The Waldo water tower, officially called the Frank T. Riley Memorial, is a white, castle-like tower in the Waldo neighborhood of south

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, United States.

Description

The structure was a functioning water tower from 1920 until 1957. The tower was pictured each year from 1929 to 1946 in the '' World Book Encyclopedia'' as an early example of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

. It was listed in 1975 as Missouri's first American Water Landmark by the

American Water Works Association American Water Works Association (AWWA) is an international non-profit, scientific and educational association founded to improve water quality and supply. Established in 1881, it is a lobbying organization representing a membership (as of 2012) o ...

, and is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The 12-sided tower is tall, with walls thick, and a capacity of . The tower is topped by

crenellations A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

and 12 arched windows. It was constructed using a 14-day continuous pour. In August 1962, the remains of a 20-year-old man missing since the previous November were discovered in the bottom of the tower. To retrieve the body, a hole was created near the bottom of the tower. The location of that hole is still visible on the west side of the tower. The tower is currently protected from vandals and climbers by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire.James Everett "Jim" Royse
from

Find a Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...

. In 2015, the Kansas City Council set aside $850,000 to renovate the tower.Waldo Tower makeover a victory for neighborhood activist
a May 19, 2015 article from ''The Kansas City Star''.

References

External links

National Register of Historic Places nomination form for the tower (PDF)
from th
Missouri Department of Natural Resources website

published by th
Tower Homes Association
a Waldo community organization named for the tower

from the Kansas City, Missouri website
Waldo Tower Historic Society
a 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit organization founded to foster public awareness and focus efforts to rehabilitate and preserve the tower {{National Register of Historic Places Infrastructure completed in 1919 Towers completed in 1919 Buildings and structures in Kansas City, Missouri Water towers in Missouri Water towers on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri National Register of Historic Places in Kansas City, Missouri

Description

See also

References

External links