Postmark celebrates hospital water tower with 130 years of history

Postmark Pursuit by Linn’s Staff

The Kalamazoo Stamp Club is offering a postmark featuring an illustration of the Kalamazoo State Hospital’s water tower, a local landmark with 130 years of history.

The hospital was founded in 1859 and soon became a landmark in American medicine. The original buildings on the site were designed by Thomas Kirkbride and Samuel Sloan, both nationally renowned hospital architects, implementing a medieval style.

In 1895 architect William B. Stratton from Detroit was commissioned to design a water tower for the site that would complement the medieval character of the other buildings on the hospital grounds. Construction of the tower commenced and was completed that same year.

The tower is 175 feet tall with a base made of stone blocks five feet high. The remainder of the structure above the base is composed of red bricks. The tower is approximately 50 feet across at its widest point with walls that taper from 6 feet thick at its base to 4 feet at the top.

The tower has three water storage tanks inside that can hold more than 200,000 gallons of water. Above the tanks is a lookout area with a steeply pitched roof covered with copper sheeting.

The tower has been struck by lightning multiple times, and on March 16, 1972, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1974 the water tower was earmarked for demolition by the state of Michigan, until a local group, the Committee to Save the Tower, launched a campaign to raise public funds to save and restore the tower.

To obtain the postmark, address your request to:

WATER TOWER Station, Postmaster, Box 9998, Comstock, MI 49041, March 28.

Share information by writing to Postmark Pursuit, Box 4129, Sidney, OH 45365.

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