Mark Moran

Weird NJ

For decades it has stood like a sentinel at the crossroads, keeping a watchful eye over the never-ending procession of weary travelers who pass beneath it longing for home.

It is one of our most recognizable icons to the poor and the tired of New Jersey. No, we’re not referring to the Statue of Liberty, we’re talking about a much taller edifice that lifts its lamp beside the golden door of the Garden State Parkway for the huddled masses who are yearning to breathe free of the Union toll plaza.

It is the World’s Tallest Water Sphere, a 212-foot tall tower which stands at the bustling convergence of the Parkway and routes 22 and 82, where millions of motorists view it each year –– even more than other famed towers such as Giotto’s Campanile in Florence, Italy, the Tower of London, United Kingdom, Coit Tower, San Francisco, and the Celtic Round Tower at Glendalough, Ireland.

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For many commuters the bulbous ghostly grey globe resting upon its slender tapered pedestal, like a golf ball atop a tee, is nothing more than mile marker used to measure their daily trek to and from work.

For some the tower is malevolent presence, looming over the town of Union like the evil alien robot from the 1957 sci-fi cult classic "Kronos: Ravager of Planets." For other people though, it is a source wonder and awe, inspiration and fascination, and a cultural touchstone.

Of this latter group of New Jerseyans who marvel at the structure there is one man in particular who, perhaps more than anyone else living or dead, has taken his appreciation of the World’s Tallest Water Sphere to new heights of devotion.

His name is Dan Becker, a Union native now living in Austin, Texas who has created a web site (www.worldstallestwatersphere.com), blog and even a museum dedicated to this one grandiose piece of Jerseyana.

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Becker’s blog first hit the internet on Oct. 1, 2005, with a post heralding “Hello world! Welcome the premiere site about the World’s Tallest Water Sphere in Union, New Jersey, U.S.A.”

The web page’s mission statement was a simple one, it read “This site contains facts, information, and modeling hints for the World’s Tallest Water Sphere.”

Dan’s web site has since come a long way from its humble beginning, and now contains volumes of Sphere related information, humorous musings, photos, original artwork, and reader submissions. Here are just some of the fun facts you’ll learn about the World’s Tallest Water Sphere (abbreviated WTWS) on Dan’s web site:

It holds 250,000 gallons of well water.

It was built in 1964 by Chicago Bridge and Iron Industries.

It was last painted in 1994. It has a 20-year paint life expectancy.

It is drained and inspected every other year.

A 216-foot tower in Edmund, Oklahoma, (also constructed by Chicago Bridge and Iron) is taller and holds more water, but technically that design is a water spheroid. Union’s Water Sphere is still the tallest true water sphere.

Water spheres use height and gravity to create water pressure for a water distribution system. A spherical top helps put a large mass of water at a high point, which is important for maintaining water pressure in tall buildings. A spherical shape is simple to design, construct and helps resist asymetrical pressures (such as wind, rain or gravity) in vertical or horizontal directions.

Elizabethtown Water and Gas was the original owner of the WTWS. The company was purchased by the New Jersey American Water Co., which was later purchased by American Water Company, who are the current owners.

Approximately 1.2 million people view the WTWS on a daily basis: Garden State Parkway drivers: 750,000, Route 22 drivers: 200,0000, Morris Avenue (Route 82) drivers: 50,000, Interstate 78 drivers: 50,000, Newark Liberty International Airport airplane passengers: 50,000; Local traffic drivers: 50,000; Foot traffic, businesses and school viewers: 50,000.

Another important feature of the tower is the “weeping paint” used to make the six-foot-tall letters of the word "Union." Some have claimed to see the image of Jesus Christ weeping for the travelers of the crowded Garden State Parkway. Others claim it is the cheap white latex paint. To date no scientific tests have supported either theory.

Weird NJ recently had the pleasure of interviewing Dan Becker, a 1980 graduate of Union High School, about his passion for the WTWS and the website and museum that he created to pay tribute to it.

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The WTWS has long been a symbol of pride for the people of Union. Growing up in that town, virtually in the shadow of the WTWS, what were some of your first memories of the tower? Can you recall when your personal fascination with the tower first began?

Growing up in the '60s and '70s in Union, I remember the World's Tallest Water Sphere as the largest, most memorable landmark in the area. It was painted a bright blue and had a billboard at the base saying "World's Tallest Watersphere."

For a kid, this was a sign of pride and accomplishment, and for the kids in the neighboring towns, this was a landmark of envy. Springfield had Playland park, Cranford had canoes, but most of the other surrounding towns had nothing! So Union had a landmark that a kid could relate to.

Most Unionites can see it from their houses, or at least the rooftop when you cleaned your gutters. Whether you traveled home from the Jersey shore or took a trip to the nearby Watchung Mountains, there stood the great blue tower, the tallest in the world!

What prompted you to start a web site and blog devoted to the WTWS?

Through the years, I've told people that I grew up in Union, and they would often mention the water tower and have a joke or a story. Some of the stories were quite fantastic, about car crashes or things lying at the bottom of the surrounding Kawahmee Swamp.

Later with email people would send photos of the water tower or their younger selves posing proudly in front. Then a friend started drawing pictures of it. Then I built a model of it, and it was all downhill from there.

Has anyone ever expressed to you that your interest in the WTWS might be kind of a weird obsession?

Some might say that it is weird or eccentric, but when the water tower is the biggest landmark that the locals relate to, it actually is quite normal. Some towns have their local cheese or big ball of yarn. Union happens to have this giant, functional public-work and engineering feat placed prominently in the center of town.

Do many people contact you through your WTWS website? Is there a wide audience of other avid Water Sphere enthusiasts like yourself out there?

The site has grown dramatically from its humble beginnings. I like to count growth both in terms of readership and, more importantly, in terms of participation. From the later measurement, the site has grown fast enough to merit full time staff.

I highly value the photos, videos, artistic contributions, stories, and other fun facts that people send to me. I post these as often as I can. From the number and quality of these submissions, I would say there are lots of enthusiastic water sphere lovers out there.

Your site features a number of submissions from viewers who have been artistically inspired by the WTWS. What do you think it is about the aesthetics of the tower that moves people to such heights of creativity?

I think the simplicity and strength of the design make an icon of it. It is a metal sphere hoisted way up high on slender column. There are no wires or buttresses holding it up; it is entirely self-supporting. It looks like some sort of giant golf ball on a tee. All around the trees blow and the trucks rumble, yet the tower stands there like a mighty oak. These aspects make it quite an impression when you see it along the highway.

You speak at length on your site about the iconic and inspirational aspects of the WTSA, but is there a darker, more sinister side to the edifice?

Being such an icon, some also associate the World's Tallest Water Sphere with the dark side of New Jersey. Some have written and said that Union was a troublesome time for them, and what they remember is that damn water sphere. Others remember some of the clandestine meetings around the wilderness area at its base. And others think of the water sphere as some sort of evil eye watching what goes on around. So, like life, there is an association with the good and bad sides of the area.

Is it true that the WTWS was once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records, only to be removed when a taller tower was erected in Oklahoma?

Yes, there is a taller water tower in Edmond, Oklahoma, but it is a different design, a more flattened abomination called a water spheroid. The Union water tower is still the tallest self-supported water sphere in the world. However there will come a day when the World's Tallest Water Sphere no longer exists, when its very atoms are recycled into something more mundane. So why not celebrate it why it and we are still here?

You are the curator of the World’s Tallest Water Sphere Museum, which is located in your home in Austin, Texas. Is it open to the public, and do visitors really stop by to see your displays and exhibits?

We do museum tours on appointment only. Recently I had a request of 30 visitors of a bridge club, and that took some organization. The museum is growing. Originally it was only a few models and a guided tour. Now we have actual exhibits and displays. Perhaps when attendance is too much we will have to move to a public structure.

Do you feel that the WTWS deserves some sort of official recognition and designation? Perhaps inclusion on the official town seal of Union?

I've been trying to contact the Union town council to recognize the Water Sphere as an official emblem or perhaps have an official day. Union Records uses the image as part of its corporate logo. And others have requested some sort of souvenir, sports apparel, drinking vessel or rectal thermometer based on the design. A number of these items are in the works so stay tuned to the website.

The preceding article is an excerpt from Weird NJ magazine, “Your Travel Guide to New Jersey’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets,” which is available on newsstands throughout the state and on the web at www.WeirdNJ.com.