eBay Tuesday: City Water Tower

The city's gone through a lot of changes over the years. Next time you stop by , take a look at the old maps hanging in the City Clerk's office. You'll see a few familiar sites, but quite a few astonishing old landmarks as well. A whaling captain's estate once occupied the block at Broad and Huntington Streets, was once a graveyard, and a few long industrial buildings for making rope occupied what are now residential neighborhoods.

This week's eBay item pick is a postcard showing a peaceful scene entitled, "City Water Tower, New London, Conn." It portrays a slightly snowy scene of a water tower, a few wooden buildings, and...well, that's about all we have to go on. The seller, a fellow by the username of colpap in Oxford, unfortunately doesn't have any additional information other than the fact that this was published by W.S. Calvert.

New London's public water supply is now provided by Lake Konomoc, a reservoir serving both the city and Waterford. When it comes to water towers in the city, one ruffled a few feathers back in 1994 when $587,409 was spent to refurbish a 70-year-old water tower at State Pier that was ultimately torn down. Undoubtedly the most interesting water tower in the region wasn't a traditional one but rather a specialized training tank at Sub Base New London designed to train submarine crews in escaping from sunken wrecks. Sandra Chalk, executive director of , says the tower may have been located along a beach in the southern part of the city to load water onto ships or at State Pier to supply trains with water.

"There must have been a lot of water towers before a full water system was established," says Chalk. "I’ve leafed through a few old publications in hopes of spotting it, but I didn’t see anything."

Among the various news articles on the discussions of the city's water infrastructure, perhaps this loquacious letter - signed only "Llanin" - hits upon the tower in the photograph.

Llanin, in his or her lengthy assessment/complaint about the layout of the city, says the tower was quite visible. "Shall we call it a tomato can on stilts?" the author asks. "The water tower on the hill to the west of the city as a herald to proclaim that the traveller is approaching New London is hardly a thing to be proud of. We are, fortunately, passing beyond the stage of development when anything that will serve the purpose will be satisfactory.

"It is a matter of wonderment that even a New London common council as formerly constituted ever permitted such an eyesore to be erected," the author continues. "Since it is useful, however, let us make provision to have it covered with something that will render it less offensive to the eye, even if we do not try to make it beautiful."

If that doesn't sound like a familiar argument, it's because you haven't attended any hearing regarding the .

This seller is asking $7 for the photograph, plus a dollar for shipping and handling. The postcard is unused with a small surface crease in the upper right corner. The auction ends at about 10:08 a.m. on Friday.

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