A detailed study of the current state of the Tower and what it will take to rehabilitate and preserve it was performed in the spring and summer of 2010. The full text of that review (with lots of pictures and detail) can be found here.
The general design of the Tower was developed by the Tiffit Construction Company of Buffalo, New York. Theirs was one of several designs submitted to the then consolidated Fire and Water Board. George E. Kessler, Landscape Engineer for the Kansas City Park Board (as such was one of the men prominent in the design of Kansas City’s brilliant park and boulevard system) and W.C. Goodwin, Chief Engineer and Superintendent of the Water Department selected this design.
The right to use the design was purchased, and the Engineering Department of the Water Department of Kansas City, Missouri completed the design details. They also drew up the specifications and advertised for bids. In June, 1919, the contract was awarded to Finton Construction Company of Kansas City, Missouri for $50,000. The total cost of the Tower, including pipe connections, valves, and beautifying the grounds was $68,050.
The Tower is constructed of reinforced concrete. The emergence of reinforced concrete as a building material is a twentieth century phenomenon. This physical expression in concrete is the result of nineteenth century inquiries and experiments. Experiments in structural reinforcement by the insertion of metal rods were conducted in England in the 1830′s. A patent was issued to P. Summer in 1844 by the United States Government for metal lathing. Thaddeus Hyatt in 1878 ended ‘the period of discovery’ and put the theory of reinforced concrete construction on a rational bases. The interest in and use of reinforced concrete construction became so widespread that the Joint Committee on Concrete and Reinforced Concrete was created in 1904 with the purpose of composing standardized rules and methods of design. Finally, in 1916 easily intelligible charts for the use of the material were published.
In the nineteenth century, even as late as 1899, standpipes were constructed of metal tubing sheathed in rock for protection from the weather.
By 1916 the use of concrete for reservoirs and dams was well known. Charts calculating water pressure at various depths were available to designers. Its use for standpipes was short lived; it was, however, an innovative and challenging use of the material.
The Waldo Water Tower was characterized as “one of the largest reinforced concrete standpipes ever attempted…” Because of the unusual size, its almost monolithic construction is notable. Designer’s charts advised, concerning joints, that “it is desirable to cast the entire structure at one operation, but as this is not always possible, especially in large structures, it is necessary…that the resulting joint may have the least possible effect on the strength of the structure.” The only joint in this structure is the base. This unusual design was possible because of the use of easily movable slip forms on jacks which permitted the also unusual continuous 14 day pouring.
The Finton Construction Company, the contractors of the Tower, appear in the Kansas City, Missouri city directories in 1917. The president of the company was Walter L. Finton. In 1921 the company’s name was changed to the Finton Engineering Company. It was not listed in 1922.
Frank Teal Riley, for whom the Tower was originally named, was the owner of the site upon which the Tower was erected. He was a well-known Kansas Citian. Born October 2, 1873, Riley was a graduate of the University of Nebraska where he was a member of the Delta Tau fraternity. For over 21 years he was in the publishing business in Kansas City. At the time of his death, he was the owner and president of the Frank T. Riley Publishing Company, a well-known firm which published law briefs and commercial works. Active fraternally, he was a member of the Rotary and the Kansas City Athletic Club; Riley was a Thirty-Second Degree Mason. Riley died May 7, 1920 and is buried in Mount Washington Cemetery, Independence, Missouri.
The City of Kansas City purchased the land for the water tower from Riley and his wife, Grace Morgan Riley, for $14,000.
The Waldo Water Tower received its present name from the surrounding neighborhood and nearby business district.
Around the turn of the century, Waldo was a station for the Dodson Dummy Line, a small interurban railroad. Although it had a postmaster from 1899 until 1902, Waldo never grew into a town. In 1909 the area was annexed to Kansas City, Missouri. The name has endured.
David Waldo, the man after whom the area was named, was, in the 1870′s, the owner of the land on which the later station was sighted. Born in 1802, Waldo was variously a doctor, a Santa Fe freighter and banker, and a wealthy Jackson County, Missouri landowner. He died in 1878 of an overdose of morphine.
Taken from the National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form, May, 1977
The Waldo Water Tower has been a Kansas City, Missouri landmark since its completion in March, 1920 The Tower is recognized as an American Water Landmark by the American Water Works Association. The design successfully employed contemporary construction techniques on an ambitious scale. The Tower originally bore the name of the Frank Teal Riley Memorial.
For 89 years the Waldo Water Tower has been visually prominent on the skyline of south Kansas City. In an area which has been almost exclusively residential since its construction, the Tower has stood out against the sky for several miles in all directions.
In 1934 the Tower was used as a sighting point by the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Water department facilities at the site were expanded in 1939 with the addition of a 12 million gallon underground reservoir and booster pumping station (demolished soon after the construction of the present pumping station in 1955-1957).
In 1944 a benefit public park was created on the land surrounding the Tower. The park received its name from that landmark. Tower Park compromises approximately 15 acres. It is a neighborhood park with a picnic shelter and baseball diamonds. Its grassy lawns provide playing fields for neighborhood children. The Tower has often been inscribed with the names, initials, and insignia of sweethearts and high school organizations. To prevent access to the Tower, it has been enclosed by a ten foot chain link fence and a portion of the ladded removed.
The standpipe was removed from service in 1957.
In 1965, by mutual agreement between the Water and Parks and Recreation departments of Kansas City, Missouri, the maintenance of the Waldo Water Tower was transferred to the Parks and Recreation Department.
The parapet of the tower is presently used as the location for several mobile radio antennae. The Fire and Water departments and several private companies use these antennae thus continuing the practial use of the structure.
On October 6, 1973, the Board of Trustees of the Missouri Section, American Water Works Association recognized the Tower as a community landmark. In May of the following year it was proposed as an American Water Landmark. On January 27, 1975, the Waldo Water Tower was designated as an American Water Landmark.
Taken from the National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form, May, 1977
The Waldo Tower Historic Society was formed in 2009 to protect, preserve, and improve the water tower located in Tower Park at 75th and Holmes in Kansas City, Missouri. We are a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation and most donations are tax deductible.
We are looking for stories, pictures, and other recollections of the Tower from any time in its 89 year history. Please take a look around the site if you are interested in the Tower and the park surrounding it; if you feel we are missing something or have misstated something please let us know!
Our plans include forming partnerships with the Kansas City Water Department as well as with corporations or individuals that recognize the historical significance and aesthetic properties of the Tower.
Please contact us if you have any questions, and thanks for looking in!