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Britten Leaning Water Tower

Exit 114, I-40, Groom, TX
Phone:

East < GO > West

The late Ralph Britten bought this water tower from the nearby town of Lefors about 1980 or so, hoping to use it for water storage for his nearby truck stop. After hauling it to the truck stop and finding another way to store the water he decided to use the tower as an attention getting sign along the freeway. In the photo above you can see the former truck stop site a short distance from the water tower.

OK, people see water towers every day and don't pay much attention to them, unless they look like they are about to fall over. And thus was born the Britten Leaning Water Tower!

The sign for the Leaning Tower Truck Stop didn't include the word "leaning" but it did feature a miniature leaning tower above the word TOWER. You had to interpret the visual image to mean "leaning". It was known as the Leaning Tower Truck Stop until it burned to the ground in 1987.

To emphasize the leaning part of the name, the rear tower legs don't even touch the ground.

Photo(s): 2012