Freshen Up Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn Water Tower

May 3,2017

Help revive this Atlanta icon with a new mural and a thorough cleaning, inside and out.

Join the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in collaboration with Heineken USA, as we revive the historic Sweet Auburn Water Tower. Our vision: clean it up, paint a new interior mural that can be seen through its windows and doors, and add some finishing touches that will make it a shining piece of art the whole community can enjoy.

It’s time to revitalize the Old 4th Ward Water Tower!

We at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in collaboration with Heineken USA, are on a mission to revive the historic water tower in Sweet Auburn, a neighborhood reflective of Atlanta’s rich African American history and the birthplace of Martin Luther King, Jr. With your support, we’ll be one step closer to bringing this Sweet Auburn staple back to its heyday.

Today, Sweet Auburn is thriving as an epicenter for young artists and entrepreneurs. While their creativity is making an old neighborhood new again, Sweet Auburn’s historic landmarks—like the Old 4th Ward Water Tower—remain a testament to its storied past.

As the oldest surviving water tower in Atlanta, it was built as a state-of-the-art water suppression system for the cotton compress factory next door in 1906. The workers who lived across the street not only saw the water tower when they woke up in the morning, but would occasionally be tasked with scaling the tower’s ladder with buckets of water to fill the top—an adventure not for the faint of heart!

For decades, it stood at the ready until the factory closed its doors. Today, the land the tower stands on is known as Water Tower Park, but the tower itself has been tagged with graffiti over the years and has no functional use. The time has come to give this local landmark a little TLC.

With your generous backing, the tower will be revived inside and out. Inside, rubble and garbage will be cleared for future revitalization projects, and so local artists can paint a mural depicting the story of Atlanta. On the outside, the structure will be power-washed, and new cast iron windows and a door will be installed.

Plus, when you contribute to our campaign, you’ll have the chance to claim some awesome perks in return, including two tickets to the “Bruno Mars: 24K Magic World Tour,” cool T-shirts, and even an exclusive illustration of the tower in all its glory.*

Click here to contribute and get two tickets to see Bruno Mars live in a city near you.*

The biggest perk of all, though, is the satisfaction you’ll get from helping us bring this icon back to life so it can once again play a vital role in its historic neighborhood.

Join us, and together we can make the Sweet Auburn skyline even sweeter!

Remember—click here to contribute and get two tickets to see Bruno Mars live in a city near you.