If you live in or have passed through NJ driving the more ‘northern’ end of our Parkway you have surely seen it: the Union Watersphere or Union Water Tower. Sitting off Rte.22, visible from our Parkway, the 212-foot sphere, erected (if I may be so bold to use that word in this time of skittish sexual triggering) in 1964, the tower holds 250,000 gallons of healthy water and has been called the World Tallest Water Sphere (there is some contention on this distinction though.)
There is even a museum dedicated to this landmark in Austin, Texas, operated by a former Union NJ resident.
But the sphere’s days are numbered.
Public safety concerns over the structure have prompted consideration of late for the tower to come down, and it seems like the end is nigh for this NJ landmark. Parts of the tower are destined to be stored with a local historical society, so at least there’s this to content ourselves with.
According to the tower’s webpage FAQ‘s a startling number of folks view the Union Watersphere on the daily. Look at these estimated stats:
- Garden State Parkway drivers: 600 thousand daily
- Route 22 drivers: 200 thousand daily
- Interstate 78 drivers: 200 thousand daily
- Morris Avenue (Route 82) drivers: 50 thousand daily
- Newark Liberty International Airport airplane passengers: 50 thousand daily
- Local traffic drivers: 50 thousand daily
- Foot traffic, businesses, and school viewers: 50 thousand daily
That’s lots of folks, New Jersians and not.
The tower is such a common site on our roadway that unless I am actually looking for it, even when I do pass it and it comes into view, I don’t really even notice it much, save to say, ‘Oh yeah, there’s that water tower thingie that’s supposedly the highest in the world.’ But this is the way it is for most of us when we pass those places, people, and things during our usual day that we have seen all the time, but still, might be unique.
Whatever the near future fate of the Union Watersphere/Union Water Tower, we won’t soon forget her.
