Built in the late nineteenth century to supply water to Mendocino’s residents, water towers have become an iconic image in Mendocino’s skyline. At the height of their use, there were more than 100 water towers in Mendocino, giving the village the nickname “The Town of Water Towers.”
Water towers were not an uncommon sight across the country in the 1800s, especially in California, but Mendocino had many. In 1892, journalist Ninetta Eames wrote in Overland Monthly that “One has the first glimpse of Mendocino City, one of the oldest and most picturesque of all the coast towns … Viewed from a distance on shore or at sea the city seems to have an imposing array of cupolas, which are in reality water tanks, with windmills of every known pattern. There is in fact an individuality about the water works of this town not found in any other place of its size.”
The water towers were designed to hold water to be fed into peoples’ homes and for fire suppression. Mendocino’s water table was and is very shallow, which limits fresh ground water storage. The land also slopes to the sea, causing water to drain off quickly. Without a municipal water system, residents dug individual wells and used water towers to collect water year-round.
The towers were built near the wells with a windmill atop the tank. Most were between 30-60 feet high to catch the wind, and with the power from the windmills, a pump would bring water up from the well into the tank. The height also generated enough pressure for water to be pushed through pipes into peoples’ homes.
For many years, residents lived with the constant noise that came with living on the windy coast. Eames wrote, “When the wind blows, and there is rarely a day here it does not, these diverse windmills set up a medley of discordant creaks and groans, each pitched in a different key, and whether heard singly or collectively, all equally nerve-rending. It is presumable one could get used to the constant slapping, straining, and screeching, for nowhere are there people more serene, healthy, and home-loving, than in this breezy town of Mendocino.”
In 1900, self-oiling windmills with metal blades became widely accessible, cutting down on noise. By the 1930s, gasoline engines replaced the wind and gravity power, later followed by electric pumps. The windmills were slowly removed from the tanks, and today visitors can only see the water towers sprinkling the Mendocino skyline.
Averee McNear is the curator at the Kelley House Museum in Mendocino, Calif.