Sulphur Springs Water Tower
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A landmark of Tampa, Florida, the Sulphur Springs Water Tower stands 231 feet tall and can be easily seen from nearby Interstate 275 and many parts of the city. It's located in the historic district of Sulphur Springs. The structure is constructed from poured cement using railroad rails for "rebar"; the walls are eight inches thick with a buttressed base on solid rock. "Concrete was poured into forms that were raised by yokes and jacks -- 10 feet went up a day. The tower rests on rock, has cantilever foundation, and with the buttresses will be rather a difficult job to ever destroy," wrote Poole. When it was operational it stored 125,000 gallons of water pumped up from the nearby artesian springs. The water tank occupies the upper quarter of the cylindrical tower while seven floors, one room per floor, constitute the lower three quarters.
[edit] History
The water tower was built in 1927 by Grover Pool for realtor and developer Josiah Richardson to supply adequate water pressure to the Sulphur Springs Hotel and Arcade he had developed and planned to expand.
Richardson mortgaged the entire resort ($180,000) to finance the construction of the tower and when the arcade was heavily damaged in 1933 by the collapse of the Tampa Electric Company dam the businesses in the arcade failed and Richardson lost everything.
As of 1969 it was reported to still be providing water to a small number of customers.
In the 1970s it was home to the Tower Drive-In theater; at one time it was defaced with much graffiti, most notably "look out for nuns". An aircraft warning light atop the tower (since removed) was said to interfered with movie viewing.
In 1979 the tower was restored: it was pressure washed, painted with 150 gallons of graffiti proof paint donated by Sherwin-Williams Co., labor donated by Service Painting Corp.
The stairs and platforms have since totally collapsed leaving the upper floors non-existent and unreachable.
2002 saw a bid by a large chain drugstore to build on the site but public outcry killed the project. The site was subsequently purchased by the City of Tampa who in 2005 installed lights for nighttime illumination. It is now called River Tower Park.
