Buford Tower, a six-story masonry tower standing at West Cesar Chavez and Colorado Streets near the shores of Lady Bird Lake, was originally built in 1930 as a drill facility for the Austin Fire Department, repeatedly set aflame and doused as a training exercise for putting out fires in multi-story structures -- which was highly effective, since few buildings in the area rose above this height at the time. (The fire department reportedly also used it . . .
