Havana Water Tower - Havana, IL
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 40° 18.021 W 090° 03.547
15T E 749947 N 4465244
I believe the brick pump house is actually built into the ground and the wall on the west side of the lot.
Waymark Code: WMZHNG
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 11/15/2018
Views: 2
County of tower: Mason County
Location of tower: Pearl St. & Main St., Havana
Tower built 1889
Architect: F. William Raider
Capacity: 50,000 gallons
Designated an American Water Landmark in 1982 by the American Water Works Association
"The Havana Water Tower stands on the Main Street hill overlooking the city's original business and the Illinois River. It is located on lot number 7, block twenty-seven, at the NE corner of Pearl and Main streets in the original town of Havana, Mason County, Illinois. With its five story octagonal-shaped base and 50,000 gallon steel storage tank, the tower stands approximately eighty-six feet tall. Also located on lot number seven is a single story, brick pump house. Other buildings on block 27 include several single-family dwellings, a Lutheran Church which predates the water tower, a parsonage, and a parking lot for the church.
"Built between August and November of 1889 because the city had "no adequate supply of water for the purpose of fire protection and for the use of inhabitants," (from ordinance number 55, June 1889) the tower, in conjunction with a pumping plant, became part of a public water system in the city.
"The octagonal base of the water tower is about fifty feet high, seventeen feet eight inches across the bottom, fourteen feet six inches on top, and is constructed of soft brick believed to have been made locally (while no information can be found to prove the origin of the bricks used, it is known that a brick kiln was in operation in Havana). During the tower's construction the mortar used was high in lime and sand. Walls of the base are twenty-seven inches thick on the bottom end, narrowing to eighteen inches thick on top. At the top of the be (immediately beneath the tank) is a section of ornamental brick work in which several courses of brick are interlain in different positions. While it is unknown if this configuration of brickwork adds strength to the base, it provides a capping effect for the many courses of brick lain beneath it. Bricks are interlaced as the join at the corners of the octagon. In the past, has been painted grey."
~ NRHP Nomination Form