Groom, Texas: Leaning Tower of Britten

A previous tipster indicated the tower is leaning 45 degrees! It is actually leaning only 10 degrees. If you look closely, the center of mass is located directly above the two buried red legs. The white center water pipe is merely serving as the third leg of a tripod. It's a trick often taught in the first year of architecture school. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is still standing for the same reason.

Human eyes always overestimate an object's lean angle.

The leaning water tower displaying the words "Britten USA" has nothing at all to do with Britains living in the area. The Britten family is a huge ranching and farming family in the area. There once was a truck stop and restaurant which is now gone, but they have recently opened up a auto & truck service station which stands just west of the leaning water tower. (I believe it has opened in the last two weeks actually). To my knowledge, the tower was never a working tower at that location. I live in the area and know many of the Britten family members.

I dated a "Brittain" from Groom so this is the real story: The man that put the Leaning Water Tower there did so on a bet that he couldn't get it to stay up leaning like that. Obviously he did and he won the bet. He painted his last name on the tower before putting it up and it really should be called Brittain USA because the whole town is practically made up of Brittains.

Now ya know.

This Is Why It Says Britten U.S.A.: Located in Groom, near the Big Cross, is the Leaning Water Tower which is the last surviving element of the Britten U.S.A. Truck Stop. It was brought to Groom by Ralph Britten to serve as a tourist attraction and a reason for people to stop at his truck stop and ask questions. For travelers today the truck stop is gone -- but the questions remain.

The water tower looks exactly as it did the last time I saw it in 1997 (no visible sign of increased tilt). A star can be seen on the top of the water tower and a light can be seen at the base. Curiously, the tower is painted with the words "Britten, USA" though the tower is located outside of Groom, TX. I searched for Britten, TX and could not locate a town with that name.