The Leaning Tower

Leaning tower

This is a list of leaning towers. A leaning tower is a tower which, either intentionally, due to errors in design, construction or to subsequent external influence, does not stand perpendicular to the ground...

 of Niles

Niles, Illinois

Niles is a village in Maine and Niles Townships, Cook County, Illinois, United States. The 2010 population from the U.S. Census Bureau is 29,803.The current mayor of Niles is Robert M. Callero.-History:Niles was first settled in 1827....

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, was completed in 1934 by industrialist Robert Ilg as part of a recreation park for employees of the Ilg Hot Air Electric Ventilating Company of Chicago. It is situated at 6300 W. Touhy Avenue

Touhy Avenue

Touhy Avenue is a major thoroughfare throughout northern Chicago, Illinois as well as the north and northwestern suburbs of the city. It is named for Patrick L. Touhy, a subdivider who was also the son-in-law of Phillip Rogers, an early settler who helped develop Rogers Park...

 and it is a 1/2 size copy of the original tower in Pisa

Pisa

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, which is a Niles' sister city.

Some speculate that part of the motivation to construct the tower was to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa or simply the Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa...

. A more likely explanation is its original functional purpose, to store water for outdoor recreational swimming pools. In 1960, the descendants of Robert Ilg donated part of the park for the construction of the Leaning Tower YMCA. Other amenities of the employees' recreational park included a wooden toboggan

Toboggan

A toboggan is a simple sled which is a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people down a hill or other slope for recreation. Designs vary from simple, traditional models to modern engineered composites...

 run, which was in decay but still visible in the 1960s.

Symbol for City

In 1991, the village of Niles, Illinois

Niles, Illinois

Niles is a village in Maine and Niles Townships, Cook County, Illinois, United States. The 2010 population from the U.S. Census Bureau is 29,803.The current mayor of Niles is Robert M. Callero.-History:Niles was first settled in 1827....

, established a sister city pact with Pisa, Italy. A US$1.2 million renovation of the Leaning Tower of Niles was started in 1995 by Mayor Nicholas Blase and the Board of Trustees, and was completed in 1996, improving the structure, facade and the Plaza area. The Leaning Tower Plaza area now has four fountains and a 30-foot pool. Village web site and publications include images of the tower. Leaning Tower Concert Series are Summertime open-air music concerts sponsored by the village since the 1990s.

External links

• Encyclopedia of Chicago, History of Niles, IL
• Google earth Model