Tower repairs advance – Daily Jefferson County Union: News

The Fort Atkinson City Council on Tuesday approved two contracts with Utility Service Group of Atlanta to complete repairs at the historic 1901 watertower.

Funds for the repair work were secured from three sources: the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation has pledged $8,000, the city has approved one-third of the cost up to a $10,000 maximum to come from the room tax funds, and fundraising by the Fort Atkinson Historic Preservation Commission raised $12,977.

However, a restoration process led by the Fort Atkinson Historic Preservation Commission began in 2003 after local residents learned of the cityas plans to raze the tower, which has stood across from the current Fort Atkinson Middle School on the cityas east side for the past 114 years.

There also were grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Jeffris Foundation and the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation.

Both the Jeffris Foundation and Fort Atkinson Community Foundation provided grants of $70,000 to cover two-thirds of Phase II of the project in 2009.

Copyright 2015, Daily Jefferson County Union, Fort Atkinson, WI.