Water Tank

The Alabama Confederate Soldiers' Home operated as a self-sufficient facility, and in 1904 the State of Alabama built a reservoir and pumping stations that replaced hand dug wells as its main source of fresh water. Natural spring water filled a spring house and flowed continuously into the reservoir, where a coal-fired steam-powered pump pushed it uphill to a large wooden storage tank on the hill. The tank's seventy-five foot height ensured constant pressure for a network of pipes running throughout the complex, supplying running water to all nine cottages, the commandant's house, the hospital, the administrative building, and other parts of the facility. In 1919, more efficient gasoline powered machinery replaced the steam driven pumping equipment. After the Home closed in 1939, the State Conservation Department removed the water tank and pumping machinery for use in parks across Alabama.

Alabama · United States