Milwaukee Water Works North Point Water Tower

The Victorian Gothic-style tower is a decorative cover over an open standpipe that absorbed pulsations of water from steam engines in the pumping station below the hill. The tower was first placed in service on September 14, 1874, when the two North Point Pumping Station pumps first drew water from Lake Michigan. The water moved through an underwater crib and a 36-inch-diameter, 2,100-foot-long intake pipe, and up the bluff into the water tower standpipe. From the top of the bluff, the water surged into a 21-million-gallon reservoir and throughout a 58-mile distribution system under the growing city.

Electricity replaced steam in 1963 and the standpipe was taken out of active service.

The fanciful and charming structure was designed by architect Charles A. Gombert. It is similar in design to the Chicago Water Tower, but the North Point Water Tower is four years younger and 21 feet taller, at 175 feet. The tower is built of cream-colored cut limestone from the Hiram and Horace Story Quarry (later the site of Milwaukee County Stadium and now Miller Park.) The exterior is made of Cream City Brick and trimmed with dressed limestone.