A Brand New Water Tower with Historical Memories – Hankou Water Tower
I am a retired elderly person who enjoys independent travel in unfamiliar cities during leisure time, exploring the human cultural imprints that go unnoticed by others, approaching the gradually fading human history, and appreciating texts with warmth. I don't care about whether it's worth it, I just want to not miss it. Four years of traveling through 85 cities of various sizes, a journey of 67550 kilometers across 15 provinces and municipalities, recording 2052 human cultural attractions. Those shining imprints are like a marching horn urging me forward.
Hankou Tower is located at the intersection of Zhongshan Avenue and Jinqiang Fifth Road in Jianghan District. A tower is built on top, reaching a height of 41.32 meters. In the early 1980s, the tower ceased supplying water. The tower could cover the entire rental district and old Hankou center, and it was one of Wuhan's earliest high-rise buildings and excellent historical buildings, a Grade I protected building.
Hankou Tower was built in 1909, designed and supervised by British engineer Muir. It is a seven-sided octagonal building: six stories in height, with a projecting staircase on the southwest side, with a bell tower on it, extending beyond the main body, and the seventh story. The projecting staircase has a wooden spiral staircase, which can be used to climb the bell tower (observation deck). The observation deck is 4.58 meters high.
In those days, a bell was mounted on top of the tower, hanging on the steel-bearing crossbeam of the observation deck. When a fire occurred, it would ring according to the distance. During the day, the red flag was hung on top, and at night, a red light was hung, indicating a fire. Whenever an alarm was raised, the bell would be rung 30 times, and then the number of rings would be used to inform the area where the fire occurred. In 1964, the Hankou Tower firefighter observer Dai Haihua was awarded the title of 'Firefighter Observer Expert' by the Ministry of Public Security, which is the only one in China's firefighting history.
