IDAHO FALLS — As construction on the new water tower in Idaho Falls is winding down, the city felt it was a good time to give the public a look at some old design submissions from 50 years ago.
In 1974, the city hosted an art competition for the public to submit designs to update the water tower’s appearance.
That was a topic of conversation at the Museum of Idaho’s town hall last month. The history of the old water tower was discussed and locals had a chance to share their memories.
RELATED | The two towers: As new water tower goes up, people reminisce about the old one
Dave Richards, the city’s water superintendent, recently found the drawings in a filing cabinet and placed them in his office. The folder contains around 100 submissions, many of which include the names, addresses and ages of those who participated.
One of the smaller folders in the submission came from a Mrs. Ray (Linda) Fielding. Richards believes these drawings came from local students.
Some of the submissions included a birthday cake design and several featured Idaho’s famous potato. Others included simple colors with “Idaho Falls” written on them.
Colors at the time were selected to reflect the nation’s bicentennial.
Some of the student submissions mentioned Idaho Falls High School, Skyline High School and Bonneville High School. Hillcrest didn’t exist then.
One of Richards’ favorite designs was labeled “Welcome Stranger.” It was painted yellow, and included the elevation and population on the side.
“Elevation doesn’t change, (but) we have a population that will always change,” Richards said jokingly. “So how often do you have to go back up there and repaint it.”
Ken Longmore, who won the art contest, submitted several designs. His winning submission is missing, but a second one is included below.
Larry Bills submitted a drawing labeled “2nd Prize.”
The design of the new water tower was done in-house. A rendering of the finished product is available.
Some of the designs for the new tower contained intricate artwork or depictions of wildlife. The city ultimately chose to keep it simple because of the difficulty in repainting it.
“You’re not only paying more for the initial coating, you’re paying more every time you have to recoat it,” Richards said. “The decision was to keep it simple and go with white and the city logo, but then see what we can’t do with a lighting package.”
The lighting package refers to LED lights that will be installed throughout the new water tower.
Richards said the lights will allow the city to have fun light displays during holidays or other events.
“Maybe even color it according to the big rivalry games, like the Emotion Bowl, allowing it to be turned blue or orange for the week,” Richards said.
Regarding whether the city would ever propose a design contest like this in the future, Richards says it’s hard to say.
“Whoever is (on the city council) or (serving as) mayor at the time — they may decide they want to mix it up. I don’t know. It’s hard to predict,” Richards said.
The city has also toyed with the idea of returning the old submissions to their original owner.
“They’re probably in their 60s, but are they still around?” Richards said. “I don’t know how you find them.”
=htmlentities(get_the_title())?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=get_permalink()?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=htmlentities(‘For more stories like this one, be sure to visit https://www.eastidahonews.com/ for all of the latest news, community events and more.’)?>&subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20EastIdahoNews” class=”fa-stack jDialog”>
