Chicago Water Tower (1869)
In 1869, citizens of Chicago welcomed a modern water standpipe. This castle-like 140-foot tower and its pumping station across the street were made of yellow Joliet limestone encasing a simple standpipe. It only operated two years before facing its greatest challenge. In 1871, the city of Chicago burned, destroying a sizable portion of the city. When the fire ceased, the Chicago Water Tower wasn’t the only surviving building, but it became the most iconic.
According to the Chicago Architecture Center, the Chicago Water Tower survived the fire not because of the limestone exterior, but because a fireman, German immigrant Frank Trautman, covered the building with wet woolen blankets and damp canvas sails soaked with water from Lake Michigan. Even so, the roof of the Tower burned and fell into the pumps, making the water tower useless against the fire. But the building itself survived and still stands along Michigan Avenue.
