Riverside Water Tower

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The Riverside Water Tower, circa 1915, after it was rebuilt and painted
following a 1913 fire.  Photo courtesy of the Riverside Historical Museum.

Riverside Water Tower

10 Pine Avenue

Riverside, IL

Website:  Riverside Historical Museum

The Treasure:  A charming Swiss Gothic water tower is the centerpiece of Riverside, one of the first (and most artistically designed) planned communities in the country.

Background:  In 1868, the Riverside Improvement Company commissioned the firm of Olmsted, Vaux & Co. to develop a plan for “a perfect village in a perfect setting.” Here is the general plan drawn up by the firm’s principals, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux:

The 1869 General Plan of Riverside by Olmsted, Vaux & Co., Landscape Architects.
Image courtesy of the Riverside Historical Museum.

The choice of Olmsted, Vaux & Co. demonstrates the great ambition behind the Riverside Improvement Company. They wanted their little suburban community, located just two miles outside the Chicago city limits, to shine and so they retained the services of Frederick Law Olmsted, fresh off his acclaimed work on New York City’s Central Park.

Olmsted rejected the grid systems that many American towns were based upon. Note how there are few right angles in this plan—the town gracefully takes its contours from the curves of the DesPlaines River. The details include picturesque green parkways and cobblestone gutters. Even within the main areas designated for development, many triangular islands of parkland are dispersed. The proposed lots were large (typically 100’ x 200’), with recommendations to encourage residents to plant trees in their yards.

In keeping with their bold plan for creating a perfect village, the Riverside Improvement Company decided to splurge on a state-of-the-art water tower that would assert the forward-looking nature of the community. To design the water tower, Olmsted recommended William Le Baron Jenney, an innovative architect who would soon achieve international fame with his steel-frame design of Chicago’s Home Insurance Building, generally recognized as the world’s first skyscraper.

Jenney adopted a fanciful Swiss Gothic design for the Riverside Water Tower. Rising 70 feet high from a sloping stone base, the main shaft of the Water Tower was accented with decorative red and cream brick. Beneath the cone-shaped slate roof, an observation deck offered attractive views of Riverside and nearby Chicago. Inside the Water Tower, the engine room was fitted with the latest in steam-driven pumps.

The Water Tower fire of January 1913.
Photo courtesy of the Riverside Historical Museum.

Olmsted’s direct involvement with the village was short-lived as the Riverside Improvement Company went broke in the early 1870s. Nevertheless, his plan for the town was largely adopted by the newly incorporated Village of Riverside. In 1913, a fire destroyed much of the Water Tower, but the village rebuilt it, increasing its height and replacing the steam pumps with a new electrical system. The 2003 Save America’s Treasures project restored the Water Tower to its 1913 appearance with a renovation of such quality that it received a 2006 Design Excellence Distinguished Award from the American Institute of Architects.

Other Recommended Sites:  Learn more about the village’s history at the Riverside Historical Museum, located in the East and West Well Houses on Centennial Square next to the Water Tower. And print out the museum’s two-page self-guided walking tour to explore the village at leisure following a visit to the museum.

The original Riverside Water Tower and Well Houses as they looked
before the fire, circa 1899.
Photo courtesy of the Riverside Historical Museum.

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© 2012 Lee Price