On August 25, 2014 The Missoulian of Missoula, MT did an article on the old water tower at Fort Missoula, which is now owned by the Northern Rockies Heritage Center. The tower narrowly escaped demolition in the past, mostly because people rightly thought that it added to the skyline of the area. No longer used as a water tower, it does still earn its keep by hosting a cell tower.
At the far south end of the fort, the water tower is just north of the north bank of the Bitterroot River. It was built near the end of the fort's time of major overhaul, from 1904 to 1912, when many new buildings, and this water tower, were erected.
The water tower is a contributing structure to the Fort Missoula Historic District in the city of Missoula, MT.
The Missoulian article is reproduced below.
Fort Missoula water tower punctuates
southwest Missoula skyline
August 25, 2014 6:15 pm • By Kim Briggeman
From outer space or from up the Bitterroot, Missoula is all but hidden by its trees.
Enter the water tower at Fort Missoula, which has long been devoid of water but at more than 150 feet high still punctuates the skyline in the southwestern sector of the city. It was that profile that saved it from demolition after it was decommissioned decades ago and the fort complex went to an individual well system.
When a film crew came to town last week to capture then-and-now images for a documentary on a World War II detention camp at Fort Missoula, it used the water tower as an anchor. The rocket-like tower has been a navigational tool for pilots since shortly after Eugene Ely took three spins around the fort in 1911, the city’s first airplane flights. The tower went up the next year, near the end of a half-dozen-year federal reconstruction period at the 1877 fort.
Apparently it’s been a shiny silver color for all but the detention camp era of 1941-1944. For some reason Dan Hall of Western Resources has yet to ascertain, it was a checkered black and white then. The tower is a contributing structure to the Fort Missoula historic district, Missoula’s first.
A few years ago, Hall did a visual impact assessment when Verizon wanted to put antennas on the catwalk. Everybody won. Western Resource found no detrimental effects, Missoula received expanded cell service and with historic preservation money the tower got a new coat of paint and landscaping.
The tower, owned by the Northern Rockies Heritage Center, sits by itself on the south fringe of the fort, casting an evening shadow over the 17th and 18th tee boxes of the Missoula Country Club.
Get to Missoula’s Iconic Fort Missoula water tower on Routes 8 and 9.
From The Missoulian