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By NOAH WORTHAM | Staff Writer

ALABASTER – The city of Alabaster has completed its work on the restoration of the historical Siluria water tower.

During an Alabaster City Council meeting on Feb. 13, the council approved a $319,000 bid for rehabilitation of the historic water tower to G & L Sandblasting and Coating. The work on the tower is now complete.

“The restoration of the city’s historic water tower is complete, and it looks great—especially at night, “read an official Facebook post by the city of Alabaster. “The tower is now structurally sound for a new generation to enjoy and looks as it did when it was built more than a century ago.”

City Administrator Brian Binzer explained the city’s reasoning behind the restoration.

“We do take our history very seriously,” Binzer said. “It’s something that we want to preserve where we can. This has become the city’s icon. It’s something we’ve really embraced—that historical aspect of our community—the old Siluria area. We felt it was really important to that we try to preserve what we could. The water tower’s really just become the city’s moniker for our past and future.”

Last year, the city hired a structural engineer to look at the Siluria water tower and make sure it was stable.

“He gave us some recommendations of how to shore it up to make sure it’s going to be with us for a really long time,” Binzer said.

He explained that the city hired a company earlier this year to work on resurfacing the tower as well as painting.

“They’re professionals that work on water towers,” Binzer said. “I felt like they really did a great job getting in and getting out, covering everything up so it didn’t get on people’s cars and those types of things. Very, very professionally done.”

The entire Siluria water tower was sandblasted inside and out before being repainted.

“What we did with the paint is we looked back at old photos to try to get an idea of the original color the best we could,” Binzer said. “We landed on an aluminum type color that it was originally painted in.”

The lights on the Siluria water tower were also replaced.

“We’re so happy to see the historic Siluria water tower restored to the way it looked when it was new more than a century ago,” Public Relations Manager Neal Wagner said. “ It’s one of the oldest structures in Alabaster, and we want to make sure we are preserving the city’s history for generations to come.”