Documentary History of American Water-works

Kansas

Blue Rapids

Blue Rapids, Kansas

Blue Rapids was founded in 1870.

The first waterworks were built in 1873 by Carlos E. Olmstead using a Holly water-driven pump.

The waterworks are currently owned by the City of Blue Rapids.

References
1871 The Leavenworth Bulletin, January 12, 1871, Page 1.
Blue Rapids, a town in Marshall county, less than a year old, is to have water works. Each family is to be taxed ten dollars for an annual supply of aqua.

1871 Leavenworth Daily Commercial, November 5, 1871, Page 1.
The Blue Rapids Times says the pump and other fixtures designed for the water works in that town were destroyed by the Chicago fire. Every family is town regrets the loss, but they still intend to get a supply of water this fall.

1871 "A Jaunt Down the Blue," Marshall County News, December 14, 1871, Page 3.
Description of Blue River water works.

1872 "The Water Works," The Blue Rapids Times, June 13, 1872, Page 2.

1873 "Central Branch Items," The Atchison Daily Champion, March 5, 1873, Page 4.
Blue Rapids is a young town, and one of the most handsome little places in the state. It has a splendid flouring mill, a first class woolen factory, a superior class of buildings, is nicely laid off with a park for a water fountain. Mr. C. E. Olmstead is spending a large amount of money in putting in a system of Holly Water Works. This is something extraordinary for a town not three years old. The force pump is already in and the iron pipes are on the ground for conveying the water from the mills on the Blue. It will not only supply the town, but be the best protection against fire.

1873 Concordia Empire, April 25, 1873, Page 2.
The Blue Rapids Times informs us that that place will soon be supplied with water on the Holly system. Mr. C. E. Olmstead is the enterprising citizen who originated the "Water Works."

1873 The Blue Rapids Times, May 8, 1873, Page 3.
The Holly water works did some fantastic spouting on Union street Thursday. They are approaching the Public square with commendable speed.

1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Blue Rapids, Marshall County, Kansas. February 1885

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

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

1893 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Blue Rapids, Marshall County, Kansas. February 1893

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

1917 History of Marshall County, Kansas: Its People, Industries, and Institutions by Emma Elizabeth Calderhead Foster
Page 141: Because of the failure to find water, C. E. Olmstead put in the Holly system of waterworks from the river to the public square, for fire protection and general purposes. Four-inch mains were laid and a Holly pump installed in the flour-mill, attached to a special wheel.

2010 Blue Rapids Water Reservoir Is Removed From Service, Blue Rapids Free Press, Vol 2, No. 22, November 25, 2010
An answer to the community water supply problem came from Carlos E.Olmsted, the wealthy owner of the Blue Rapids grist (flour) mill. Mr. Olmsted must have been familiar with the new technology of his time, as he was aware of a new fire protection system used first in New York . The system was referred to as the “Holly Water Works”. He made a proposal to use that system, paid for by himself, to the Blue Rapids Town Company and the City. The founding fathers agreed the Holly Water Works would supply water and solve the fire protection problem. The records found thus far do not show how much the system cost Mr. Olmsted, only that he paid for it.
The unusual construction project made Blue Rapids the first community in Kansas to use the Holly Water system and according to the Kansas State Board of Health meant we had the first public utility water system in Kansas.
No one could have foreseen the first problem encountered by the new system. Over the weekend of October 8 and 9 of 1871, a pump and other water supplies that had been ordered for the Blue Rapids water system, fell prey to destruction by the Great Chicago fire while sitting in a boxcar at the Chicago , Illinois railroad yard. Unshaken by the loss of the equipment to the fire, Mr. Olmsted arranged for another pump to be delivered to Blue Rapids. The pump was attached to the Olmsted mill machinery and tested.
Through years of grasshopper plagues, severe weather and the financial panic of 1873, Mr. Olmsted pressed forward to expand the water works. Pipes were extended from his flour mill, along Bridge Street to Genesee Street and eventually turning east on 6th Street . The lines were attached to two water hydrants set on the Public Square . A number of Blue Rapids residents approached Mr. Olmsted with a desire to have a fountain decorate their “Central” park on the Public Square . Mr. Olmsted agreed to purchase such a fountain, and by the summer of 1874 water flowed from the new fountain. Onlookers, mesmerized by the silvery plumes of spraying water, found it a grand delight to look at their Fountain Park .