F. M. Howell & Company
Tower
As the civil war ended and the new century dawned American cities went up, literally! Transportation was the issue and the logistics of getting people and all they needed in and out meant density could increase but distances between things couldn’t. The American skyline was born, no longer were the spires of churches alone in our industrial age. But there are other reasons to get higher off the ground. Part of Elmira’s downtown cityscape to the south is an interesting tower at F. M. Howell & Company. It was constructed as a gravity fed fire suppression system in a time when reliable water pressure and volume couldn’t be met any other way. Having quietly served its term safeguarding the industry below it's still maintained by F. M. Howell & Company as part of Elmira's architectural and engineering past.
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