TOPSHAM – History buffs want to restore a historic water tower to its original condition, recalling when it was used by a local farm family for drinking, irrigation and stagecoach passengers who stopped at the farmstead’s tavern and inn.

In the late 1800s, the Cathance Water Tower was a familiar sight on the Rogers farm, at what is now the junction of Cathance Road and Beechwood Drive. The farm burned in the 1970s, but the wooden tower remains.

Now, the tower faces a subdivision of homes where the Rogers farmstead once stood. Its wood is rotting, and its future is in doubt.

The tower was listed two years ago on the National Register of Historic Places. Doreen Wilson, the assistant town planner, says the town is determined to protect the tower.

“Historically, it is such a unique structure,” said Wilson, who has been working with the town’s Historic District Commission to preserve the structure. “It’s not something the town would want to lose.”

According to local history, a hydraulic ram pump was used to draw well water into a holding tank on the upper floor of the tower. The Rogers family used gravity to supply water to the homestead for family, crops and travelers who stopped in.

A study completed last year by Turk, Tracy & Larry Architects of Portland estimated it could cost up to $124,000 to restore the tower. The architects helped stabilize the structure, which had rotted in several places.

Tobin Tracey, who conducted the study, said he knows of no other structure like it in Maine.