Belton Standpipe
a.k.a. #38
NW of jct. of TX 317 & I-35, Belton, TXThe Belton Standpipe is a product of early 20th-century engineering design and the growth in municipal services in the early 20th century. Contextually it relates to Community and Regional Development, specifically to the provision of Belton city services prior to World War I. It is eligible for listing in the National Register under Criterion A, in the area of Community Planning and Development, for its association with the initial provision of public services in Belton; and under Criterion c, significant in the area of Engineering, as a rare surviving example of an early reinforced concrete public works structure. The standpipe relates to the "infrastructure" property type.
The Belton Standpipe was built in 1914 as a water tower for the city of Belton. No longer in use, the tower once was crucial element water of the town's water system and one of its great points of pride. It was built at a time when Belton was experiencing rapid growth and its city leaders were attempting to modernize the town's utilities (see Historic Context for more information). Concrete standpipes such as this were once fairly common, but most were later replaced by steel water towers. The Belton Standpipe is a rare surviving example of its type. It is also significant as an early example of reinforced poured concrete construction, a technology that in the early 1900s was just coming into wide use.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.