Bandera Water Works Complex

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Bandera Water Works Complex. Now settle in, because this is a story about water, votes, and a tin man standing a hundred feet tall over a little Hill Country town. Walter and Francis Ruge, Francis being born an Adamietz, created the Bandera Water Works to serve the businesses and residences of the town.

That was the beginning. But the story doesn't stop there. A man named Walter Trenklebach came along and bought the franchise in 1936, and he didn't just sit on what he'd acquired.

He extended the water main all the way out to the school and pushed hard for modernization. Then came 1938, and the people of Bandera had something to say about all of this. They went to the polls and they voted on whether to form a municipal water district.

Now, you might wonder how close that vote was. Eighty-six to one. Eighty-six to one.

Somewhere in Bandera, one lone soul voted no, and we will never know what was on that person's mind. The new municipal water district turned right around and bought Trenklebach's company and his equipment. And then came the money, federal Work Projects Administration funding, WPA money, and with it the capacity of the whole system was greatly increased.

What they built out there was something to see. A limestone pump station and operations building. A concrete reservoir, thirty feet in diameter, holding fifty thousand gallons.

And rising above it all, a hundred-foot steel water tower, called the tin man, holding sixty thousand gallons of water in the sky above Bandera. By March of 1941, all of it was complete, and this town was positioned for whatever population growth and intensity the future intended to send its way. One vote against, and a hundred-foot tin man watching over the valley.

That's Bandera.

What the marker says

Walter and Francis (Adamietz) Ruge created the Bandera Water Works to serve businesses and residences. Walter Trenklebach bought the franchise in 1936, extending the water main to the school and promoting modernization. In 1938, Bandera citizens voted 86 to 1 form a municipal water district, which bought Trenklebach's company and equipment. With federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) funding, capacity was greatly increased. The ew complex included a limestone pump station and operations building, 30-foot-diameter concrete reservoir with 50,000-gallon capacity, and 100-foot steel "tin man" water tower holding 60,000 gallons. Completed by March 1941, the improvements positioned the city for population growth and intensity. Recorded Texas Historical Landmark - 2021.