Roanoke Water Tower

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, in my own words. Now, the Great Depression had a way of wringing the life out of a town before it even got started, and Roanoke, Texas was young enough that it couldn't afford to let that happen. A newly incorporated community needs a few things to survive, and near the top of that list, right up there with grit and stubbornness, is water.

Enter Hugh H. Jenkins, Roanoke's first Mayor. First.

As in, the man helped build the whole enterprise from the ground up. Jenkins wasn't content to let the water situation stay scattered and improvised. In 1934, he consolidated Roanoke's water system under the city, pulled it all together under one roof, so to speak, and then he went looking for money to do something real with it.

He applied for Public Works Administration funding. Now, a lot of folks applied for a lot of things during the Depression. Jenkins got it.

With that funding in hand, construction on the Roanoke Water Tower began, and by 1936 that tower was standing. And when I say standing, I mean standing. Approximately one hundred and fifty feet tall, perched on four steel legs, holding a steel tank with a capacity of one hundred thousand gallons.

That is not a modest structure. That is a statement. That is a town saying it intends to stick around.

For years, that tower was the primary water source for the community, the whole town drinking from what Jenkins had the foresight to fight for in the middle of the hardest economic stretch this country ever knew. It doesn't pump water anymore. But it's still there, rising above Roanoke, a hundred and fifty feet of steel memory.

Some landmarks mark history. This one helped make it.

What the marker says

Built during the Great Depression, the Roanoke Water Tower was the town's primary water source. Hugh H. Jenkins, Roanoke's first Mayor, advocated for the well and water system to help the newly-incorporated community grow. In 1934, he consulidated Roanoke's water system under the city and applied for public works administration funding, which was granted and used for the tower's 1936 construction. Approximately 150 feet tall, the tower contains a 100,000 gallon capacity steel tank and stands on four steel legs. Though no longer in use, the tower was a vital part of Roanoke's growth and remains a local landmark.