High above Seward, one man and his paintbrush will turn the town’s new water tower into a patriotic work of art.
Jim Kelly of Mississippi started drawing at five years old. Growing up, he hoped to incorporate art into his career but knew it was difficult to make a living as a commercial artist. He began working for a water tank company, which always put logos on the tanks to finish the process.
He then started his own business, Industrial and Commercial Signs. For more than 30 years, he has painted logos onto water towers around the country. He painted the tower in Wahoo over 10 years ago.
Kelly, age 64, mathematically determines how to scale logos onto water towers. He freehands his drawing onto the tower with a pencil using tools such as a level and a compass. Then, he paints it.
He uses a machine such as a swing stage, boom lift or bosun’s chair to paint the towers. Kelly was nervous the first time he painted from so high up, but now he does not even think about it.
“When I’m up there, I’m looking at what I’m doing, I’m looking at the tank and concentrating on what I’m doing,” he said. “So, the height doesn’t bother me.”
Kelly began working on the Seward tower more than a month ago. His wife, Cathy, takes care of his supplies, set-up and clean-up processes and business and office work. The couple enjoys talking with everyone they meet when they travel for work and said everyone in Seward has been friendly.
Concordia University Art Professor Seth Boggs created the design for the tower. The design is a flag motif as a nod to Seward as the Fourth of July City, a way to honor the National Guard and other service organizations and spread patriotism.
“It’s a little bit of an extra step, and I think it’s turning out nicely,” City Engineer Mike Oneby said. “It’s a wonderful thing for the city council to approve that we actually do something a little nicer than the ordinary.”
The old water tower was built in 1941 and had a lead paint exterior. Around 2017, Seward got a price estimate to repaint it. All the lead paint would have to be removed, and the entire process would cost about $900,000– about half the cost of the tank at that time, Oneby said.
Seward instead decided to build a new tank, still located near the National Guard Museum. At 500,000 gallons, it is more than twice as large as the old tank. The new tank will also have a mixing system, which keeps water healthy and safe.
User rates will pay for the tower. A loan from the Nebraska Department of Water, Energy and Environment’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund will cover the $3 million tank contract, and the city will pay the roughly $200,000 demolition cost and $700,000 site work cost upfront.
Unlike many other Nebraska cities, Seward has grown at a steady rate of 1% since the 1880s, Oneby said. This makes it necessary to improve the town's infrastructure, including the water tower, over time.
Kelly hoped to finish painting the tower by Oct. 14. Then, the city will complete some odds and ends on the project. Oneby said the tower will have electrical work done to support antennas for cell phones, the city’s radio system and emergency services.
Oneby said the tank is set to be finished in November. Then, Seward will add grass, trees and an irrigation system to the area in the spring. The tank and its surrounding area should be complete before the Fourth of July celebration, Oneby said.
The demolition of the old water tower will probably not happen in 2025, he said. Cell phone equipment needs to be removed from the top of the old tower and added to the new.
Then Seward needs to get on the schedule for the demolition crew.
“The tank demo company performs highly specialized work, and to be efficient, they generally loop around the US rather than haphazardly dart from coast to coast,” Oneby said.
The old tank will be gone and area improved in time for the semiquincentennial celebration on July 4, he said.
“Rather than sand lots or a gravel lot with a chain link fence and three strands of barbed wire, we decided to make it more like a park and more as a nice public facility that is really in the corridor of main activities during Easter and the Fourth of July celebration,” Oneby said.
Oneby said he is looking forward to having a tower that not only functions well but also stands out as distinctly Seward and something that residents can take pride in.
