Bangor’s Thomas Hill Standpipe won’t open for tours this year

The Bangor Water District will not offer tours of the iconic Thomas Hill Standpipe this year due to upcoming repairs and maintenance at the facility.

For the past 24 years, the water district has opened the standpipe for public tours four times a year , which are “always well attended and enjoyed by our community,” said Marc Edelman, interim general manager for the Bangor Water District.

Though Edelman didn’t say what work the standpipe needs, he said the needed repairs and maintenance were “identified during a recent survey by our property and liability insurer in preparation for our annual policy renewal.”

The upcoming work will not impact the daily function of the standpipe, Edelman said.

The 50-foot-tall standpipe has been in operation since its construction in 1897. The wrought iron tank, enclosed in a shinged wood frame jacket, holds 1,500,000 gallons of water that’s used for firefighting and regulating water pressure in downtown Bangor.

A winding staircase sits between the iron tank and wooden frame, which leads to a promenade deck above the standpipe.

The Bangor Water District assumed ownership of the standpipe when the district formed in 1957.

The tower was unattended and open to the public for many years, and more than 3,000 tourists signed the guest book in 1935, according to the water district. The standpipe shuttered in the 1940s after an 11-year-old boy was killed when he fell while climbing on the beams under the stairway.

The standpipe remained entirely closed to the public until 1991, when the water district’s board of trustees approved quarterly tours guided by Bangor Water District employees.

The Thomas Hill Standpipe is on the National Register of Historic Places, is a designated an American Water Landmark by the American Water Works Association and the American Society of Civil Engineers classified it as a civil engineering landmark.