UNION CITY, MI (WTVB) – The 97 year old water tower overlooking the Village of Union City is scheduled to come down on Wednesday.
Village officials say West High Street will be closed from North Broadway Street to Ann Street beginning Tuesday.
It is anticipated the tower will be coming down in a single day and officials are hopeful any road closure will not last longer than that.
The village switched over to the new 150,000 gallon tower at Goodwin and Dirks Drives last November which was constructed by Phoenix Fabricators. It was built thanks in part to funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.
The old tank could only hold 75,000 gallons. It was built in 1923 by Chicago Iron Works. The larger tower was built in order to satisfy the growing water needs of the village.
It was decided to bring the old tower down after all of the options were explored by a variety of Village boards, engineers and State and Local agencies that are overseeing the project but the removal of the old tower is being called a bittersweet moment for the village.
Residents are welcome to watch the deconstruction from a safe distance and they are encouraged to practice good social distancing and other measures under the current State order.
Meanwhile, the Village Council approved a $185,000 bid from Concord Excavating last week on a 12 inch water main which would run 10 feet under the St Joseph River. It’s hoped this would take care of the leaking of 180,000 gallons of water every day into the river which has held up work on the new tower.
