An ordinance passed on April 14, 1898, established a yearly rate schedule for residences with running water. Rates were based on the number of faucets in use, the type of business that customers operated and the livestock they owned. A residence with one tap was charged $5 and a private bathtub cost an additional $2. Saloon keepers paid $7 for one faucet, $3 for each additional faucet and $1 for each billiard table. Each cow a person owned cost $1. People who failed to pay their bill were subject to a $50 fine and 90 days in the county jail. During the construction, hoping to protect themselves from injury, the builders made at least four crosses in the stonework, one over the west door, an elaborate but difficult to find
Greek Cross on the east side and two inside the water tower. It was completed on February 3, 1890, at the cost of $21,368. The structure was the only water tower in the Ypsilanti water system until 1956. The
Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority began operating and maintaining the structure in 1974. That same year the tower was designated by the
American Water Works Association as an
American Water Landmark. It was also designated a
Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the Michigan Section of the
American Society of Civil Engineers. In 1976 it was restored. ==Structure==