Ear of Corn Water Tower in the running for 'Tank of the Year' award
With a few days of voting left, Olmsted County is making a strong push for the famous Ear of Corn Water Tower to win a national award.
As of this writing, the Rochester landmark ranks second — out of hundreds of water towers — in a popular vote for the Tank of the Year award, put on annually by the protective coating company Tnemec.
If the county is able to cobble together enough support before this Friday, the tower could be honored as the People’s Choice for 2021. Currently, towers in Edmonton, Ky. and Moorhead, Minn. are among the top three.
The top 12 finalists will then be judged by an “internal panel of water tank enthusiasts” for the main Tank of the Year award. As a bonus, the finalists will also get a stoic shot in the annual water tank calendar.
The 151-foot-tall Ear of Corn tower was built in 1931 to provide water for Reid, Murdoch and Co. cannery. It was later owned by Libby Foods and Seneca Foods before being acquired by the county in 2019.
Earlier this year, the county put $410,000 into the restoration of the tower, including a new paint job. The tank itself, however, remains empty.
Cover photo courtesy Experience Rochester
