Waldo Water Tower
Introduction
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Constructed in 1920, the Frank T. Riley Memorial is commonly referred to as the Waldo Water Tower by Kansas City residents. It has been the centerpiece of the Waldo neighborhood's Tower Park since its creation in 1944. Riley was a publisher and the Waldo neighborhood resident who sold this land to the city. After he died shortly before the dedication of this tower, the decision was made to name the tower in his honor. This concrete tower is known for its 12-sided castle-like facade, an aesthetic that masked its practicality in providing water pressure to the Waldo neighborhood, which had been annexed by the city in 1909 and was at a higher elevation than the older neighborhoods to the north. Using one of the most important building innovations of the early twentieth century, steel-reinforced concrete, this water tower became one of the largest standpipes of its kind when it was placed in service. The tower acted as both reservoir and standpipe once it was connected to the network of underground tunnels that connected tributaries of the Kansas River to the city's pumping stations. The tower was renovated in 1939 and operated until 1957. In the years following a 1962 tragedy, when a young man fell from the tower, the structure slowly fell into disrepair but remained a beloved local landmark with its parapets and arched windows. Thanks to the efforts of residents and preservationists, a 2015 restoration effort repaired the structure's aging concrete and added lights to the top of the tower, allowing this Waldo landmark to join other Kansas City structures that are lit in the color of local sports teams.
Images
The castle-like structure of Waldo Water Tower is now the centerpiece of Tower Park
A photo of the tower in the 1980s from the Kansas City Public Library
The body of James Royse found in Waldo Water Tower made headlines in local newspapers
The tower was dedicated in honor of Frank Riley who was buried at the Mount Washington cemetery
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
David Waldo purchased farmland in this area in 1841 and expanded his landholding to over a thousand acres. Known for his adventurous life as a trader and freighter along the Sante Fe Trail and in Mexico, Waldo lived in this area in his later years until his death in 1878. By the late 19th century, the former farmstead had grown into a thriving urban area with many businesses. Known as Waldo in recognition of the former landowner, the neighborhood was a stop along the Dodson Line, a small interurban railroad that connected Martin City and other communities to the former community of Dodson, which was centered on 85th and Prospect. Waldo and surrounding neighborhoods were annexed by Kansas City in 1909. With a growing population came increased demand for water, and with one of the highest elevations in the city, Waldo residents faced periods with little or no water pressure, given their distance from pumping stations along Turkey Creek and the Kansas River.
In 1919, the city purchased land for $14,000 from Kansas City publisher Frank T. Riley (1873-1920) and sought bids for a standpipe to solve the pressure issue. The winning design was created by Tifft Construction Company of Buffalo and was built by Kansas City's Finton Construction Company. The tower was completed in March 1920 at a cost totaling $68,050 and remains one of the largest reinforced concrete standpipes ever constructed. In 1938, a 10 million gallon reservoir was added to the Waldo Pumping Station to serve what was then the southernmost neighborhoods of the city. Experiments for using steel-reinforced concrete started in England in the 1830s, but methods standardizing the construction techniques were not standardized until 1916 when the Joint Committee on Concrete and Reinforced Concrete published their recommendation. The committee was created in 1904 for this purpose owing to the recognition that reinforced concrete could support numerous building projects, including reservoirs and dams.
With a capacity of one million gallons, this castle-like water tower is 110 feet tall with eighteen-inch walls and an interior diameter of forty feet, on top of a 56-foot diameter concrete base. The castle-like appearance was completed by adding a 23-foot ornamental structure at the top of the tower with 12 pilasters, each with an arched window opening and a frieze with cavetto molding and shield-shaped brackets. The standpipe was constructed using slip forms with concrete walls poured for fourteen continuous days. Newly mixed concrete was placed upon the already poured layers to build the tall structure. As a notable feature, the only joint in the structure is where the shaft meets the base, which was filled with hot asphalt intended to prevent water seepage. The asphalt did not seal completely, and as a result, the inside of the standpipe started leaking just days after operations started. The filler had cracked due to the temperature of the water, so, with fears of future freezing temperatures, the tower was drained and cleaned as extensive waterproofing methods began. There was no further leakage, and the tower solved Waldo's water pressure problems. The large tower held enough water to always offer sufficient pressure, even during heavy use.
A pumping station and a ten-million-gallon reservoir designed by Black and Veatch were added in 1939. In 1944, a few years after expansion, a 15-acre public park was created on the surrounding land, suitably named Tower Park, before the water tower was decommissioned in 1957. Today, the park offers a playground, walking trail, picnic shelters, and baseball diamonds, while the pumping station is still active and maintained by Kansas City Parks and Recreation. In addition, the fire and water departments and private companies use the many radio antennas at the tower.
The tower has been a Waldo landmark for generations, and older residents still recall a tragedy that shocked the community sixty years ago. On August 30, 1962, police and firefighters were called to the location. Days earlier, two neighborhood boys were climbing the tower and discovered a body inside, at the bottom of the shaft. With fears of being reprimanded for trespassing, they told only their friends, one of whom told her mother, who reported the findings. Since the standpipe was no longer in use, there were only a few feet of rainwater inside. After hours of scrutinous retrieval, authorities identified the body as James Everett “Jim” Royse (1942-1961). The twenty-year old man had been reported missing since November 25, 1961, two days after Thanksgiving the prior year. According to the coroner's report, the exact cause of death was unknown, and because of the 135-foot fall, all tissues were destroyed except bones, so it is not known whether Jim was pushed or accidentally fell. Recovery operations required the use of a jackhammer to create a hole, and signs of that operation were visible on the west side of the tower’s base until the 2010 restoration, which included concrete patching and other structural repairs and aesthetic improvements.
As the tower fell into disrepair and was often the site of graffiti at the end of the 20th century, a chainlink fence was added. Still, the costly work to repair the aging concrete was delayed, leading some in the neighborhood to predict that the structure would eventually earn the title "the leaning tower of Waldo." In 2009, local residents led by Kurtis Martinez established the Waldo Tower Historic Society and raised donations. After years of lobbying the city council, $850,000 was allocated for repairs completed in 2015. With donations from Waldo residents, the twelve-sided tower's arched windows and parapets were recovered along with its base, and lights were added to the top of the tower. Similar to other iconic Kansas City landmarks and downtown buildings, the tower is now lit blue ahead of Kansas City Royals games and red for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Sources
Euston, Diane. Where's Waldo: A Look into the Namesake of a South Kansas City Community, Martin City Telegraph. July 30th, 2023. Accessed November 16th, 2024.
Morgan, Joanne. Memorials, Find a Grave. October 20th 2012. Accessed November 15th, 2021. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99269029/james-everett-royse.
Missouri SP Waldo Water Tower, National Register. Accessed November 15th, 2021. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63819260.
History, Waldo KC. Accessed November 15th, 2021. https://www.waldokc.org/about/history/.
Gentile, Richard. Richard, MOberly. A Geologic Cross Section of the Missouri River Valley at Kansas City, Missouri. Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Land Survey, 1995.
Cummings, Ian. "Waldo Tower makeover is a victory for neighborhood activist." Kansas City Star April 19th, 2015.
Obituary of Frank T. Riley, Kansas City Star, May 8, 1920
Photo by David Trowbridge, 2024
https://kchistory.org/image/waldo-water-tower
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99269029/james-everett-royse
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33590901/frank-teal-riley