The Sheffield Standpipe

There's not a man or woman from Sheffield alive now who can tell you they knew a time when there was not a tall metal cylinder at the head of Montgomery Avenue called The Standpipe.  There are quite a few ladies and gentlemen from Sheffield who can tell you tales of romance that involve The Standpipe.  This is our city's icon.  It was fitting that Mayor Anderson and his wife picked this photo for their 2007 Christmas card.

This place seems to have been considered the natural location for the water reservoir for the first citizens of Sheffield, even though the plans for the city drawn up by Capt. Alfred Moses in 1884 designated the hill behind the present location of Sheffield High School to be the site of a water reservoir.  It was in 1883 that Capt. Moses and Col. Gordon purchased the land that would become Sheffield.  Over the following year they laid out the plans for the city and prepared for the first land sale in May 1884.  Capt. Moses took charge of the infrastructure development, and a month before the land sale, Maj. Otis of the Bellmont Coal Co. began drilling for water on the corner of Montgomery Ave. and 12th Street, 2 blocks south of the present location of the Standpipe.  A wooden water tower was constructed where we see the Standpipe today.

1884 map of Sheffield with location of Reservoir Hill and the future standpipe

Because the drilling struck rock at 60 feet and again at 100 feet without producing an artesian well, the Water Works considered using Plan A, the pumping of water into a structure built on Reservoir Hill.  This plan was never executed, however.  Instead of an artesian well to supply water for Sheffield, the Water Works Board decided to pump water directly from the Tennessee River into the Montgomery Avenue water tower--raw, untreated water, mind you.  The water tower was pumped full by the first week in February, 1885.

The pump house was built on giant screws which could be used to elevate or lower the pump house with the level of the river.  This was a design error that became evident the following April when the Tennessee River rose unexpectedly more than the worst case scenario plans called for.  The pumps were submerged and could not work.  Sheffield was without water until the flood subsided.

This facility and the Riverside Park were accessed from this end of the park by a winding stairway from the top of the bluff down to the river.  It was equipped with platforms along the steep and arduous climb so that climbers could rest as they needed.  Riverside Park extended upriver at the base of the bluff to Jackson's Landing.  Jackson's Landing is the hollow directly in front of SHS, and it gradually descended to the river.  Most likely this was the "front entrance" to the park that would normally be used.

All went well with the Water Works for a little more than a decade.  Then, on the morning of May 19, 1902, "the big tank of the Sheffield Water Works, at the head of Montgomery Avenue, fell to the ground with a resounding crash heard throughout the City.  There were no casualties.  The tank had been leaking for some time past, so the collapse was no surprise to the citizens.  The tank was elevated on piling to a distance of about 60 feet and was a landmark from all parts of the surrounding country.  The water company is able to pump direct into the lines so the City will not have a water famine.  The tank contained 90,000 gallons of water at time of collapse."

Then, four months later, D. A. Tompkins and Associates were granted the authority to construct and operate water and electric light systems in Sheffield.  He welched on the contract, so J. W. Worthington, on the promise to begin construction at once, was given the franchise.  By March 1903, the newly formed "Sheffield Company" started construction on the new water system.  Fourteen months later, huge pumps pulled water from the Tennessee River into holding tanks at the Power House.  This time, the water went to a water purification plant which consisted of settling tanks and a filtration system which supplied water to the Standpipe.

This system supplied enough water for both Sheffield and Tuscumbia.  The minutes of the Water Works Board said that it was 98% pure.

Two vignettes from the Tennessee Valley Historical Association's tenth volume of the series, Historic Muscle Shoals  (the "Buildings and Sites" volume):

In Historic Structure No. 73, the 1904 Water Tank, the collapse of the original water tower spilling 90,000 gallons onto Montgomery Avenue is described.  We are told that the rush of water coming down Montgomery avenue caught a man and his mule and wagon and washed him "clean to Tuscumbia."

A standpipe story contributed by Carole Driskell: 

In the late 1970's or early 1980's the City Council & Utilities Department became concerned that the Standpipe was not structurally safe and needed to be torn down and another water tank constructed at another location. 

Tommy Brocato was on the Council at that time and he told them that you could not tear down a landmark.  Besides he had proposed to Phyllis sitting in a 1957 Chevrolet under the Standpipe. 

Some divers were called in from TVA to inspect the inside of the tank, and engineers examined the structure.  It was found to be sound.  Some work was done on the stone base, and there it stands today, a landmark and a monument to romance.

Ed Note:  My wife, a Florence girl, tells me that all the girls at Coffee High knew about The Sheffield Standpipe being a "lovers' lane."

Here's a 1886 engraving depicting one of the earliest Sheffield scenes, looking up Montgomery Avenue from First Street (near the railroad tracks).  The building is the Cleveland Hotel, the first major building built on Montgomery Avenue.  If you get out your magnifying glass, you can see that the artist has drawn in something at the north end of the street that looks like a squat water tower that resembles the base of the present day standpipe.  On this date, of course, this was the wooden water tower.

Drawing from the R. B. Burt collection, published in Sheffield - City on the Bluff (1885-1985)

This is the magnified view of the north end of Montgomery Avenue in the drawing on the left.  It shows the barely recognizable early version of the Sheffield water tower. 

Click the pic

Look at the progress in this boom town!  This drawing was done only one year later in 1887, and many sizeable buildings have gone up in this interval.  This is an amazing fact when you learn that a nationwide panic over the depression caused by failure of two of the largest banks in the country was in full force.

What's of interest to us in this drawing is the clearer depiction of the Sheffield Standpipe.

Drawing from the R. B. Burt collection, published in Sheffield - City on the Bluff (1885-1985)

Detail from the drawing at the left, showing the definite shape and form of the early version of the Sheffield Standpipe--the wooden water tower.

The Standpipe was the most popular spot in Sheffield for posed photographs.  These local carpenters dressed up for their group portrait on Labor Day, 1907.

From the collection of Mrs. Martha Weatherby, published in Sheffield - City on the Bluff (1885-1985)

This view from the Sheffield Standpipe, looking south on Montgomery Avenue in 1890 shows the first residential development with graded roadbed and brick sidewalk (east side of the street).  The reporter for the Sheffield Daily Enterprise didn't think much of the Sheffield transportation infrastructure when he wrote, "Last night was dark, damp and muddy. . . . The brick sidewalk might as well be elsewhere for all the good it does."

Photo from the R. B. Burt collection, published in Sheffield - City on the Bluff (1885-1985)