Where: The Sulphur Springs Water Tower, Bird Street and Florida Avenue, Tampa
Public access: Difficult. Since the city bought the tower and the surrounding property in 2002, it is fenced and the tower is locked and boarded up.
Element of danger: If you could make it over the fence and break into the water tower, a dangerous and dizzying climb eight stories up metal ladder rungs awaits you. Not for the faint of heart.
Why we went: We asked lots of people all over the Tampa Bay area the following question: "What forbidden place do you want us to explore?" The No. 1 response: "That big white tower off the interstate."
What we discovered: The Sulphur Springs Water Tower, sitting in a small stand of oaks along the banks of the Hillsborough River, was built in 1927 by a developer named Josiah Richardson who (a) needed a water supply for his amusement park, alligator farm and arcade of shops and (b) hoped that it would serve as an attraction for locals and tourists alike. It was within walking distance of the city's famed Sulphur Springs swimming pool. The tower was built over a crystal clear springs, whose water was pumped up into the top, where a supply of it remains today.
A flood in the 1930s combined with the death of tourism in the Great Depression to sink Richardson's dreams for the site. The water tower fell into disuse, a destination for local teens who scaled its exterior into an open window for a secret destination for smoking, drinking and sex.
Tom Johnston of the city parks department is the guy working to restore the tower, and he took two Planet writers on a recent tour. City officials told us that we could not climb up the tower (insurance issues and all that), but that didn't stop the intrepid Eric Snider from going up two stories with Johnston. Snider said the climb was easy enough (although he's a little pissed off about his jeans getting dirty) because the old wooden ladder has been replaced by a sturdy metal one. "I could make it to the top floor, no problem," Snider said with his typical brio. But that's because climbers can stop at each floor on the way up; without those breaks, I wouldn't bet on him making it.
The inside of the tower is a dark, wet and smelly place. The water in the bottom of the tower is still spring-fed clear, and looking straight up the old elevator shaft to the top gives you a quick case of vertigo. It is only yards from the interstate, but along the river the tower is a quiet refuge that is a link to the city's past.
Johnston said the city has a grant to study the structure's integrity. Later grants will seek money to restore the tower and link it to Sulphur Springs park to the east. Allowing people in it again is another story. Johnston said the city would have to find a way to reinstall an elevator and then find a way to get visitors down from the top in the case of an emergency. That will be tough to do, he acknowledges.
(Climbing by Eric Snider)
This article appears in Mar 1-7, 2006.
