Joe Holcomb never gave much thought to the water tower sitting across from the historic Chicopee Village, just outside Gainesville and off Atlanta Highway.

"It was just part of the scenery," said Holcomb, who grew up in the village and returned in 1952 to raise a family there.

These days, he would rather see the tower gone.

"I know it would cost a fortune to paint that tower and I can understand why (the current owners) don't do it, but something needs to be done with it," he said.

"We are hoping possibly as the (Georgia Department of Transportation) widens this road here that (the tower) may be in their way, and we hope it is."

While some water towers are iconic structures, a symbol and sometimes physical likeness of what towns folk like to boast about their communities, the Chicopee tower has been reduced to a rusting relic of a bygone era.

Through the years, Holcomb recalled, the water tank displayed either the Chicopee Manufacturing Co. logo, the company's name or "just plain Chicopee sometimes."

"I know the company maintained it real well," said Holcomb, who worked in industrial engineering at the company until his retirement in 1986.

Flowery Branch has a storage tank that rises above Thurmon Tanner Parkway, telling the world it is the home of the Atlanta Falcons. The tank also features the same logo that's stamped on the NFL players' helmets.

Otherwise, Most of Hall County's water tanks belong to the Gainesville water system - and the city regulates what's painted on them.

"We are very particular as to what is painted on them," said Kelly J. Randall, the city's public utilities director. "We have in the past made an effort to recognize the local community where the tank is."

Another village resident, Tina Carrington, said the tower, despite its condition, "is a landmark for us."

"My 4-year-old daughter always says, ‘There's the water tower!' with delight when we are driving home," she said.

Still, she added, "I'm from the Midwest and there, water towers are always kept painted and proudly display the name of the town. Is that not a tradition here in the South?"

When the Chicopee neighborhood was originally built, there were at one point three water towers providing water for the neighborhood, plus a retaining pool next to the original Chicopee Mill school, located in a wood frame structure behind the mill, according to Holcomb. The water tower near the school was torn down when the school moved to a new building across Atlanta Highway, and the third water tower was near where the Chicopee Woods Golf Course is now located.

Johnson & Johnson set up the Chicopee Manufacturing Co. mill village in 1927. The water towers served as a storage tank, one piece in the village's efforts to sustain itself.

The village also supported churches, a school and a community store featuring a post office.

"Everything was here. ... I was fortunate I could walk to work," said Holcomb, 82. "We didn't have to have two cars. It was that handy."

The company remained in Hall County until 1993, according to the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce's Web site.

When it left, Johnson & Johnson donated about 3,000 acres of woodlands to local government for park purposes. A golf course, Elachee Nature Science Center and an agricultural center now grace the property.

Industrial Properties Group of Gainesville is trying to sell or lease the old mill site, marketing it as a 315-acre business/industrial park with "build to suit" sites ranging from 20,000 to 80,000 square feet.

The Chicopee Industrial Complex features six building sites, with one under lease, dating as far back as 1927.

"As far as I know, there are no plans to either knock down or improve the water tower," said Drew Addison of Industrial Properties. "It is kind of staying put for the short term.

"The owner and I haven't really discussed doing anything with it. It is kind of a known landmark, if you want to call it, over there. I guess our main focus has been more the buildings than the water tower."

He referred other questions to owner Jon Scroggs, who couldn't be reached for comment.

Gainesville's Randall winces, by the way, at calling the structures "water towers." He prefers the term "elevated water tanks."

His term preference stems from a government discussion once held over controlling water tanks "by the same definition as you would a cell tower," Randall said.

"That's what really got me going," he added.