Dell Rapids Water Tower

The Dell Rapids Water Tower is a stone water tower located at 10th and Orleans Streets in Dell Rapids, South Dakota. Dell Rapids had a large fire in 1888, which burned the south side of Main Street. A few years later another fire destroyed the office of the newspaper, The Dell Rapids Times. The editor campaigned that a water system should be constructed. A water works was developed and the town's first water tower was built in 1894.[2]

Dell Rapids Water Tower
Dell Rapids Water Tower is located in South Dakota
Dell Rapids Water Tower
Dell Rapids Water Tower is located in the United States
Dell Rapids Water Tower
Location10th and Orleans, Dell Rapids, South Dakota
Coordinates43°49′47″N 96°42′32″W / 43.82972°N 96.70889°W / 43.82972; -96.70889
Arealess than one acre
Built1894 (1894)
NRHP reference No.84003356[1]
Added to NRHPFebruary 23, 1984

The 45-foot (14 m) water tower is built with Sioux quartzite, a type of red-pink rock found in southern South Dakota, southwest Minnesota, and northwest Iowa. The tower provided water to Dell Rapids until 1960, when the city constructed a new tower. It is the only stone water tower remaining in South Dakota.[3]

The tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1984.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ Mathis, Gregory. "STEEL WATER TOWERS ASSOCIATED WITH SOUTH DAKOTA WATER SYSTEMS, 1894-1967: An Historic Context" (PDF). South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office. p. 19. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  3. ^ "Dell Rapids Granite Water Tower" (PDF). Archaeology & Historic Preservation Month 2013. South Dakota State Historical Society. Retrieved March 9, 2014.