Documentary History of American Water-works

Greenwich

Greenwich, Connecticut

Greenwich was incorporated as a town in 1665.

The Greenwich Water Company was incorporated in 1880 by Elias C. Benedict, William Rockefeller, Jeremiah Milbank, Sylvester Mead, Luke A. Lockwood, John Voorhis, Philip W. Holmes, Luther P. Hubbard, A. Foster Higgins, Allen H. Close, and Edwin A. Knapp "for the purpose of furnishing the inhabitants of the borough of Greenwich and of said town of Greenwich and its vicinity with an abundant supply of water for public and domestic use." The company was a pet project of Rockefeller and began service in September, 1880.

The company began serving Port Chester, New York in 1883 through a New York subsidiary, the Port Chester Water Works. The company also served other nearby communities.

The company was bought by Boston interests and became part of the Greenwich Water and Gas Company in 1926, which in turn was acquired by the Community Water Service Company in 1928. The latter company became part of the American Water Works and Electric Company in 1936, and in 2001 the Greenwich system was transferred to Aquarion Water Company of Connecticut.

Water is provided by Aquarion.

References
1880 Incorporating the Greenwich Water Company. May 24, 1880.

1880 Stamford Advocate, July 16, 1880, Page 2.
The schooner J.K. Polk, with a cargo of pipe for the Greenwich Water company, sank while laying at her dock.

1880 Morning Journal and Courier (New Haven, Connecticut), September 11, 1880, Page 5.
The Greenwich water works are completed, and give satisfaction.

1881 Greenwich, from Engineering News 8:364 (September 10, 1881)

1882 Greenwich, from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.

1887 Amending the charter of the Greenwich Water Company. April 13, 1887. Capital stock increased to $150,000; May issue bonds not exceeding $75,000.

1888 "Greenwich," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 1.

1890 "Greenwich," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 2.

1891 "Greenwich," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.

1893 Amending the charter of the Greenwich Water Company. April 5, 1893. Capital increased to $300,000.

1897 "Greenwich," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.

1901 Amending the charter of the Greenwich Water Company. April 17, 1901 Capital increased to $500,000.

1901 "W. Rockefeller Sells Stock," The New York Times, May 24, 1901, Page 2.
Disposes of part of his holdings in the Greenwich Water Company.
William Rockefeller's pet scheme, the Greenwich Water Company, which he and A. Foster Higgins, E.C. Benedict, and the late Jeremiah Milbank organized in 1880 with $60,000 capital, is proving almost as good an investment as Standard Oil.

1903 Amending the charter of the Greenwich Water Company. June 15, 1903. May issue bonds up to 75% of its capital stock.

1904 "Bathers in Reservoir," New York Tribune, July 12, 1904, Page 4.
Italians use drinking supply of Port Chester and Rye.
John Dayton, superintendent of the Greenwich Water Company, said to-night he knew nothing about bathing in the company's reservoir. He declared the reservoir was constantly watched, and that it would be impossible for anyone to bathe there unobserved.

1909 Amending the charter of the Greenwich Water Company. May 13, 1909. Capital increased to $1 million.

1909 Amending the charter of the Greenwich Water Company. May 13, 1909. Authorized to construct reservoir on the Byram River.

1910 "50,000 suffering in water famine, traffic crippled," The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer, December 23, 1910, Page 5.

1910 "Banker Stops a Drouth," New York Tribune, December 23, 1910, Page 9.
E.C. Converse drains lake to end suffering about Greenwich

1911 Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich, County of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, by Spencer Percival Mead
Page 353: Greenwich Water Comopany.
Incorporated, 1880. Amended, 1887, 1893, 1901, 1903, and 1909.
The Greenwich Water Company was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly passed in 1880, whereby it was:
Resolved, that Elias C. Benedict, William Rockefeller, Jeremiah Milbank, Sylvester Mead, Luke A. Lockwood, John Voorhis, Philip W. Holmes, Luther P. Hubbard, A. Foster Higgins, Allen H. Close and Edwin A. Knapp, be and they hereby are, with their successors and assigns made and established a corporation by the name of the Greenwich Water Company, etc.

1915 An act amending the charter of the Greenwich Water Company. May 19, 1915. Capital increased to $2 million; service territory and rights defined.

1925 An act authorizing the Greenwich Water Company to supply water to the Town of Rye, in the State of New York. June 10, 1925

1926 "Boston Men Purchase Greenwich Water Co.," The Boston Globe, January 8, 1926, Page 26.

1926 "Greenwich Water and Gas Company," Hartford Courant, January 22, 1910, Page 23.
Controls through stock ownership the Greenwich Water Company and the Greenwich Gas Company.

1927 An act amending the charter of the Greenwich Water Company and validating the sale and merger of the Riverside Water Company with the Greenwich Water Company and validating and irregularity in the acceptance of an act amending the charter of the Greenwich Water Company. April 21, 1927

1927 An act amending the charter of the Greenwich Water Company. April 21, 1927 Capital increased to $4 million.

1927 An act validating the issuance of stock of the Greenwich Water Company. June 6, 1927

1927 An act concerning a merger of the Glenville Power and Water Company with the Greenwich Water Company and authorizing the Greenwich Water Company to exercise the powers and franchises granted to the Glenville Power and Water Company by its charter and amendments thereto. June 6, 1927

1927 An act establishing the rights of the Greenwich Water Company and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company in the water of the Mianus River. June 6, 1927

1927 An act authorizing the Greenwich Water Company to acquire water companies in the county of Fairfield. June 6, 1927

1928 "$20,000,000 Merge of Public Utilities is Effected in Greenwich," Hartford Courant, March 17, 1928, Page 5.

1928 "The New Water-Works System of the Greenwich Water Company," by Dana M. Wood, read September 19, 1928, Journal of the New England Water Works Association 42(4):378-395 (December, 1928)

1928 "The New Purification Plant of the Greenwich Water Company," by E. Sherman Chase, reading September 19, 1928, Journal of the New England Water Works Association 42(4):396-409 (December, 1928)

1929 History of Fairfield County, Connecticut, 1639-1928, Volume 3, Lynn Winfield Wilson
Page 194: Greenwich Water Company

1942 Hartford Courant, July 14, 1942, Page 17.
SEC has granted the amended joint applications of the Greenwich Water System, Inc., and the Greenwich Water Company, both subsidiaries of the American Water Works and Electric Company, Inc., for approval of sale by Greenwich Water Company of 11,400 shares of its $25 par common to the Greenwich System for $285,000 and retirement by the water company of its total indebtedness in the same principal amount.

1955 An act amending the chater of the Greenwich Water Company. August 22, 1955. Company authorized to serve customers in the county of Westchester, New York.

1958 Greenwich v. Greenwich Water Co., 145 Conn. 526, July 30, 1958, Supreme Court of Connecticut

1959 An act amending the chater of the Greenwich Water Company, concerning issuance of stocks and bonds. June 5, 1959. Aggregate amount of capital stock, bonds, debentures and other certificates of indebtedness shall not exceed twenty million dollars.

1974 "Water Plea Stirs Port Chester Ire," The New York Times, August 18, 1974, Page 52.
On another flank, State Senator Joseph R. Pisani, a New Rochelle Republican, has leveled charges of collusion and called for a Federal investigation. He notes that the Port Chester Water Works buys its water from the Greenwich Water Company and says pointedly that both are subsidiaries, of the American Water Works.