McNear: Mendocino’s low water table birthed the town’s iconic water towers

BUILT IN THE LATE nineteenth century to supply water to Mendocino’s residents, water towers have become an iconic image in Mendocino’s skyline. At the height of their use, there were more than 100 water towers in Mendocino, giving the village the nickname “The Town of Water Towers.”

Water towers were not an uncommon sight across the country in the 1800s, especially in California, but Mendocino had many. In 1892, journalist Ninetta Eames wrote in Overland Monthly that “One has the first glimpse of Mendocino City, one of the oldest and most picturesque of all the coast towns … Viewed from a distance on shore or at sea the city seems to have an imposing array of cupolas, which are in reality water tanks, with windmills of every known pattern. There is in fact an individuality about the water works of this town not found in any other place of its size.”