Bangor’s Thomas Hill Standpipe Tours For 2024 Are Cancelled

Kind of a bummer, but it's a "no-go" in 2024

For 24 years now, the Thomas Hill Standpipe has put on tours, with spectacular views from the top of this iconic landmark, but due to overdue repairs and maitnenance on the facilty, the Bangor Water District has decided to shut them down for the year.

Now of course this doesn't mean it will affect the day to day operations of the water tower, they just plan to work around it.

Three dates were set for May, July, and twice in October, but we will all have to wait until 2025, to enjoy this event.

This is a must for anyone who has a Stephen King, or Bangor area bucket list!

If you are unaware of the history of the buliding, The Thomas Hill Standpipe, holds 1,750,000 gallons of water, is a riveted wrought iron tank with a wood frame jacket. The metal tank is 50 feet high and 75 feet in diameter. It was built in 1897, and is an architecturally distinctive city landmark, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

And of course, you can't talk about the Thomas Hill Standpipe, without mentioning that it served as the inspiration for the haunted and dangerous water tower in "It," Stephen King wrote of the 1986 book, sitting on a park bench in the small park at the base of the tower.

That means that the thousands of people who make the trek to Bangor each year, to see "all things Kin" will have to settle for visiting his former home on West Broadway, heading over to Mount Hope Cemetery, or checking out the infamous sewer from "IT".

In the book, the fictional town of Derry is a stand-in for Bangor, Maine. The now-iconic sewer drain where Pennywise dwells was inspired by the corner of Jackson and Union Street in good ol' Bangtown.

Read More: This Sewer In Bangor Inspired Stephen King’s ‘IT’

So while it is kind of a drag that these tours won't be happening, there is plenty to do and see in the Bangor area over the coming months!