The Walnut Street Water Tower
It’s been twenty-one years since workers dismantled the 103 ft. water tower on Walnut Street that had stood there since 1881. At the time, it was the oldest steel water tank in the country, but because it had no real historical significance (and was sitting on prime real estate in Oakdale) there was little objection to its removal.
Here’s a postcard from the early 20th century featuring the picturesque East Dedham Standpipe:
You can see the picturesque standpipe in this 1895 view from the top of the courthouse.
And finally, here is the “standpipe” on a pictorial map of town from 1954. I’m sure lots of people have their own special memories of this old Dedham landmark, feel free to share them in the comments!
Tags: Dedham water tower, Walnut Street Dedham
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Dedham Tales 
December 9, 2022 at 10:09 am
I’ve always known the tank to be on Walnut St as you mentioned. But the picture has 243 Bussey St East Dedham written on it . Was there two tanks at some point or did they refer to that area as generally East Dedham, which doesn’t explain the Bussey St address.
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December 9, 2022 at 10:15 am
This is the Walnut St. Tank, the postcard company apparently referred to the location as East Dedham. The address was the return address of the post card sender.
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December 9, 2022 at 11:14 am
In the late 1950s or early 1960s, I had a Sunday paper route that covered customers on Walnut St. and some adjacent streets. The news dealer left the papers for me to pick up on the sidewalk in front of that water tower, so I had to stop there every week. Occasionally while I was there, some water would come squirting out of a pipe at the base of a concrete block between the tank and the sidewalk, and land on the grass. The spray would last 30 seconds or a minute, and then stop. My guess is that the water was from a drain pump that collected any leakage from the tank itself or from the connected piping. But it was a little disconcerting the first few times it happened — I worried about the tank leaking!
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December 9, 2022 at 11:34 am
Thanks for sharing!
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December 9, 2022 at 2:22 pm
Are you sure you have the year it came down right? I remember it being there slightly later (along with the rose way up top) and Town records show the house on the site now was not built until 2006.
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December 9, 2022 at 2:59 pm
I was off by a year, did my math wrong.! According to the Globe, it was drained the end of November and dismantled starting December of 2001. Thanks for pointing it out, I will amend my post.
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December 9, 2022 at 2:59 pm
I remember that! Don’t live in Dedham now so I thought it was still there!
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December 10, 2022 at 12:26 pm
I lived across the street from the tower. I came home late one night and wanted to sit on the cement block in front of it till the lights went out in my house. Memories
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