Friends of Tower Hill Park

Please join me in protecting and preserving our historic Minneapolis cityscape as I raise money for the Friends of Tower Hill Park.  Your donation will help preserve this unique patch of greenspace and this incredibly unique structure, with its magnificent 360° views of the entire metro area. Encroaching development threatens to block views both to and from the tower. The new Minneapolis 2040 plan will allow 33-story development along University Avenue immediately adjacent to Tower Hill, despite this being both out of scale and out of character with the neighborhood. The goal of the Friends of Tower Hill is to prevent structures of this scale from detracting from the beautiful and historic nature of this landmark — through legal action, if necessary — as well as to improve the park itself, to help open the tower to the public as often as possible, and to preserve this important space for future generations. Every dollar is deeply appreciated, and no donation is too small!

Tower Hill is a beautiful greenspace just off University Avenue in Minneapolis near the St. Paul border. It’s the highest natural point in the city, at the exact geographic center of the metro area, and one of the touchstones of the surrounding Prospect Park neighborhood (along with Pratt School and the Methodist church).

YOU may know Tower Hill as home to the famous “Witch’s Hat Water Tower”, the conical green-hatted tower that juts up over the city as you round the bend in Interstate 94. This historic landmark also greets you as you arrive in Minneapolis while traveling south along Highway 280, and is visible from almost anywhere in Minneapolis and St. Paul. (It’s also rumored to be the inspiration for Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”, said the joker to the thief.)

When he designed the structure in 1913 at the behest of Theodore Wirth, Norwegian-born architect Frederick William Cappelen topped the functional water tower with an open-air bandstand and a whimsical brimmed “hat” of green ceramic tile, giving the tower its unofficial nickname.

The tower’s unusual observation deck provides an unrivaled view of the metro skyline, from nearby downtown Minneapolis all the way to the State Capitol in St. Paul. The tower was decommissioned in 1952, and in 1955 it was struck by lightning. When threatened with demolition, the Prospect Park neighborhood rallied on its behalf and the tower was saved.

A complete restoration of the tower’s signature tile roof was undertaken in 1986 (using tiles made by the original manufacturer!), and in 1997 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which noted its significant contribution to the historic character of the surrounding neighborhood.

In addition to the tower itself, Tower Hill Park is home to some of the earliest tennis courts in Minneapolis (one installed in 1907, the other in 1912), an historic restored pumphouse, walking paths, sledding hills, and a prairie garden which is tended by the Prospect Park Garden Club.


References:
http://www.startribune.com/high-rise-would-block-view-from-witch-s-hat-tower-in-minneapolis-prospect-park-lawsuit-claims/503086772/
http://www.historictwincities.com/2018/07/31/witchs-hat-water-tower/
https://prospectparkmpls.org/tower/tower-pictures.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_Park_Water_Tower
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_William_Cappelen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Hill_Park
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Prospect_Park_Water_Tower
https://www.prospectparkmpls.org/tower/tower-100.html
https://www.minneapolisparks.org/parks__destinations/parks__lakes/tower_hill_park/
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@cped/documents/webcontent/convert_280602.pdf

The bronze plaque at the base of the tower reads:

"PROSPECT PARK WATER TOWER

THE WITCH’S HAT WATER TOWER WAS DESIGNED
BY NORWEGIAN ARCHITECT FREDERICK WILLIAM
CAPPELEN AND CONSTRUCTED BY THE CITY OF
MINNEAPOLIS IN 1913. OCCUPYING THE HIGHEST
NATURAL LAND AREA IN MINNEAPOLIS, THE WATER
TOWER WAS BUILT TO IMPROVE WATER PRESSURE IN
THE HOMES OF PROSPECT PARK RESIDENTS. THE
TOWER WAS DECOMMISSIONED IN 1952, BUT HAS BEEN
PRESERVED AS A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THIS CITY’S
HISTORY. THE WITCH’S HAT WATER TOWER AND TOWER
HILL PARK ARE LISTED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF
HISTORIC PLACES.”