About Leaning Tower of Texas
Near Groom, an old water tower leans toward the ground at an angle that makes passing drivers expect gravity to finish the job at any moment. It has looked that way for decades, not because the structure is gradually collapsing, but because it was deliberately installed crooked.
The tower is commonly known as the Leaning Tower of Texas or the Britten Leaning Water Tower. Local businessman Ralph Britten used it as an attention-grabbing advertisement for his roadside truck stop and restaurant along historic Route 66. Tilting a full-size water tower proved much more visible than another conventional sign.
The business it advertised is gone, but the tower survived. Its legs meet the ground at obviously different heights, making the structure appear caught in the exact instant before a spectacular fall. The open Panhandle landscape enhances the illusion because there are few surrounding objects to distract from the angle.
The landmark now stands beside Interstate 40, which largely replaced the old Route 66 traffic that once made roadside advertising so important. It remains a perfect artifact of that era. A normal water tower communicates a town name. Groom’s tilted one communicated something more urgent: whatever was happening beside the highway was strange enough to justify slowing down.