Welcome to Ogilvie, Minnesota, where you can visit the Ogilvie Watertower, a historic structure built in 1918. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, the tower stands as a significant example of local engineering and social history. The tower reaches a height of 80 feet (24 meters) and a diameter of 21 feet 6 inches (6.55 meters). Its nine-inch-thick (23 cm) concrete walls were poured in place to house a 50,000-US-gallon (190,000 L) concrete tank.
The structure is topped by a two-foot-high (0.61 meter) parapet with crenellations that suggest a medieval fortified tower. The Ogilvie Watertower was one of the first water towers in Minnesota to be constructed of reinforced concrete, cast in place by the Circular Concrete Company of Minneapolis in 1918. While other concrete water towers were built, they tended to leak at the base of the internal tank, and most have been demolished. The Ogilvie Watertower remains one of the few examples of its type still standing.
At the same time the tower was built, the village installed an improved water system that allowed Ogilvie to organize its first volunteer fire department. After being extensively restored and repainted in 1977, the water tower was finally decommissioned in August 2011. A public ceremony and a parade were held to commemorate the event and dedicate its modern replacement.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Friendly Jane
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