Chicago Water Tower

    This is one of Chicago's most famous attractions. This water tower which is located on 806 North Michigan Avenue is one of the few lucky buildings to survive the great Chicago Fire of 1871. The water tower is about 154 ft tall and has a 136 ft water pump on the inside. The water pump used to pump water back when it was made, but when the direction of the Chicago river was reversed, then the water tower stopped pumping. The water toer is in the Loyola University campus. The tower was later restored in 1962. The restoration really wasn't a big one. They just polished the building up a little. The water tower is the second oldest water tower in the United States.

    The water tower was built in 1869. The tower is constucted with limestone. The water tower has small neo-gothic towers surround it on the base and people say that it resembles european medievel towers. The water tower became obsolete in 1906 which means that it doesn't work anymore. What most people don't know is that the tower's design inspired many designs for White Castles. The architect that constructed this fabulous water tower was William W. Boyington.

Hours- Monday-Saturday 10 a.m to 6:30 p.m- Sunday 10 a.m to 5 p.m

There is public parking but iit is very limited.

Public parking facilities are located near by for as low as $10

Sources

Old Water Tower, October 27th 2007, A View On Cities.com , May 7th 2011, <www.aviewoncities.com/chicago/watertower.htm>

City Gallery in the Historic Water Tower, February 2nd 2008, ExploreChicago.com, May 10th 2011,<explorechicago.org/city/en/things_see_do/attractions/dca_tourism/water_tower.html>