Sulphur Springs Water Tower Lighting Ceremony


Except for the ground level, each of the levels have windows in all directions. the hollow central core of the tower can be seen at the right edge	There are no lights in the tower. These photos are lit only by the minimal light entering the doorway and a low powered camera flash.
The floor of the tower is flooded with water from the natural spring that bubbles up beneath it. Photo at left shows the bridge that connects the outer catwalk to the inner supporting core.




An old rusted pump	A pump starter switch

Catwalk from outer perimeter to inner core Dozens of Tampa residents who for years wondered what the inside of the tower looks like, peered curiously up the inside of the central core. Click on the light at the end of the tunnel to see close up. Below you can see one of the old wooden entry doors that was sealed on the outside.

Below is a view looking up the central core of the tower. Josiah Richardson had plans to put an elevator in here, along with an observation deck at the top and club seating at each level. None of that ever happened. See why here at the new (in progress) Sulphur Springs feature and the tower, at TampaPix.

Square holes in each floor towards the outer wall of the tower enable travel from level to level. From here you can see up to the top floor, about 200 feet away.

This safety ladder was installed to provide workers with a safer passage than the original wooden ladders found in the tower.

In the drone photo below, the safety ladder access to the roof can be seen at right. The rusting structure in the center was the mechanism that turned a searchlight that was put into operation in late 1927 sometime between September and December.

Photo courtesy of Paul Rodriguez