Tyronza Water Tower

The Tyronza Water Tower, located northeast of the junction of Main and Oliver streets in Tyronza (Poinsett County), was constructed in 1935 and installed with assistance from the Public Works Administration (PWA), a New Deal public relief agency. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 20, 2007.

As the United States struggled with the Depression of the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration enacted the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) to ease the effects of businesses closing. The act created an organization called the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (or Public Works Administration), which was established on June 16, 1933, to help finance federal construction projects and create jobs.

The farming community of Tyronza had constructed an artesian well in 1929 to provide water for the town but decided to take advantage of the PWA’s offerings to secure a modern waterworks system. The town received a $7,190 grant and a $19,000 loan from the federal agency on August 15, 1934, for a project estimated to cost $26,041. The Arkansas Gazette reported on January 6, 1935, that Little Rock (Pulaski County) contractor Ben M. Hogan was awarded a $26,000 contract to build the waterworks system, with the Chicago Bridge and Iron Works to erect the Horton-style water tower.

PWA records indicate that construction of the Tyronza water system commenced on June 1, 1935, and was completed by July 27. The Tyronza Water Tower continues to serve the town and surrounding area in the twenty-first century.

For additional information:
Hall, Joanna. “Tyronza Water Tower.” National Register of Historic Places registration form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online at https://arkansaspreservation.worldsecuresystems.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/PO0072.nr.pdf (accessed January 17, 2019).

Hope, Holly. An Ambition to be Preferred: New Deal Recovery Efforts and Architecture in Arkansas, 1933–1943. Little Rock: Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 2006. Online at http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/News-and-Events/publications (accessed January 17, 2019).

“Tyronza Contracts Awarded.” Arkansas Gazette, January 6, 1935, p. 6.

Mark K. Christ
Central Arkansas Library System