In my quiet childhood days of roller-skating to the Roland Water Tower, I would never have envisioned what I saw there June 4.
What I saw in the 1950s were people sitting on the cement bench waiting for the bus, green buses going around the circular drive, occasional children playing on the small hill. No graceful Japanese zelkovas created a shady canopy then. Few Roland Parkers had ever even seen Japanese zelkovas that now grace the Roland Avenue median. I don't remember what trees, if any, grew near the water tower. I do remember the privet hedge, higher than it is now, at the front.
In those days we called it the Roland Park Water Tower, unaware that it was really just the Roland Water Tower, and had been a gravity system feeding water south. The tower, which had supplied water for Roland Park, originally stood across from the Upland Road fire station, near the site of the former Girls' Latin gym that now houses squash courts.
Almost 50 years after my family moved from our first neighborhood home close to the tower, I found myself at "Tunes for the Tower." This three-hour food family event with live music celebrated the tower and launched a $1 million effort to save it.
Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke and leaders of surrounding communities talked about the serious need to stabilize the deteriorating area landmark. A large chain link fence around and rusting front doors on the tower cried out for repair. No terra cotta tiles fell off the roof. Invisible under that roof, however, was guano — thousands of pounds of it — the same type of pigeon dung that contributed to the collapse of a Minneapolis bridge in 2007.
Oblivious to its condition, children drew pictures and wrote stories about the tower. A 21st century food truck provided pizza at the 105-year-old tower, while people from surrounding neighborhoods, as far south as 23rd street and as far north as Lake Avenue, introduced themselves to one another, reminisced about experiences at the tower and talked about what might be for this pocket park.
"It could easily be another Bryant Park," one woman said.
"It would be great for afternoon concerts," said an older gentleman, reminding me of the old bandstands in Baltimore parks and Sunday afternoon concerts.
All I could think of were ice cream socials, a garden behind the hedge, and people using the green space beneath this elegant Beaux Arts tower and how much all of us who care about city spaces like this need to put our money where our mouths are.