YESTERDAY AND TODAY 100 YEARS OF WATER SUPPLY 100 YEARS OF WAIER SUPPLY PUBLISHED BY THE WATER BUREAU OF THE METROPOLITAN DISTRICT HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT FOREWORD One hundred years ago, in 1855, this community first enjoyed the advantages of a public water supply, serving what is now the central portion of Hartford and constructed by the Water Board of the City of Hartford. This booklet is offered in commemoration of that occasion. Thisyear, 1955, also marksthetwenty-fifth anniversary of the Metropolitan District, a municipal corporation char­ tered by the GeneralAssemblyofConnecticutand exercising, within the Hartford metropolitan area the functions of water supply, sewerage and regional planning. In 1930, the Dis­ trict assumed the water supply functions of the City and of the towns and fire districts within the towns of Bloomfield, Windsor, Newington and Wethersfield. At that time the sys­ tern had a valuation (fixed capital) of 13-1/2 million dollars, and included storage reservoirs with capacity for about 11 billion gallons. The average daily consumption was 18 mil­ lion gallons and a population of 212, 000 was supplied with water. Today the daily consumption averages 40 million gallons. Storage capacity has been increased to 41 billion gallons and the plant valuation is close to 50 million dollars. The East Hartford and Rocky Hill water systems have been transferred to the District and over 345, 000 people are being served. ~- MAIN ST,, HARTFORD, SOUTH FROM ASYLUM ST,, 1865 INSIDE COVER- THE SAME VIEW, 1955 THE FIRST VENTURE============== THE CONNECTICUT RIVER SUPPLY======= In Hartford the news spread like wildfire on the morning of October 23, 1855. In shops and stores along State and Main Streets, clerks eagerly pas sed the news along to cus­ tamers: "They're starting the pumps for the new water works this noon. Imagine! We'll have water coming right into our homes . " Asa Perkins hung a sign in the door of his butcher shop, "Be back at one o'clock. Gone to the river." Down by the banks of the Connecticut River - about the same site as our Riverside Park- a group of men were gath­ ered around a large engine. Spanking new in the bright sun­ light, the engine with its huge flywheel gave one the feeling of power and durability. The men were proud of this engine; it was Hartford made and designed. A bronze plate on the hub of the wheel proclaimed: "Woodruff & Beach, Mfgrs., Hartford, Conn. " Water Board President Ezra Clark drove up in his horse and buggy a few minutes before noon. Mr. Clark, a distin­ guishedlooking man with his graying "Galways" beard, joined the other Water Board Commissioners who had arrived min­ utes before. The editor of the Hartford Times jotted down the names of Commissioners E. K. Root, E . M . Reed, Daniel Phillips, and Hiram Bissell. Mr. Bissell, a conscientious man who liked things done promptly, kept fingering his large vest-pocket watch. "I think we should get started now that Mr. Clark is here, tr he insisted. Years of hard work and devotion to public service hung in the balance. Could the engine do the job? Could the pumps force water from the river through a 16 -inch cast iron main and send it a mile away to Lord's Hill Reservoir, a 125 feet above river level? Was the pipe strong enough to hold the pressure? Was Lord's Hill Reservoir - on the present day property of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company on Garden Street - sufficiently impervious to hold water? All these questions would be answered in a few minutes. WAITING TO START Mayor Deming, stoutish Hartford political leader, shoul­ dered his way into the knot of Water Commissioners. "Ezra, we 1 re all waiting to get started, " he prodded Mr. Clark. The Board President nodded and signaled to Chief Engineer Nathan Starkweather hunched over the engine making a last minute check. Mr. Starkweather, chief engineer for only a few months, mopped his brow despite the cool October wind. The news had traveled fast. By this time the crowd of onlookers had growrt considerably. Out on the river brisk fall winds ruf­ fled the waters, sparkling in the noonday sun. Mr. Starkweather straightened up, wiped his hands, and motioned to his two helpers to start the engine. A quiet fell over the crowd. The big wheel spun lazily .. a couple oi puffs .. a his sing of steam .. then the wheel settled into slow steady revolutions .. then gradually faster, the big connecting rods driving up and down in powerful strokes. An approving murmur rose from the crowd. Soon the sound of water coming through the feeder pipe grew strong and clear. There was no jerking of the pipe under pressure, no alarming pulsation, no strain that could spell trouble. Just the smooth flow of water on its way to its new home on Lord's Hill. Smiles took over where tense expressions had prevailed. Hartford 1 s first public water sup ply be came a reality l There was general handshaking all around. Mayor Dem­ ing, his face florid with delight, announced that this was a day long to remember in Hartford history. Some onlookers crowded around the engine to get a closer look. Others got into their buggies or on horseback for the trip back to town. A few walked along the narrow path to Morgan Street. Some had to hurry back for the wedding at the Fourth Congrega­ tional Church where Watson L. Wilcox was marrying Miss Ellen Peckham. President Clark had tickets for the evening performance of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" at Wyatt's Dramatic Lyceum. Everyone was talking about little Cordelia Howard's performance as Little Eva. u HURRAH FOR THE YANKEES!" Next day the Hartford Courant carried a joyous story about the new Hartford Water Works. Everyone is pleased to see the pump work so smoothly the Courant wrote. "Yan­ kee genius has accomplished what English hydraulic engi­ neers had given up as impossible, an improvement on the time honored Cornish engine for water pumping purposes. If everything works as well as is confidently expected they can learn something in this staid old place. Hurrah for the Yankees!" z AT RIGHT - THE PUMPING ENGINE ROOM, I!IELOW- EXTERIOR VIEW OF CONNECTICUT RIVER PUMPING STATION, NOTE THE HORSE AND WAGON IN THE FOREGROUND . WAGON I!IEARS PROUD TITLE RCITYWATERWORKSR. CONNECTICUT RIVER PUMPING STATION AT RIGHT- VIEW OF PUMPING GEARS. THIS PUMPING ENGINE WAS BUILT BY LOCAL MANUFACTURERS, WOODRUFF AND BEACH, Wlo!OSE FOUNDRY WAS ON COMMERCE STREET, OPPOSITE WHATWAS THEN COLT'SARMORY, Sandwiched in the paper was other news. A "Doctor" Kennedy advertised that he was down from Boston, selling a patent medicine derived from "common pasture weed" . This elixir could positively cure anything "from the worst case of scrofula to the common pimple". There was other news too. Dark, forbidding news. An editorial said, "Now or never has come to be the word in every freeman's mouth. WE MUST RESIST the aggressions of the South. We love the Union, but we love justice and humanity even more than the Union. " The rumbling storm of the Civil War was beginning, a storm that would rage into full fury in a few short years. LORD'S HILL RESERVOIR Lord's Hill Reservoi r- although it was beset by troubles in later years - was the first successful water supply base in Hartford. Previously Hartford businessmen had made fee­ ble attempts at selling water. The Hartford Aqueduct Company was chartered in 1797 but did nothing for several years. Two other organizations around 1800 attempted to operate, the Gleason and Cowles Company and another unnamed company. LORDIS HILL RESERVOIR ON GARDEN STREET Hartford citizens for many years had demanded some sort of public water supply system. In the north part of the city the well-water was hard and sulphuric in taste. Toward the river where many of the wealthier families lived, the 4 freshets affected the wells. The Hartford Aqueduct Company - although it is not quite clear if this company did the work - ran an aqueduct of bored logs through the center of the city to the river. The water supply came from two sources, one or: Park Street and the other near Cedar Hill. The pipes were too small and the anticipated supply never materialized. CISTERNS UNDERNEATH HARTFORD STREETS Probably few people know that the central part of Hart­ ford had some twenty cisterns for fire fighting purposes built beneath the streets . Constructed between 1789 and 1850 these cisterns were built entirely of brick with low arched roofs. Each cistern held from 20 to 25 thousand gallons of water supplied from the roof gutters of nearby buildings. During the late 1840's the public demand for water grew more intense . In 1847 Reverend Horace Bushnell, famed for his fiery eloquence, preached his noted sermon "Prosperity our Duty". His text was the passage: "This sameHezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works . " Doctor Bushnell did not direct­ ly appeal for a public water supply system but his intima­ tion was too clear to miss. A proposal to bring water in a canal from Windsor Locks gained support. The proponents planned to use the power furnished from the canal to pump part of the water to a suitable reservoir. The Hartford Common Council ap­ pointed a committee to report on the proposal. The com­ mittee 1 s report was negative. FIRST BOARD OF WATER COMMISSIONERS During the next few years all sorts of plans and propos­ als filled the Council meetings.