For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
NPS property number 16000533
With its construction in 1914, the 147-foot tall Manassas Water Tower signaled the community’s pivot from a small rural town to a modern city with a planned infrastructure. It arose during an era when elevated steel water tanks, first developed beginning in the 1890s, emerged as common landmarks in communities throughout the U.S. As a central component of its first municipal waterworks, the Manassas tower’s 75,000-gallon capacity supported community-wide fire protection in a pressurized system, while offering residents clean, abundant water. The oldest surviving public water tower in Northern Virginia at the time of its listing, the Manassas tower conforms to a then-popular design distinguished by a conical roof, a riveted steel tank with a rounded bottom, set atop four lattice-channel posts with diagonal tie rods. The Manassas tower was the first water tower to be individually listed during the Virginia Landmarks Register’s first 50 years.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated April 4, 2018
