Why does Minnesota seem to have so many water towers?

Once you start noticing Minnesota’s water towers, they seem to be everywhere — and some are impossible to miss. There’s one shaped like a giant ear of corn, another painted like a fishing bobber and an old tower transformed into an enormous Swedish coffee pot. That made Curious Minnesota listener Kathleen Brenk wonder: Does Minnesota actually have more water towers than other states? Reporter Carson Hartzog went looking for an answer and discovered that the question is surprisingly difficult to settle. Most states don’t publish comprehensive water-tower counts. But Minnesota does have something unusual: a dedicated enthusiast who has traveled the state photographing, categorizing and documenting its towers one by one. In this episode, host Erica Pearson and Hartzog explore why Minnesota’s relatively flat landscape may make its water towers especially noticeable, how the towers store water and help maintain pressure, and why communities turn these utilitarian structures into giant advertisements for local identity. They also revisit the infamous moment in 1956 when someone climbed a Moorhead water tower and painted “Elvis for President” across it.