BlockFrom the record
One of 37 National Register listings published here for Story County · listed in 1982 · category: Structure.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Marston Water Tower
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
- Address. Iowa State University campus, Ames, 50012
- When was it listed? May 1982
- Category. structure
- Township. Washington township
- National Register reference number. 82002644 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
31 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 31 fires within 5 miles of Marston Water Tower between 2006 and 2020, burning about 102 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 |
| Smoking | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 11 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 15 August 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 June 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 12 June 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 May 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 2134 QUAIL RIDGE RD, AMES, IA |
| 8 May 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 615 ROOKWOD DR., AMES, IA |
| 17 May 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Mines and quarries near this property
7 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Marston Water Tower: 4 producers, 3 past producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Bituminous, Sulfur-Pyrite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa State Univ. Coal Prep. Plant | Bituminous, Sulfur-Pyrite | Producer | ||
| Onion Creek Quarries | Limestone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Ames Mine | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Ames Mine | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Ames Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Old Roberson Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Peterson Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this property
60 of 272 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ames, the town this property stands in, in 272 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 99 thunderstorm wind, 85 hail, 52 heavy rain, 18 flood. The reports record 9 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2005 | Tornado (F1) | Ames | 8 hurt, $150,000 | A tornado touched down in the central Campas Area of ISU. Eight injuries occurred, one serious enough to require hospitalization. |
| November 2005 | Tornado (F2) | Ames | 1 hurt, $250,000 | Tornado moved from Boone County into Story County. One minor injury occurred on the west side of Ames. |
| August 2010 | Flood | Ames | $50,000,000 | Hilton Coliseum reported 4 to 6 feet of water inside flooding the stadium and basketball floor. Cy Stephens Auditorium also reports water in the mechanical building up to the 1st floor. |
| August 2010 | Flood | Ames | $1,000,000 | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $500,000 | Story County Emergency Manager reports widespread significant tree damage in and around Ames. Some trees uprooted and others snapped off. Empty grain bins and outbuildings damaged across the county. A tree fell on a shed at Iowa State University. |
| August 2010 | Flood | Ames | $500,000 | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Flood | Ames | $500,000 | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Ames | $250,000 | Several reports via TV and social media of golf ball hail in Ames. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $250,000 | Garage doors were blown in with gutters torn off of an apartment complex in north Ames. |
| July 2000 | Hail | Ames | $250,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Flash Flood | Ames | $250,000 | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Ames | $175,000 | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $150,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Flood | Ames | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Flood | Ames | $100,000 | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Flood | Ames | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Lightning | Ames | $100,000 | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Flood | Ames | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Flood | Ames | $70,000 | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Flash Flood | Ames | $50,000 | WHO-TV, via social media, reported water roughly 2 to 3 feet deep on Grand Ave at the railroad underpass just north of Lincoln Way. Several cars were stalled out in the water. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $50,000 | Damage report within two blocks of Bloomington Rd. and Grand Ave. Shingles off of house roofs, privacy fences down, apartment buildings lost partial balcony, traffic light pole bent over, and trees of one to two foot diameter snapped at bases. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $50,000 | Wind damage reported to trees. Observer measured wind speed. |
| May 2013 | Flood | Ames | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Flood | Ames | $50,000 | no account filed |
| March 2007 | Flood | Ames | $50,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Flood | Ames | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $50,000 | no account filed |
| April 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $50,000 | no account filed |
| April 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Ames | $40,000 | no account filed |
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $30,000 | Ames Police reported wall of a building pushed in about 6 feet, damage to the walls and doors, contents inside blown around, as well as trees down in the area. Time estimated from radar. |
| September 2016 | Flash Flood | Ames | $30,000 | Ames Police reported several streets throughout the town have deep enough water to cause multiple stalled vehicles. |
| September 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $30,000 | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $25,000 | Large trees were uprooted along 13th street in Ames. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $25,000 | A tree landed on a house and a car in the area of Nixon Circle in Ames. The tree damaged the gas line to the house. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $25,000 | Wind speed measured at an Ames mesonet site. |
| August 2010 | Flash Flood | Ames | $25,000 | Story County Sheriff reports Highway 69 closed from Ames south to mile post 111 due to water over the road. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $25,000 | Tree damage reported and power pole snapped. |
| May 2008 | Flash Flood | Ames | $25,000 | Water was reported over the road at the intersection of 180th and U.S. Highway 69. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $25,000 | Ames police reported several large trees down along Country Club Blvd. One power pole was down with other damage near the corner of State and Mortenson roads. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $25,000 | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $25,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Ames | $25,000 | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Ames | $25,000 | no account filed |
| September 2016 | Flash Flood | Ames | $20,000 | Public reported stores along Stange Road starting to flood with water from out front. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $20,000 | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $20,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $20,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $15,000 | Large tree fell on staked down tents east of Jack Trice Stadium in Ames. |
| May 2008 | Flood | Ames | $15,000 | no account filed |
| September 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $15,000 | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $15,000 | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $15,000 | no account filed |
| May 2019 | Flood | Ames | $10,000 | Emergency manager reported several locations in Ames have water over the road, including East Lincoln Way, Grand Ave, and Airport Road. |
| May 2018 | Hail | Ames | $10,000 | Public reported ping pong ball sized hail. |
| September 2016 | Flash Flood | Ames | $10,000 | Trained spotter reported College Creek on ISU campus out of its banks and has reached the base of Union Drive. Heavy rainfall still ongoing as of time of report. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $10,000 | A 12 inch diameter tree blown down on a car. |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | $10,000 | Trees and power lines blocking Riverside Road north of Ames. |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Colonials Club House | under 500 feet | 2012 |
 | Engineering Hall | under 500 feet | 1983 |
 | Morrill Hall | 0.2 miles | 1996 |
 | Alumni Hall | 0.2 miles | 1978 |
 | Agriculture Hall | 0.3 miles | 1985 |
| Cranford Apartment Building | 0.3 miles | 2023 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 82002644 in Record Group 79. |
| Story County | All 37 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.