Ypsilanti Water Tower
E219337
The Ypsilanti Water Tower is a historic 19th-century stone water tower in Ypsilanti, Michigan, noted for its distinctive phallic shape and status as a local landmark.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Ypsilanti Water Tower canonical | 3 |
| Ypsilanti Standpipe | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1960483 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ypsilanti Water Tower Context triple: [Ypsilanti, Michigan, knownFor, Ypsilanti Water Tower]
-
A.
Jumbo Water Tower
Jumbo Water Tower is a prominent Victorian-era water tower and local landmark in Colchester, England, known for its massive brick structure and distinctive nickname.
-
B.
Chicago Water Tower
The Chicago Water Tower is a historic limestone structure on Michigan Avenue that famously survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and has become an iconic symbol of the city.
-
C.
Historic Water Tower
The Historic Water Tower is a 19th-century limestone water tower in Chicago that famously survived the Great Chicago Fire and now stands as an iconic symbol of the city along the Magnificent Mile.
-
D.
Enger Tower
Enger Tower is a historic stone observation tower in Duluth, Minnesota, offering panoramic views of the city, Lake Superior, and the surrounding landscape.
-
E.
Leaning Tower of Niles
The Leaning Tower of Niles is a half-sized replica of Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa, serving as a distinctive roadside attraction and local landmark in Niles, Illinois.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Ypsilanti Water Tower Target entity description: The Ypsilanti Water Tower is a historic 19th-century stone water tower in Ypsilanti, Michigan, noted for its distinctive phallic shape and status as a local landmark.
-
A.
Jumbo Water Tower
Jumbo Water Tower is a prominent Victorian-era water tower and local landmark in Colchester, England, known for its massive brick structure and distinctive nickname.
-
B.
Chicago Water Tower
The Chicago Water Tower is a historic limestone structure on Michigan Avenue that famously survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and has become an iconic symbol of the city.
-
C.
Historic Water Tower
The Historic Water Tower is a 19th-century limestone water tower in Chicago that famously survived the Great Chicago Fire and now stands as an iconic symbol of the city along the Magnificent Mile.
-
D.
Enger Tower
Enger Tower is a historic stone observation tower in Duluth, Minnesota, offering panoramic views of the city, Lake Superior, and the surrounding landscape.
-
E.
Leaning Tower of Niles
The Leaning Tower of Niles is a half-sized replica of Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa, serving as a distinctive roadside attraction and local landmark in Niles, Illinois.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
historic structure
ⓘ
landmark ⓘ water tower ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Ypsilanti Water Tower
ⓘ
surface form:
Ypsilanti Standpipe
|
| architect | William R. Coats NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| architecturalStyle |
Neo-Romanesque
ⓘ
surface form:
Romanesque Revival
|
| builtFor | Ypsilanti city water system ⓘ |
| category |
Buildings and structures in Washtenaw County, Michigan
ⓘ
Towers in Michigan ⓘ Water towers in the United States ⓘ |
| city | Ypsilanti ⓘ |
| completionDate | 1890 ⓘ |
| constructionStartDate | 1889 ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| county | Washtenaw County, Michigan NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| culturalReputation | frequently described as phallic ⓘ |
| elevation | located on the highest point in Ypsilanti ⓘ |
| era | 19th century ⓘ |
| function | municipal water storage ⓘ |
| hasCapacity | water storage tank inside the tower ⓘ |
| hasShape | cylindrical shaft with domed top ⓘ |
| height |
147 feet
ⓘ
approximately 45 meters ⓘ |
| heritageDesignation |
Michigan State Historic Site
ⓘ
listed on the National Register of Historic Places ⓘ |
| historicSignificance | early municipal water infrastructure in Michigan ⓘ |
| locatedInHistoricDistrict |
Downtown Ypsilanti Historic District
ⓘ
surface form:
Ypsilanti Historic District
|
| location |
Ypsilanti
ⓘ
surface form:
Ypsilanti, Michigan
|
| material |
rusticated limestone
ⓘ
stone ⓘ |
| near | Eastern Michigan University ⓘ |
| notableFor |
distinctive phallic shape
ⓘ
prominent position on a hill ⓘ role as a local landmark ⓘ |
| NRHPListingDate | 1981 ⓘ |
| NRHPType | structure ⓘ |
| owner |
Ypsilanti
ⓘ
surface form:
City of Ypsilanti
|
| partOf |
Ypsilanti city water system
ⓘ
surface form:
Ypsilanti municipal water system
|
| preservationStatus | preserved ⓘ |
| roofType | conical roof ⓘ |
| state |
Michigan (most of state)
ⓘ
surface form:
Michigan
|
| status | standing ⓘ |
| tourism | popular roadside attraction ⓘ |
| yearOfEstablishment | 1890 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Ypsilanti Water Tower Description of subject: The Ypsilanti Water Tower is a historic 19th-century stone water tower in Ypsilanti, Michigan, noted for its distinctive phallic shape and status as a local landmark.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Ypsilanti, Michigan
subject surface form:
Ypsilanti, Michigan
this entity surface form:
Ypsilanti Standpipe