'An iconic monument': Dalhousie Agricultural Campus removing water tower

BIBLE HILL – Carlie Ashton was in class when she learned that the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus (AC) water tower is being dismantled.

“I don’t think a lot of people saw it coming, and it was like, a little sad because change is always sad,” said Ashton, a Dalhousie AC student who grew up in Truro.

She is also the vice-president of external and academic affairs for the Dalhousie Agricultural Students’ Association.

“It was just a little like, ‘Oh wow, this iconic thing on campus is going to disappear.'”

The university recently announced the water tower is being removed by the end of October.

The tower, located near the orchard on Farm Lane, is 110 feet tall and holds 104,000 gallons of water.

It was constructed in 1955, replacing a previous tower that had stood for almost 50 years.

The university decommissioned the tower after the campus transitioned to the Town of Truro’s water supply in 2017.

The school eventually decided to dismantle the tower due to the structure’s age, and after considering ongoing maintenance requirements.

“With that successful connection to the town water supply, the tower has been surplus to requirement and so consequently, less of a focus of our campus maintenance,” said Heather Bruce, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at Dalhousie University.

“It’s come to the point now where we should probably dismantle it before it becomes a hazard to our community.”

The water tower will be remembered in many ways by the Dalhousie AC community.

“My own personal memories connected to the tower are that it’s very distinctive,” said Bruce, “and I could always look around Bible Hill and find out where the campus was. So, it was a wayfinding item for me.”

Bruce said the university recognizes the water tower is an important landmark and an important source of memories.

“I would call it an iconic monument,” said Ashley Coffin, who graduated from Dalhousie AC in 2007. At the time, it was known as the Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC).

“My friends used to kind of like, hang out around the tower … after (the) pub or again, just kind of like, you know, chilling in and around the area.”

Coffin, who used to work in the university’s recruitment department, said the tower was used in recruitment materials such as brochures and presentations.

It used to have the letters NSAC painted on it, she said, and could be used to identify the campus.

Not only does Ashton have memories of the water tower as a student, but also from her childhood. The water tower can be found on school merchandise, she said.

“As a kid, I can think of like, one person I know that has this hat that has the water tower on it,” said Ashton.

“Any time I’d see the water tower on this hat or like some of our old shirts, I would know immediately that that’s a person that has a connection to the AC. So, it’s kind of just that iconic symbol.”

The water tower has been incorporated into alumni merchandise and shirts designed specifically for College Royal, an annual agricultural showmanship event hosted by the school.

“It’s sad to see things go that are part of tradition, but our campus has grown so much over the past, like, decade or so since it’s become a part of Dalhousie that this is just another change,” said Ashton.

Ashton said she was actually in a landscape architecture class when she learned the water tower is being dismantled.

This got her class talking about what the site could be used for in the future.

“We were really interested to see like, what that space could become.”