Local History: Fresno's Water Tower

The Fresno Water Tower

Being a Fresno native, I’m sometimes surprised at all of the local places I have yet to visit. As all of you know I have an affinity for downtown Fresno, but it wasn’t always like that. As a teenager I remember thinking how scary it was to visit downtown. For some reason downtown had this stigma that there were a lot of bad people roaming the streets. Also, as a young driver, people made comments to me on how difficult it was to maneuver through the downtown, because of all the one-way streets. I believed that for a little bit, until I actually started visiting downtown. Downtown has always been fascinating to me. Yes, there are some one-way streets, and you’ll probably find more pedestrians then other parts of Fresno, but there’s so much more downtown has to offer. There’s good restaurants (check out this list), food trucks, the library, the Fulton Mall, the Grizzlies Stadium, as well as historic landmarks-which leads me to Fresno’s Historic Water Tower.

I follow someone on Instagram who takes beautiful pictures of downtown Fresno. One day I happened to win something from him, and we had planned to meet at the Water Tower. I knew where it was, as it’s a constant visual for me. It’s right by the library (which I frequent often), right across the street from the Veteran’s Memorial Building (where my daughter performs 2-3 times a year), and I’ve been to many events that are held in the field/parking lot across from it. (2444 Fresno St. 93721) However, up until this day, I had not been inside. I didn’t even know you could go inside until this year! So, when given this opportunity to meet at the Water Tower, I was excited!

Once I got there, I was extremely impressed with how quaint everything was. There is so much history within. I don’t want to share all of it with you, because I don’t want to take anything away from your experience if you go. However, I will give you a brief synopsis. The Fresno Water Tower was built in 1894. It was used to pump water to places in Fresno, including the historical Meux Home. The Water Tower was used all the way until 1963, when other water systems took over. The original plan for the Water Tower was to have a second and third floor, which would hold the Fresno Library. Sadly, that never happened. In 1931, the City of Fresno took ownership of the tower, and at some point they wanted to tear it down. Thankfully, people fought for that not to happen, and the Fresno Water Tower is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Fresno Water Tower now serves as a gift shop, visitor information center, and is a location each month for Art Hop. If you’d like to get more information of the history, I suggest you go in. The hours are Tuesday-Saturday from 10-4. I went during lunch time, and there were food trucks parked nearby, with open tables in a shaded area to sit and enjoy lunch. It wasn’t busy at all, and the volunteers inside were extremely friendly. They were very eager to share their knowledge and history of the Water Tower, and they showered me with information. I was told that they also give tours, and there is a docent who does this. The cool thing? The docent’s name is Spencer Kendig, who is the researcher who wrote the article you will see hanging inside. (I’m sharing the picture below, but you should see it in person.)

The next time you have a free 30 minutes or so, I suggest stopping by the Fresno Water Tower. It holds a wonderful bit of Fresno history.

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Tiffiny Reta

Tiffiny is a full time working mom, to 2 mostly wonderful children. She has her Master's in Education-Reading and Language Arts, and uses that degree to help the children of FresYes become better readers. She loves all things cupcakes, and the color pink. She also has a special knack for making people laugh, but she cannot dance to save her life-which kind of goes along with making people laugh.

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The Fresno Water Tower

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