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All the United States Kentucky Florence Florence Y'all Water Tower

Florence Y'all Water Tower

After a water tower painting was accused of being an ad, a simple fix was made that gave the city a motto.

Florence, Kentucky

Added By
Thomas Harper
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Florence Y’all Water Tower   Getty Images / Education Images
Florence Y’all Water Tower   Getty Images / Education Images
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
Florence Y’all Water Tower   sugarbomb / Atlas Obscura User
Florence Water tower   jolennox / Atlas Obscura User
Florence Y’all Water Tower   Morgan on Flickr
Florence Y’all Water Tower   Chris on Flickr
Original water tower logo   https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/com...
June 2023  
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About

When a water tower was built next to and denoting the new Florence Mall, it raised concerns about being a large advertisement and thus breaking the law. But that was nothing that a couple of stripes and an apostrophe couldn't fix.

The tower was built in 1974, with the words "Florence Mall" painted on the dome. The Bureau of Highways wrote to Florence's then mayor, C.M. "Hop" Ewing, that the tower was advertising the mall and that since it was much larger than highway advertising laws, the paint would have to be redone. The mayor, along with civil staff, came up with an admittedly corny, but cost-effective, solution of just repainting the M to make a Y, then adding an apostrophe to make the "Mall" a "Y'all"—Southern American English's second-person plural pronoun. The repainting took less than $500 and created a landmark.

While the tower has been repainted over the years, the unconventional fix still remains and has even lent its name to the Florence Y'all Festivals in the community.

Related Tags

Water Towers Waterworks Roadside Attractions

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The tower is visible from I-71/75 in Florence.

Community Contributors

Added By

thomasharper

Edited By

EricGrundhauser, meadowdrive5, Collector of Experiences, sugarbomb...

  • EricGrundhauser
  • meadowdrive5
  • Collector of Experiences
  • sugarbomb
  • jolennox
  • Michelle Cassidy
  • Wernecke

Published

April 6, 2015

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  • http://www.florencekyonline.com/florence-yall-water-tower/
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_American_English
Florence Y'all Water Tower
500 Mall Circle Road
Florence, Kentucky, 41042
United States
38.997733, -84.647854
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