The Chicago Water Tower
The Chicago
Water Tower
The
Chicago
Water
Tower
Chicago,
Illinois
The solid limestone tower would see the city's greatest disaster just a couple of years after
it was built in 1869.
The tower was built in an area called Streeterville. Supposedly, the land was taken from a
Captain Streeter, who unwillingly gave up the land. They say he cursed the area to suffer
from strange and unusual events.
This was the location of Great Chicago Fire of 1870. Legend has it that it was started when
a lantern was kicked over by Mrs. O'Leary's cow... Strange and unusual, indeed.
A lone firefighter manned the pumps from the inside of the water tower. When the flames
became too much, he hung himself in the uppermost point of the tower rather than become a
victim of the fire he had spent the last moments of his life fighting.
All of the buildings surrounding the young structure were destroyed. The Water Tower, thanks
to its limestone construction, was the only one remaining.
Ever since, people have claimed to see a man hanging from the tower's upper windows. Perhaps,
they say, he still watches over the city.
the plaque
the lionhead
built to withstand
the interior hall doors
the tower entrance
the upper windows
