Gazing up at the ehem. Wasserturm, one might hear whispers of a dramatic night. The night of April 20, 1903. A devastating fire engulfed the Godesheim orphanage. The ehem. Wasserturm stands as a silent testament to that night. It was the fire that spurred its construction. The ehem. Wasserturm, located in Schweinheim, a district of Bonn, was erected in 1905. It stands as a proud monument to the town’s resilience. Before the tower, the higher areas of Godesberg faced water pressure issues. The 1903 fire tragically highlighted this. The firefighters struggled. They couldn’t get enough water pressure to effectively combat the flames. This resulted in significant damage to the orphanage. The ehem. Wasserturm was the solution. The construction of the ehem. Wasserturm was entrusted to the Cologne Engineering Company. It cost 53,000 marks, a sum shared by the town and residents, including the Godesheim orphanage. The tower’s design included a unique feature for the Rhineland region. It boasted a four-story, exposed steel framework supporting the water tank. This distinguished it from the typical massive masonry shafts seen in other water towers. The ehem. Wasserturm is 18 meters tall. It houses an Intze-type water tank with a diameter of 7 meters, a height of 3.7 meters, and a capacity of 150 cubic meters. Until the late 1990s, the ehem. Wasserturm continued to serve the higher areas of Schweinheim. Although it was eventually replaced by pressure-boosting systems, the tower’s legacy endures. It stands as a reminder of a critical moment in Schweinheim’s history and a symbol of the town’s commitment to its safety.
ehem. Wasserturm
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