Water Tower – Green Forest AR

City:
Green Forest, AR

Site Type:
Infrastructure and Utilities, Water Supply

New Deal Agencies:
Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)

Description

“The town of Green Forest took advantage of the offerings of the Public Works Administration and applied to have a $45,561 waterworks installed. On July 26, 1935, the PWA awarded a $21,500 loan and a $19,590 grant for the project. A contract for $41,362 was awarded on November 14, 1935. The Green Forest Tribune reported on March 12, 1936, that “Mayor Claude Buell has received the first check to finance the waterworks project in Green Forest. . . . In a telephone conversation with Dickison and White, the engineers for the project, Mr. Buell was informed that work orders would be requested immediately, and that work would probably begin within ten days or two weeks.” It actually would be more than a year before ground would be broken for the project, however, and the Tribune offers no reason for the delay. The newspaper did announce on May 25, 1937, that “the best news to hit Green Forest in many a day is the announcement made by Construction Superintendent Ramsey Enix that work on the waterworks project will begin next week. A carload of cement was unloaded yesterday, and other materials are arriving. . . . While crews in double shifts are laying pipe, other crews will be at work on the pump house and reservoir at the well site, and on the tank to be located on the city lot in the center of town. About 50 or 60 men will be employed for several weeks on the project.” PWA records indicate that the project was finished on June 9, 1937, but that was not reported in the Green Forest Tribune, bumped from the headlines, perhaps, by a June 10 tornado that killed a seven-year-old boy and caused $200,000 in damage to property in the town.

The water tower is a Horton-style tank, named for either Chicago Bridge and Iron Works founder Horace E. Horton or his son, chief engineer George T. Horton. The Green Forest Water Tower continues to serve the people of the community to this day.

The Green Forest Water Tower remains today as a testament to the work of the Public Works Administration, a New Deal agency that put unemployed Americans to work during the Great Depression while bringing badly needed infrastructure to communities of all sizes throughout Arkansas.”

Source notes

https://www.arkansaspreservation.com/historic-properties/_search_nomination_popup.aspx?id=2328

Location Info


S. Springfield Ave. and E. Second St.
Green Forest, AR 72638

Coordinates: 36.33454587208719, -93.43578

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