Talk:Ypsilanti Water Tower

Sources and nicknames
I've heard all this information about the historic Water Tower before, but I don't recall where this information came from. I'm looking to see where the facts about the history, early operation regulations, etc. came from. That's why I tagged this article as unreferenced. Whoever wrote this article, please locate and cite your sources that you used to get this information. If you do that, it will be greatly appreciated.

BTW, whoever called our beloved Water Tower the "Brick Dick", as a native of Ypsilanti I don't hear that nickname in common usage, and I find it offensive. When giving directions, we often call it the "Stone Water Tower".

--141.213.178.11 14:03, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I disagree on the prevalence of local usage of the name "Brick Dick". I've lived on the very fringe of Ann Arbor (Quite literally on the city line) for 90% of my life, and with all due respect, I think the opposite is true. Granted, "Brick Dick" is very rarely used verbatim, but variations of "giant stone penis" are very common due to the memorability of it. I'm not quite sure why you feel it's offensive, but the way I see it, neither of us built it and denying it looks like a limestone erection is just silly. 68.41.143.170 (talk)

Dates on the water tower
The article states: "The tower was designed by William R. Coats and constructed as part of an elaborate city waterworks project that began in 1899. Located on the highest point in Ypsilanti, the tower was completed in 1890" I'm not sure of the proper dates, but it seems that if the project began in 1899, how could it be finished in 1890? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.245.85.62 (talk) 01:00, 27 February 2007 (UTC).

There is a plaque located on the eastern side of the tower indicating it was erected in 1889 (see Image:Ypsi-water-tower-plaque.jpg).

--Tproa (talk) 00:54, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Sources and Nickname
Hey, I'm a student at Eastern Michigan University, the school that is right across the street from the water tower. After reading this article, whomever wrote it, just copied and reworded the Michigan historical marker for the water tower for most of the article. It's already listed in the external links. The rewording of the marker is why the dates seem off too.

I've got class in 5 mins, otherwise I would take the time and edit it myself.

And about the nickname... whomever said that they were from Ypsi (What people in Ypsilanti call the city) and said that they have never heard of the water tower being called the "Brick Dick" most likely never talked to anybody else in the community. You could ask any student or any person who's been in this area for more then 1 year what the "Brick Dick" is, and they would give you the right answer.

--Qs23 15:55, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

"a historic"/"an historic"
Although a search of the WP:MOS and talk archive turned up two somewhat inconclusive discussions (1, 2), both suggest that modern writing and US usage tend to favor "a historic" rather than "an historic", because modern US pronunciation (with regional exceptions) tends to pronounce the "h". I suggest that, particularly in the US midwest, "a historic" is far more prevalent, and should be favored here. See, for example, wikt:historic. cmadler (talk) 13:40, 27 May 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm one of the "an" folks here and having lived within say 10 miles (sometimes a few blocks) of the Tower for 30 years I find it an appropriate use of "an," mid-western accents and all.  I have always gone on the basis of who even (whom ever?) writes a phrase that might be disputed gets to be the one who decides how it goes.  I don't remember if I wrote that here - I did add the three pictures, but I think that it should remain the way it was first written.  Now to go look and see what that was.  Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 16:38, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Having majored in Linguistics I think I can speak with some authority on this and I say the test should not be what some prescriptive grammarian says is right, but rather what one's linguistic intuition says 'sounds' right. I can say without hesitation that 'an historic' sounds right to me. If there really are people whose intuition is that 'a historic' sounds right, then it should be the author's choice rather than trying to impose uniformity. There are many other examples of diferences in different dialects of English that are tolerated in formal writing. Dwight Burdette (talk) 16:10, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

I am not really happy
with this statement: '''The exterior was designed in the popular Queen Anne style of the period. ''' What about the exterior of this structure would be considered Queen Anne? I thought I'd ask before axing, so I have. Carptrash (talk) 00:15, 25 May 2012 (UTC)


 * I'd be cautious about removing that because it is cited to EMU (actual, it's a possible copyvio, unless EMU pulled that text from the historic marker). According to Queen Anne style architecture in the United States, "In American usage "Queen Anne" is loosely used of a wide range of picturesque buildings with "free Renaissance" (non-Gothic Revival) details rather than of a specific formulaic style in its own right." cmadler (talk) 14:55, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
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