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| North
Central States |
Indiana | Evansville |
Evansville was incorporated as a city in1847.
The city built a Holly water system that began service on June 1, 1872 with steam-driven gang and rotary pumps. A Gaskill pumping engine was added in 1880.
A new plant was built in 1900 and was the subject of a dispute between Indiana and Kentucky over the location of the state line, which was resolved in favor of Indiana.
Water is supplied by the city of Evansville Water and Sewer Utility, which has a history page.
References
1866 "Water Works
Meeting," The Evansville Daily Journal, April 18, 1866, Page
8.
1866 The
Evansville Daily Journal, April 20, 1866, Page 8.
For the benefit of all concerned, we will state that the subscription
papers for the Evansville Water Works Company, are at His Honor, the
Mayor's office. An invitation is extended to all to come forward and
take stock.
1866 "Water Works," The Evansville Daily Journal, December 3, 1866, Page 4.
1870 "Agitation
of the Water Works Question," The Evansville Daily Journal,
February 1, 1870, Page 4.
Letter from the Holly Manufacturing Company read to the city council.
1870 "Holly Water Works," The Evansville Daily Journal, February 3, 1870, Page 2.
1870 "Water
Works," The Evansville Daily Journal, March 4, 1870, Page 2.
Visit by agent of the Holly Manufacturing Company
1870 "Water
Works - What they will Cost," The Evansville Daily Journal,
March 21, 1870, Page 2.
Holly system estimate by W. C. Weir
1870 "Water Works - An Address to the People," The Evansville Daily Journal, May 11, 1870, Page 2.
1870 The
Indianapolis News, June 28, 1870, Page 1.
The City Council of Evansville has voted an election on the proposition to
take three hundred thousand dollars stock in the Evansville and
Indianapolis Straight Line Railroad, and to contract with W.C. Weir and
the Holly Manufacturing Company to furnish the Holly water works for one
hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars.
1870 "Water Works Contract," Evansville Daily Journal, July 7, 1870, Page 2.
1870 Evansville
Daily Journal, July 12, 1870, Page 2.
This page includes several articles on the water works system.
1870 "The Water Works Swindle," The Evansville Daily Journal, July 20, 1870, Page 1.
1871 "Slander
Refuted," The Portsmouth Times, December 30, 1871, Page 3.
The following dispatch was sent from Evansvllle, Ind.,on the 18th
inst., to the Associated Press, which is emphatically denied by the
editor of the Courier of that place, as will be seen below—
"On Monday night the following dispatch was sent
from Evansville:
"The council to-night cancelled the contract with W. C.
Weir for the erection of the water-works for alleged gross
neglect and incompetence. Weir was engineer of the Holly
Manufacturing company, of Rochester, New York, when the contract was let.
"The above does not contain a single word of truth. The
contract with W.C. Weir & Co., was not cancelled, and the
resolutions adopted upon that subject do not say a word concerning
"incompetence." Mr. Weir was not the "engineer of the
Holly Manufacturing company," and that company does not have an
establishment at Rochester. The whole story is ridiculous in the extreme,
and we notice it for the purpose of showing the public how
utterly unreliable the news dispatches of the associated press have
become.
"We call upon Colonel Foster for a remedy of this evil. If the dispatches
sent abroad from Evansville cannot be truthful we had better have
none sent."
1872 The
Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, January 30, 1872, Page 1.
The Holly water works were started at Evansville, Ind., on Sunday, and
promise well.
1872 "Fall of Evansville Water Works Building," The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, April 30, 1872, Page 1.
1872 "Water
Works Ordinances," The Evansville Daily Journal, June 5,
1872, Page 1.
Water rates, etc..
1880 The
Owensboro Messenger, November 19, 1880, Page 3.
New machinery has just been added to the Evansville water-works and there
will be an official test on Tuesday next.
1880 Panoramic View of Evansville, Ind., the water works pumping plant is # 149.
1881 Evansville Water Works: Report of the Expert on the Contract Trials of the Gaskill Compound Pumping Engine Built by the Holly Manufacturing Company, Lockport, N.Y., February, 1881, by John Willmuth Hill
1882 Evansville, from Engineering News 9:373 (October 28, 1882)
1882 Robinson
v. The City of Evansville, 87 Ind. 334, November Term, 1882,
Supreme Court of Indiana
A city authorized to maintain and maintaining water-works and a fire
department, and collecting taxes for that purpose, is not responsible for
the negligence of its fire department in permitting the property of a
citizen to be burned.
1882 Evansville, from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.
1885 The
Owensboro Messenger, October 22, 1885, Page 2.
A New York man has offered $200,000 for the Evansville water-worls.
If what the papers say is true this is about four times as much as the
works are really worth. Evansville had better sell, and apply the
money to reducing her onerous debt.
1886 "Evansville
Water Works Sued," The Daily News (Lebanon, Pennsylvania),
January 18, 1886, Page 1.
Indianapolis, Jan. 18. - James G. Goodwin, of Hartford, has brought suit
in the United States court to foreclose a mortgage for $300,000 on the
Evansville water works, the interest on the bonds of which, it is alleged,
is long overdue, amounting now to about $5,000 additional to the face of
the mortgage.
1886 The
Fort Wayne Sentinel, February 5, 1886, Page 1.
The Evansville water works passed from the management of the city council
Monday to municipal trustees, after a long and stubborn contest.
1886 The
Fort Wayne Sentinel, August 10, 1886, Page 4.
The Evansville water-works are in a deplorable condition, and three fires
within the past ten days have made it known to the entire population, who
are now living in dread of being at the mercy of the flames in case of a
fire in the thickly settled portion of the city.
1887 "Scarcity
of Coal at Evansville," Chicago Tribune, September 17, 1887,
Page 5.
It is stated on good authority that the Evansville water works will be
compelled to commence using coke in a day or two.
1888 Perspective Map of the City of Evansville, Ind., shows the water works pumping station
1888 "Evansville," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 1.
1889 History
of Vanderburgh County, Indiana: From the Earliest Times to the Present
Pages 190-191 Water-works. Evansville built her own
water-works in 1871 at a first cost of $300,000, to which has been added
since something over $180,000, making the total cost over $480,000. The
first plan, owing to the rapid growth of the city, soon became inadequate
to supply the ever-increasing demand, and additions have several times
been made, the last in 1882, when the capacity of the pumps was nearly
doubled. No more striking evidence of the growth of the industrial
enterprises and the population of Evansville is afforded than the fact
that the water capacity, thus increased only six years ago, is now taxed
to its utmost to keep up the supply.
The system in use is the Holly system, the machinery having been furnished
by the Holly Manufacturing Company of Lockport, N. Y. Thert are
thirty-eight miles of mains, with a pumping capacity per day of 5,000,000
gallons. There are 1,549 consumers. Under this system water is now used
for fire purposes, delivered from the plugs under direct pressure from the
main pumps at the water-works station. The water-works supply, for all
purposes, 1,460,000,000 gallons annually, or within twenty percent of the
full capacity of the pumps. The property is located on Upper Water street
between Oak and Mulberry, fronting 225 feet and running back to the Ohio
river at low water mark, about 700 feet. The building is a brick and stone
structure three stories high, built in the modern French style of
architecture with a mansard roof and a tower observatory. The building was
received from the contractors by the city council, June 1, 1872. The
trustees since 1885, when the management of the works was entrusted to a
board of trustees, have been: John Haney, M. Moran, Fred Baker, James
Taylor, Henry F. Froelich, and Alexander Jack, the three last named
constituting the present board of trustees, with Noah Riggs as clerk.
1890 "Evansville," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 2.
1891 "Evansville," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.
1896 Indiana v. Kentucky, 163 U.S. 520, May 18, 1896, United States Supreme Court
1896 "An
Old Question Settled," Owensboro Daily Tribune, May 20,
1896, Page 1.
Boundary line dispute between Indiana and Kentucky settled by U.S. Supreme
Court. New Evansville water works plant is in Indiana.
1897 "Evansville," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.
1900 "New
Evansville Pumping Station," Engineering Record 41:429 (May
5, 1900)
The New Evansville Pumping Station is now ready for use, after nearly five
years' work and frequent annoying delays caused by high water. The station
is the first portion of a new system of Works which were undertaken on
account of a typhoid fever epidemic in 1895; the second portion, a filter
plant, is now under discussion. The well, pumping plant and accessory
works now completed were designed by Mr. Charles Hermany, M. Am. Soc. C.
E., chief engineer of the Louisville Water Company. The well was sunk by
means of a caisson 75 feet in diameter, using compressed air for most of
its descent; the inside diameter of the well is 53 feet and the masonry
wall is 4 to 11 feet thick. Three intake pipes, 30 inches in diameter, run
out to deep water from the bottom of the Well. They are hung from trestles
and end in sections perforated with 54 inch holes bushed with brass. The
pumping station is built on an artificial mound containing 67,000 cubic
yards of earth rolled in 4-inch layers. The 70 x 70-foot boiler room
contains three 250-horse-power Stirling boilers, with room for a fourth.
The 90 x 90-foot engine room contains two 10,000,000-gallon
triple-expansion Holly pumping engines, with provision for a third. The
surface condensers for these engines are placed in the suction pipes. A
conspicuous feature of the station is the steel stack rising 200 feet
above the ground. The new works will have cost about $430,000 when all the
outstanding accounts are closed.
1902 The
Owensboro Messenger, March 9, 1902, Page 5.
The Evansville water works plan is on an island and the operators have to
take a boat ride when they go to work and return home.
1904 "Evansville
Water Works Threatened," Chicago Tribune, February 6, 1904,
Page 11.
The building of the water works plant at Evansville, Ind., has been so
undermined by the river that it is expected to collapse. Should this
happen the city will be seriously crippled as to fire protection.
1905 "Negligence
of Municipality," The Green Bag 17(2):125-126 (February,
1905)
Aschoff v. City of Evansville, suit to recover damages for flooding
of plaintiff's cellar by reason of the bursting of a water main.
1906 Annual Report of the Board of Water Works Trustees for the year ending December 31, 1906.
1909 "Evansville Mechanical Filters," by F. H. Stephenson, Municipal Journal and Engineer 26(22):988-991 (June 2, 1909)
1910 Sanborn Map of Evansville, 1900 pumping station is #205
1912 "The New Pumping Installation of the City of Evansville, Ind.," Engineering News 68:464-466 (September 12, 1912)
1916 Annual Report of the Board of Water Works Trustees for the year ending December 31, 1916.
1917 Annual Report of the Board of Water Works Trustees for the year ending December 31, 1917.
1918 Annual Report of the Board of Water Works Trustees for the year ending December 31, 1918.
1919 "Hire
Expert to Stop Big Water Waste," Evansville Press, August
26, 1919, Page 8.
Accepted offer of Pitometer company
1919 Annual Report of the Board of Water Works Trustees for the year ending December 31, 1919.
1920 Annual Report of the Board of Water Works Trustees for the year ending December 31, 1920.
1921 Annual Report of the Board of Water Works Trustees for the year ending December 31, 1921.
1922 Annual Report of the Board of Water Works Trustees for the year ending December 31, 1922.
1923 "Evansville Water Works Plant Will be Enlarged," The Indianapolis Star, July 22, 1923, Page 3.
1923 "Filtration and Chlorine versus Typhoid Fever," by Charles Streithof, The American City 26:507-508 (November, 1923)
1923 Annual Report of the Board of Water Works Trustees for the year ending December 31, 1923.
1929 "Five Men Indicted in Evansville Water Works Investigation," The Richmond Paladium and Sun-Telegram, March 29, 1929, Page 6.
1937 "The Evansville Water Works and the 1937 Flood," by Louis A. Geupel, Journal of the American Water Works Association 29(9):1259-1270 (September, 1937)
1938 Indiana
and Kentucky boundary collection, S1489, Indiana State Library
In 1935, Kentucky filed a claim against the city of Evansville, Indiana to
include real estate in the cityon Kentucky tax assessment records. The
state of Kentucky claimed that the land was actually part of the state of
Kentucky. In 1944, the boundary was set by the United States
Congress and they found that the Evansville Water Works plant was in
Indiana
1962 "Evansville," from Public Water Supplies of the 100 Largest Cities in the United States, 1962, US Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 1812, by Charles Norman Durfor and Edith Becker
1982 The
Public Papers of Governor Keen Johnson, 1939-1943, edited by
Frederic D. Ogden
Pages 264-265: Note 1: A boundary dispute arose, however,
between the two states during Johnson's term. It involved an area south
of Evansville. Whether the Evansville City Waterworks pumping plant was in
Indiana or Kentucky was at issue. In 1896 the United States Supreme Court
(Indiana v. Kentucky, 163 U.S. 520) gave Kentucky title to about 250 acres
of bottomland on the outskirts of Evansville which had been moved to the
northern side of the Ohio River when it cut a new channel during a flood.
The 1792 charter from Virginia specified that the northern boundary of
Kentucky was to be the low-water mark on the north side of the Ohio River.
In 1896 the Army Corps of Engineers determined the course of the river and
laid the boundary. A line drawn from its terminal post to the low-water
mark by the shortest distance placed the Evansville Water Company in
Indiana, while a line drawn as a continuation of the 1896 boundary placed
the company in Kentucky. On December 6, 1940, Johnson said that he had no
objection to renewal of the 1896 survey to determine the boundary, but he
opposed consideration of the transfer of title of any part of the 5,000
acres upon which Henderson County collected taxes. Louisville
Courier-Joumal, December 7, 1940.
Governor M. Clifford Townsend and Indiana officials met with Johnson and
Kentucky representatives on December 19., 1940, in Frankfort and agreed to
the appointment of a joint commission to decide the dispute. Johnson
reminded the conferees that he had stated that there was "no occasion for
a conference" if Indiana expected Kentucky to cede the land. He was
willing to arbitrate the boundary line. The governors agreed that each
would name two members to the commission and that its report would not
commit either state. State Journa·l, December 20, 1940. Johnson named
Highway Commissioner Donaldson and Highway Engineer Cutler as Kentucky's
members on December 31, 1940. Louisville Courier-Journal, January 1,
1941. The commissioners agreed upon the boundary line. The
legislature of each state accepted the agreement and Congress gave its
consent. The resolution was signed by President Roosevelt, June 29,
1953, Public 100, 57 Stat. 248.
1998 The
Ohio, by R. S. Banta
Page 15: In a short century and a half, during which the opposite
banks have been under the jurisdiction of various territorial and state
governments, these shifts of the river have caused boundary and
jurisdictional perplexities - including one which resulted when the
Evansville, Indiana, waterworks found itself transferred to Kentucky
territory.
2010 "Evansville
Taking Over Wastewater Management," by Noah Stubb, 14News, January
8, 2010
The City of Evansville looked to privatize the day to day management of
the water and sewer system more than 18 years ago, then billed as a way to
save the city money.
Now the decision is being made to go back the other way.
For 18 years, two private companies, American Water and Environmental
Management Corporation, have managed the day to day operations of
Evansville's Water and Sewer Utilities.
It was a move at the time that city leaders said would save money.
"Costs were going up in a way they couldn't control and this let them
bring in a sense of control via contractor," Water & Sewer Utility
director of special projects and strategic planning. "I think they
probably did save some money initially. I'm sure it probably made all the
sense at the time."
Now that's changed.
"We are taking over the management and operation of the city's water and
sewer systems," Mayor Weinzapfel said.
2015 Waterworks Collapse 1904, Vanderburgh County Historical Society
Water
Works, from Historic Evansville
© 2019 Morris A. Pierce