Bayside landmark gone after 22 years
Workers with Bay Company of Corpus Christi make sure the Bayside water tower is lowered correctly by two cranes onto a flatbed truck Thursday morning.
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BAYSIDE - Workmen and two huge cranes moved quickly to lower the Bayside water tower onto a flatbed truck Thursday morning.
Removing the tower from its foundation only took about an hour late Wednesday.
The water tower stood as a unique landmark for Bayside in southern Refugio County for 22 years. The tower resembled a giant World War II German potato masher (grenade).
But for the past five years, it was not in use and presented a liability to the town, said Mayor Billy Paul Fricks.
Fricks said the town's city council advertised for bids on the tank, and a ranch near Lubbock purchased it for $100 plus costs for removing and transporting it to North Texas.
"I would have taken $1 for it," he said.
Fricks explained that the water tower could only produce 32 psi at the source, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, required a minimum of 35 psi.
So the town went to a pressurized system that produces 50 psi at the source and utilizes a 6,000-gallon ground tank, thereby adhering to state standards.
"It was getting older and rustier," Fricks said.
Former state Sen. Ken Armbrister arranged for Bayside to have the water tower on Aug. 29, 1987, after a resident's attempt to build one ended in a fiasco the previous year.
The homemade water tower tumbled to the ground under the weight of the water in it.
"I found that thing at an oil field company," said Armbrister, who now is the legislative director for Gov. Rick Perry.
He said the oil field company was getting rid of the tower, so he convinced the company to take a tax deduction on the tower and give it to Bayside.
Perry Construction Company installed it.
Since that time, travelers up and down Farm-to-Market Road 136 never failed to comment about the odd looking water tower.
"It and Crofutt's (bakery restaurant) became landmarks," Armbrister said.
Armbrister said he was happy that Bayside's residents benefited from the water tower for more than 20 years.
