Ogilvie Watertower facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Ogilvie Watertower
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The Ogilvie Watertower from the south
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 Location in Minnesota
Location in the United States
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| Location | Anderson Street, Ogilvie, Minnesota |
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| Area | Less than one acre |
| Built | 1918 |
| Architect | Circular Concrete Company of Minneapolis |
| MPS | Kanabec County MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 80002087 |
| Designated | August 18, 1980 |
The Ogilvie Watertower is a special old water tower located in Ogilvie, Minnesota. It was built way back in 1918. This tower is important because it helped the town get a much better water system. This new system even made it possible for Ogilvie to start its first volunteer fire department! It's also one of the few very old water towers in Minnesota made from a strong material called reinforced concrete.
What It Looks Like
The Ogilvie Watertower is a tall, round building. It stands about 80 feet (24 m) high and is about 21 feet 6 inches (6.55 m) wide. Its walls are made of concrete and are about 9-inch-thick (23 cm). The concrete was poured right there when the tower was built.
Inside the top part of the tower, there's a large concrete tank. This tank is about 24-foot-2-inch-high (7.37 m) and can hold 50,000-US-gallon (190,000 L) of water! The very top of the tower has a 2-foot-high (0.61 m) wall called a parapet. This wall has parts that stick up, making it look a bit like a medieval fortified tower or a castle.
At the bottom of the tower, on the east side, there's a small garage made of wood. You can get into the tower through two steel doors that face east. There are also three windows near the ground. Four more windows are higher up, near an inside wooden platform. There used to be a door on the outside of the tower, about 72-foot (22 m) up, that opened onto a small platform.
Tower History
The Ogilvie Watertower was one of the first water towers in Minnesota to be built using reinforced concrete. This means the concrete has steel bars inside it to make it extra strong. The Circular Concrete Company of Minneapolis built it in 1918.
This tower looked very different from the metal water towers found in many other towns. While other concrete water towers were built, many of them started to leak. Because of this, most of them were torn down and replaced. The Ogilvie Watertower is one of the few examples of this type of concrete tower that is still standing today.
When this tower was built, the village also got a much better water system. This new system was very important. It gave the town the water pressure and supply needed to create its first volunteer fire department.
The water tower was repaired and repainted in 1977. It stopped being used in August 2011. The town held a special ceremony at the tower to remember its service. Then, there was a parade to the new, modern water tower.
