Oops: Iowa town’s name misspelled on new water tower

STUART, Iowa — Officials in central Iowa were redfaced after a new water tower had the town’s name misspelled.

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The town of Stuart, located west of Des Moines, had one side of the water tower with its name spelled properly, KCCI-TV reported. But the other side had the name “START” painted in big block letters, according to the television station.

“It started blowing up like crazy. And everybody is like, ‘No way,’” Stuart resident Katelyn Johnson, who posted photographs and videos of the spelling gaffe, told KCCI. “Everybody has been talking about it in town and everywhere.”

Stuart Mayor Dick Cook said that residents saw the tower from Interstate 80 and complained. While the town is now the butt of jokes on the internet, Cook said he was taking the mistake in stride.

“It was hilarious. I mean, a lot of people were posting this, ‘They don’t know how to spell the town of Stuart.’” Cook told KCCI. “That’s fine.”

The mayor did have an explanation for the misspelling, which is a start. He said that the contractor was in the process of fixing the town’s name because it was not centered properly, which caused it to appear as a misspelling, according to the television station.

The misspelling has since been corrected.