Name: Gladstone Municipal Water Supply Tower
Address: Clackamette Park
City: Gladstone
Year of Construction: 1960
Architect: Unknown
Original Use: Infrastructure
Status: Threatened
National Register of Historic Places: Not Listed
Description: This water tower was constructed along the southern banks of the Clackamas River as part of a major campaign to develop a municipal water supply system for the community of Gladstone. The water tower’s unusual three-sided top was originally accessed by an exterior spiral staircase.
A c.1960 photographic postcard that depicts the original design of the structure includes the following caption:
“City of Gladstone new municipal water supply located on the Clackamas River. Daily capacity 7.5 million gallons of crystal clear, pure water. The plant was put into operation on May 18, 1960. Using the Clackamas River Bed as a natural filtration gallery, made possible the unique method of placing perforated pipe under the river to bring the water, in its purest form, to the collector and from there to the city’s distribution system.”
In the early 1990s, the City of Gladstone began leasing the former water tower to Jerry Herrmann, who maintained the property and operated the River Resources Museum and the nonprofit organization Earth Crusaders there for more than 20 years. The structure now stands abandoned within Oregon City’s Clackamette Park (immediately east of the Oregon Route 99E bridge).
Further Information
• The Oregonian, “Judge Rules Nonprofit Must Vacate Gladstone Property After 23 Years of Free Rent” [new window]
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