This weekend is your chance for a unique view of the Twin Cities
The views from the Highland Water Tower in St. Paul are some of the best in the Twin Cities — but they're available to the public only twice a year.
This weekend, July 20-21, is one of those opportunities.
"You can see all the way out to the Flint Hills refinery in Rosemount, which is about 12 miles away," said Jodi Wallin with St. Paul Regional Water Services. "You can obviously see the airport, you can see the Minneapolis skyline. You can see out to the (state) fairgrounds, and you can obviously see a very good view of downtown St. Paul."
It's 151 steps to the top of the tower, located at the corner of Snelling Avenue and Ford Parkway. The tower is 127 feet tall and more than 90 years old.
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"A lot of people stand there and watch the flights take off from the Minneapolis airport," Wallin said. "They bring their kids, they bring their cameras, their binoculars. ... People are really just pleased to see the city from an angle you usually can't see."
According to information provided by the water utility, the tower was completed in 1928 at a cost of about $70,000. It was designed by Clarence "Cap" Wigington, the first African-American licensed architect in Minnesota, and the first African-American municipal architect in the country. He was an architect for the city of St. Paul from 1915 to 1949; his other buildings include the Como Park Pavilion, Harriet Island Pavilion and the Roy Wilkins Auditorium.
The water tower is open each summer in conjunction with Highland Fest; it will open again for a weekend in October so people can view the fall colors.
It will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 21. Specialists will be on hand to answer questions about how drinking water travels from source to tap.
This story was adapted and updated from a 2018 MPR News story.