Florence Y’All Water Tower in Florence, Kentucky

Growing up we would often pass through Florence, Kentucky while driving through down I-75 and I had always wondered about the curious Florence Y’all Water Tower we would pass by located at the Florence Mall. On my recent trip to Kentucky, I stopped and shot a photo of it, leading me to do some research on this odd landmark.

Built in 1974, the water tower originally read “Florence Mall” and was completed before the mall was finished, but the state of Kentucky said it was illegal to advertise something that did not exist. The mayor of Florence at the time, C.M. “Hop” Ewing suggested to just change the “M” to a “Y'” so it would read “Florence Y’all”, rather than paint over all of the letters, as a temporary fix (saving $1,270) and tribute to region.

When the mall was completed, the letters on the tower were never changed back.