The 1885 Frisco Wooden Water Tower was built to service steam locomotives and to supply water for feeding stationary boilers, washing cars and floors, cleaning out boilers, cooling ashes, fire protection, and similar purposes at shops, engine houses, and station buildings. It is, to our knowledge, the last remaining tower of its kind in the U.S.A. Friends of the Beaumont Water Tower was founded in 1989 and raised funds to preserve it, and preservation was completed in June 1998. The 1885 Water Tower was accepted in 1993 to the State and National Historic Register as a historic site. It also stands as a tribute and in memory of K.T. and Gladys Wiedemann, with a grant for HABS documentation, landscaping, and fencing commemorating their devotion to the Flint Hills.