Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital water tower

What college kids will do for "fun"!

When I attended Western Michigan University back in the 70's, this tower provided a challenge. How do we get up there?

One night, a couple of friends said they knew how to get in. This required sneaking on to the grounds of the hospital and entering the courtyard through an archway used mainly for deliveries. Up on the knoll where the tower is actually located, there is a man hole that gives access to the tunnel where the pipes for the water tower are.



The man hole cover was somehow removed. The next step requires crawling along the pipes, I seem to recall some were insulated for steam perhaps, until reaching another access hole inside the base of the tower.

Once we were all inside the base of the tower the climb up the spiral staircase begins. We did not come totally prepared with sufficient flashlights so this was kind of disorienting. The stairs seemed to go up into total blackness.

Once at the top of this stairway, there is a short passage that gets you outside the lower tower. A straight ladder leads up the inside of the masonry work and the steel tank. There is a transition to another ladder half way up.

Once you get to the top, there is a dormer type structure with narrow windows on each side and a larger window on the front over the edge of the tower.



I remember the side windows would not open. This required going out the front window and getting around the corner to the roof.

Once on the roof, the view of Kalamazoo at night is phenomenal. From what I have recently learned the roof was used to gather rain water and used as "soft water" for washing and things like that in the hospital. This provided a nice area to lean back on the sloped roof.

This structure has been restored to some extent back in the 70's and recently in the mid-00's. It was originally built in 1895 to supply water for the State Mental Hospital.

There is some discussion about trying to get some access to this historic landmark.

A good discussion of this structure is available at: www.kpl.gov/video. Search for Kalamazoo Water Tower.