The Third Sister

A painting of the historic Longford tower.

There were three similar water towers built in Kansas in the late 30's and early 40's by the WPA.  The three towers were made of concrete and were built in Longford, Barnard, and Mahaska.  I happened to find the Longford tower today.  Unfortunately, it was torn down and replaced with a generic blue standpipe that was funded by government grant money.  All that remains of it is a pile of sand and its two pump houses 1 mile west of town, now kept company by the new tower.  The two historic pump houses are impressive in their own right.  The old tower, which stood in town, was demolished about 15 years ago.  Longford is a city of 79 people located in Clay County, Kansas and is actively pursuing economic development and trying to attract citizens.

I talked with a former city council member who was on the Longford city council at the time.  The story was sad but yet different from our own.  Longford applied for funds to revamp its water system.  There was enough money left over from the construction so the remainder was used to demolish the old tower.  Some had fears of structural weaknesses and others wanted to save it. 



The pile of sand at the dead end is all that remains of the tower.

 The city council was in favor of saving it but did not want to remain responsible for its upkeep and liability.  The city offered to turn it over to a group of citizens if that group would accept that responsibility and raise money for its upkeep.  Unfortunately, in this case, the group that wanted to save it was unwilling to accept the responsibility.  The city then tore it down.  They used cranes in the demolition process and during the difficult task of taking it apart, a chunk fell on a crane, completely demolishing it. 

The council member, Bill Faidley, agreed that it was a unique structure, but without anyone willing to take the tower off the small town's hands, the city council really had no choice.  Our situation, however, is quite different.

The new tower.

Pump house One near the new tower.

Pump house Two a little further away.