Smiley Water Towers:
The Face That Launched a Thousand Sips
Hey, Mr. and Ms. Doom and Gloom! Terrorism, war, the economy, your cable bill... are they forming a foul, dark cloud over your life? Flip those frowns upside-down! America is a happy land. The Smiley Face, that ever-optimistic pop icon from ancient hippiedom, proves it -- by enduring as a public symbol in an unexpected number of American towns. The tallest structure in a community -- the steel water tower -- is painted bright yellow, the bulbous top adorned with a pair of black dot eyes and an upturned line -- the (un)trademarked, bracketed smile. Most municipalities decorated their spheroid (or cylindrical) water storage tanks in the 1970s, when Smiley was still conceptually fresh. As a "safe" counterculture symbol, with absolutely no bite, the Smile Face water tower was a low cost way to radiate sunny greetings to travelers and locals.
Calumet City, Illinois: Fun To Look At
Calumet City, Illinois claims to have been the first, when 8-year old resident Kim Fornero sent a letter to the city council in late 1972 suggesting a smile face would be more fun to look at than a plain old water tower. In 1973, the deed was done. Whether it was Calumet City's example, or plain old morphic resonance, soon other towns broke out the yellow paint and spray guns to render their own Smiley Faces. In the 1980s, America wanted to gaze on the benevolent face of trickle-down prosperity, even as things fell apart and little towns withered. Many enthusiastically embraced the Yellow One, and continued upkeep on the towers with a new coat of paint every few years. The Smile Face W.T.s came to symbolize hope for a better tomorrow.
