Batman water tower in Taylor could soon get new identity
Dec 26, 2024, 5:49 PM | Updated: 6:19 pm
TAYLOR — What started as a high school student’s graffiti, has become a longtime landmark in the west side of Weber County, but the so-called ‘Batman Water Tower’ will soon get a new paint job.
Many people who live around the tower have grown fond of the Bat Symbol. The lore behind it has been shared ever since it showed up around the late 90’s.
“A kid from Freemont High School painted a Batman sign on the water tower here,” area homeowner Chad Gibson recalled. “And the water tower in Plain City, which we all thought was super cool at the time.”
The Plain City tower was painted over several years ago, but Taylor West Weber Water District Manager, Ryan Rogers agrees with that synopsis of what happened.
“It just kind of got left,” Rogers said. “And then it’s become a symbol for the community and kind of a landmark.”
A former manager for the district told KSL that none of the area teenagers would fess up to knowing the perpetrator(s) at the time, though he had suspicions about one teen in particular.
Roughly 25 years later, the paint has become significantly faded, and Rogers says it’s time for a fresh coat. Rather than remove any landmark symbol altogether, he says the district came up with the idea of instead representing the new area high school.
“With Westfield High School, we’ve thought about painting (the) Longhorn on there instead of the bat symbol,” Rogers said. “Just to kind of show our support for the community.”
Rogers said he’d recently reached out to the principal and student body leadership at West Field but has yet to hear back from The Longhorns.
Joe and Amy Edwards, who live nearly right under the water tower say they’d miss seeing the bat symbol, but they’re open to the change.
“It’s like an icon,” Amy Edwards said. “(But) I say, put a Longhorn up there. Longhorns down the street. It’s great.”
“I like it how it is. I would like it to just stay the same.” Joe Edwards added. “But then again, our daughters are going to go to the high school down the street, so that would also be cool to represent their high school.”
Gibson, who once sat on the water district’s board agrees.
“I’m a big fan of the Batman sign,” he said. “But with the new high school here, if they wanted to change it and put a Longhorn up there, I think it would be pretty cool for the community.”
