Someone asked if I had ever mapped out the remaining water towers in Detroit and now I have.

Historically, water towers were built to provide fire protection. Buildings were constructed close together making it easier for fire to spread across several buildings at once. For Detroit’s industrial sector that meant even higher risk of fire at a time when fire departments and services were rudimentary and often volunteer based. The infamous fire of 1805 was contained by a bucket brigade. Detroit hired its first paid fire crew in 1860. By 1900, Detroit had 476 paid firefighters and in 1922 fully transitioned from horses to motorized fire engines manufactured by Packard Motor Company.

In many cities, water towers were often the tallest structure because they were built on the rooftops of buildings. As a result water towers became directional markers and community symbols. Numerous changes, including deindustrialization and demolitions have removed many water towers from Detroit’s skyline. Notably the water tower on the Packard Plant was demolished, the Boblo Boat parking deck water tower, and other were repurposed. When Wayne State University began renovating the Dalgleish Cadillac dealership, the old water tower was saved and repurposed at the El Moore Lodge as an entryway to their garden.

The existing and demolished water towers in Detroit follow the historic industrial location pattern before the 1930s. Usually the first water tower people think of is the Detroit Zoo water tower with the great animal mural. To put this dataset together I started with the most photographed water towers in the city. There is a pair of water towers in Eastern Market along the Dequindre Cut that get photographed often and the water tower at the Packard Plant had been a favorite because it was so tall until it met the wrecking ball. An odd shaped water tower on Guoin Street (Rivertown) regularly makes it into images that place it in front of Downtown and there is a historic water tower right Downtown across from the Renaissance Center that makes for an epic image when juxtaposed with the rest of Downtown. Other notable water towers are the Highland Park water treatment plant tower, the water tower on top of the apartments at Cherry Street and Brooklyn in Corktown, and the water tower on top of the H&M store that Shepherd Fairey used for an Obey Giant installation when he came to make murals for Dan Gilbert.