{"id":430,"date":"2014-07-23T02:01:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T02:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=430"},"modified":"2015-01-09T16:15:31","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T21:15:31","slug":"pittsburgh-water-towers-of-all-shapes-and-sizes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/07\/23\/pittsburgh-water-towers-of-all-shapes-and-sizes\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh water towers of all shapes and sizes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"July <\/a>
July 14, 1940: A Public Works Administration project in the Lincoln Ave. District. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sept. <\/a>
Sept. 12, 1953: A new water tank in West Mifflin, filled with 7.5 million gallons. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sept. <\/a>
Sept. 26, 1962: This Florence, Ky., tower was fabricated and erected by Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Co. and was the first of its kind \u2014 a 100-foot-high Hydro Pillar. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Aug. <\/a>
Aug. 31, 1969: A 20-story water tower used to serve a Westinghouse nuclear reactor in Westmoreland County became expendable after just 11 years. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"And <\/a>
And so… <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"...it <\/a>
…it came… <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"...down. <\/a>
…down. (The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jan. <\/a>
Jan. 27, 1966: Industrial designers Peter Muller-Munk Associates drew this concept of the elevated steel water tank of the future. (Credit: Handout) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

After our unexpected and tedious aquatic encounter<\/a> last week at \u201cThe Digs,\u201d you might think we would never want to write about water again.<\/p>\n

You would be wrong.<\/p>\n

We stumbled across a folder in the archive labeled \u201cWater tanks & towers,\u201d which contains about a century of Pittsburgh water storage history.<\/p>\n

Not interesting on its face, perhaps, but the variations do tell a few stories.<\/p>\n

There was, for example, the Public Works Administration storage tank in the Lincoln Avenue District \u2014 near Bellevue \u2014 that The Pittsburgh Press featured in 1940. The newspaper decided to check in that year on PWA projects in Pennsylvania, which totaled $309 million \u2014 $61.6 of which were in Allegheny County.<\/p>\n

That shiny tank, which looks something like a kitchen flour container, cost $3 million to build in the 1930s.<\/p>\n

A similar-looking tank was built in West Mifflin on Session Street. The view captured by an uncredited newspaper photographer is not dissimilar to one seen today in Google Street View<\/a>.\u00a0It would give residents there, The Pittsburgh Press wrote, \u201cstronger pressure and a steadier flow from their taps.\u201d\u00a0Such infrastructure improvements were key to that era\u2019s postwar growth.<\/p>\n

And in addition to the tumbling sequence of a Westinghouse tower tank that was just 11 years old at the time of its demise, another picture that ran in The Press was perhaps most striking.<\/p>\n

In the 1960s, a Pittsburgh-based industrial design firm created the water tower of the future. It looks straight out of \u201cThe Jetsons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take an elevator up above the water and enjoy the view, those tiny people would seem to be saying.<\/p>\n

For some reason, the idea never caught on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The variations in water towers tell a few stories.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesPittsburgh water towers of all shapes and sizes<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[946],"tags":[983,1025,1222,1223],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tumblr_n94t4lCX4N1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C929&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2292,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/11\/14\/gas-explosions-in-1927-on-pittsburghs-north-side\/","url_meta":{"origin":430,"position":0},"title":"Gas explosions in 1927 on Pittsburgh’s North Side","date":"November 14, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The tanks were never rebuilt. Today, the Rivers Casino occupies the site.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/tumblr_mdeci1rxx31rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C905&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4705,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/01\/07\/pittsburghs-fallout-shelters\/","url_meta":{"origin":430,"position":1},"title":"Pittsburgh’s fallout shelters","date":"January 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Allegheny County once nearly purchased a hole in the ground for $30,000.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Fallout-shelters-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C883&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":841,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/03\/21\/pittsburgh-from-the-air\/","url_meta":{"origin":430,"position":2},"title":"Pittsburgh from the air","date":"March 21, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Pittsburgh\u2019s skyline is one of the most photogenic in the country.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_n2rdpa9BUd1rr5swxo3_1280.jpg?fit=1000%2C644&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2289,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/11\/14\/behind-this-picture-lies-a-tragic-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":430,"position":3},"title":"Behind this picture lies a tragic story","date":"November 14, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"How that story ends is a mystery, one you may be able to help solve.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/tumblr_mdedc2irjR1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C892&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":785,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/04\/09\/monongahela-oil-spill\/","url_meta":{"origin":430,"position":4},"title":"The 1988 Monongahela oil spill","date":"April 9, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"It was the second largest oil spill in the history of Western Pennsylvania.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/tumblr_n3qbrkXWec1rr5swxo3_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C829&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8814,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2018\/06\/12\/picturing-the-drug-raids-of-the-just-say-no-era\/","url_meta":{"origin":430,"position":5},"title":"Picturing the drug raids of the ‘Just Say No’ era","date":"June 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"If there\u2019s one thing all middle-schoolers learn in health class, it\u2019s that you don\u2019t have to do drugs to be cool. 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