Florence Y'all Water Tower

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The "Florence Y'All" Water Tower.

The Florence Y'all Water Tower is a water tower that stands between the Florence Mall and I-75 in Florence, Kentucky.^[1]

[edit] History

The tower holds approximately one million gallons of water, and was constructed in the early 1970s by the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The plain water tower gathered little, if any attention. In 1974, the Virginia Erection Co. was contracted to paint the words "Florence Mall" to advertise the forthcoming Mall style shopping center - something new to the region. Mayor CM "Hop" Ewing was informed in July of 1974 by the Bureau of Highways that the signage was in violation of the law, as there was a restriction on how tall a sign promoting a business could be.

Many solutions were suggested, including everything from the obvious repainting of the tower, to covering the structure with a large tarpaulin. No inexpensive options seemed available.

During a brainstorming session with other civil staff, Ewing devised the idea of removing the vertical lines at the sides of the M in MALL to make it a Y; becoming Y'ALL. Ewing himself admitted at the time that it was a "corny" solution, but cost effective. The city paid $472 to the W.T. Marx Company of Cincinnati, Ohio to make the changes; whereas a complete repaint would have been nearly three times as much. With the completion of the modified paint job, the landmark was born.

The tower was recognized shortly after the change, in a national Reader's Digest publication. The tower is an instantly recognizable landmark, even inspiring the naming of the annual Florence festival to the "Florence Y'all" fest.