Western Springs Water Tower

The Western Springs Water Tower served as the village's first water tower, with a steel tank 43 feet high and 22 feet across that held 169,000 gallons, and most of the now empty tank still remains inside the tower. Its lower portion was constructed of 156 carloads of hand quarried Naperville limestone, and the construction is notable for the extruded profile of the mortar joints. An example of Romanesque Revival architecture popularized in the late 19th century, the tower was designed by Benezette Williams, Edgar Williams, and Ethan Philbrick, cost $79,119 to build, and rises 112.5 feet above the ground, 784.9 feet above sea level, and 36.5 feet wide at the base. The tower consists of three floors suitable for office space and was used as municipal offices until 1968, with the first floor housing the police department, the second floor serving as a court room, and the third floor accommodating the village offices. It was turned into a museum for the Western Springs Historical Society in 1970 and was accepted to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. Its roof was struck by lightning in 1991 and burned for over five hours, a new roof was completed in 1993, and the tower stairs were reconstructed in 2013 using pre-cast concrete with a computer-aided single cast curved top.

Western Springs, Illinois · United States