone buttressed masonry tower is seventy feet high and topped by a 282,000 gallon cast iron tank that is 30 feet high and 40 feet in diameter. The tower is located on a plateau two miles north of the center of town roughly sixty feet above the average elevation of the town. The water quality of the tank was reportedly exceptionally fine with the water drawn from clear Cypress Creek as opposed to the often muddy Tennessee River. The tower replaced an earlier waster system provided by the Cypress Water Company and continued to serve the Florence area until it was phased out in 1935.
The water tower was built during an industrial and population boom in the late 1880s and early 1890s resulting from the completion of the redesigned Muscle Shoals Canal System. In anticipation of further growth, the current population was 12,000 to 15,000, the tower’s capacity was designed to serve a city of 35,000 -50,000 people. However, by 1891 the boom was over and the population dwindled to 6,000.
The tower is significant to the history of Florence, Lauderdale County, and the region as a surviving example of 1870-1880s city water works technology. Around the turn of the 20th century elevated tanks on exposed metal trestles gained popularity due to the superior engineering and lower costs of construction. The tower also serves as a vivid reminder of the 1889-1891 economic boom and the plans and dreams to prolong the industrial and population growth. The water tower was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Additional information can be found on the National Park Service’s National Register data base, or on the Florence Historical Board Historic Marker on site.
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