A tower, but make it creepy

Posted on by farlane

Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital Tower by William Dolak

Bill shared this photo in the Michigan in Pictures photo group on Facebook & writes:

They built the “Kalamazoo State Hospital Water Tower” for the Michigan Asylum for the Insane in 1895. They instructed the architect to design something with a medieval feeling to complement the existing buildings – it looks creepy because it was meant to look creepy. It is no longer used as a water tower; its only function now is a landmark. They planned to demolish it in 1974 (almost none of the original asylum buildings remain), but “The Committee to Save the Tower” raised funds to save it. The National Register of Historic Places added the tower to its list in 1972.

See William’s latest in the Michigan in Pictures group & on his Flickr. Although he shares you can no longer tour the tower, you can watch a YouTube tour of the tower stairs from mLive & read all about the Kalamazoo Water Tower at the Kalamazoo Public Library:

The tower soars 175 feet into the air, rising from a base of cut stone blocks five feet high. The brick begins above this base. Approximately 50 feet wide at its widest point, it contains three water storage tanks inside. The main tank is 40 feet high and 40 feet in diameter and has a capacity to hold more than 200,000 gallons of hard water … The structure is really a tower within a tower. The outer shell tapers from six feet thick at the base to four feet at the top. Enclosed is an inner shell, which is also about six feet thick. Between the inner and outer shells is a wooden circular stairway, which winds upwards until it reaches 100 feet. Then a series of ladders leads to the top of the tower. At the top is a little room, gothic in appearance, that has a window facing in each direction. Four enormous wooden beams meet in the center of the room. They are etched with dozens of sets of initials carved by visitors, the oldest by one W. E. DeLong dated 1898.

Thanks for reading! You may be interested this photo feature on the Grand Traverse Asylum as well!!

Kalamazoo Asylum, early 1900s

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Philip’s Water Tower Project

Posted on by farlane

philips-water-tower-project-caseville

Philip in Caseville, MI, photo by Philip’s Water Tower Project

Let’s just jump right in to Philip’s Water Tower Project:

Philip is a 5 year old Autistic boy from Michigan. He has recently developed a love of water towers. Upon a simple google search, he realized he couldn’t find many pictures of water towers in our area. So he made it his mission to “cheese” (take pictures) with as many water towers as he could. We are up to 21 cities so far in the thumb of Michigan.

After speaking with one of my friends who came up with the idea to have others send in pictures from all over the country of them with water towers, I spoke with Philip about the idea and he loved it. So this page was born. If you’d like to participate please message or post a picture of yourself (or your kiddos) with a water tower near you. Be sure to point at the water tower in the picture, it’s his signature move!

View more photos right here and definitely share a pic with Philip’s page if you’re near a water tower in Michigan or elsewhere!