At this locaton near the corner of West St. and Payne Ave. once stood Simcoe's first watertower, or stand pipe that provided the first public water supply to the town of Simcoe.
Constructed in 1907, it stood 65 ft high and had a capacity of 130,000 gallons. This allowed 64 fire hydrants around the town and up to 78 customers by 1908. One of the more curious features of the new water system was that the water pressure was used to operate the elevator in the Falls' Department store. It also operated the organs in both the First Baptist and Presbyterian churches. Water pressure was always low on a Sunday night after a busy day of church services and it was feared that there might be insufficient water remaining in the standpipe to fight a major fire.
The new water tower on Union St replaced this one in 1963.
Bring your own pen!
Parking can be found on Payne Ave.
Pic of standpipe around 1910.