Documentary History of American Water-works

Canton

Canton, Massachusetts

Canton was first settled in 1630.

The Canton Aqueduct Company was incorporated on April 26, 1836 and built a system using a water-wheel to pump water to an elevated tank.

The Town of Canton was authorized to build water works in 1885, and built a system that began operating in February, 1889. The town was authorized to buy any existing aqueduct system, but it is not known if they did so.

Water is provided by the Town of Canton.

References
1885 An act to supply the town of Canton with water. March 24, 1885.
Section 9. The said town may purchase from the owner oi any aqueduct or water pipes now used in furnishing water to the inhabitants of said town all the estate, property, rights and privileges of such owner, and by such purchase shall become subject to all the liabilities and duties to such owner appertaining.

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

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

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

1893 History of the Town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, by Daniel Thomas Vose Huntoon
Page 480: A short distance below the source of Pecunit Brook the Canon Aqueduct Company, incorporated in 1836 for the purpose of forcing water up Prospect Hill to supply the residents of Canton Corner, erected the same year a water-wheel which supplies a tank on the brow of the hill one hundred feet above. One who loved to wander in this picturesque spot thus describes it:
"This town has a water-wheel, that stands far down in a ravine behind one of its churches, under the shadow of the old pines, and covered from the sun that sometimes looks down over the treetops upon its coarse wooden house,-- a water-wheel that turns, moaning, from day to day, shut up in darkness, and yet lifts up the clear sparkling water into many homes, doing is work in solitude and bearing its burden steadfastly."

1896 "Sinking a Large Supply Well for the Water-Works of Canton, Mass.," Engineering News, 36:210 (October 1, 1896)

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