| Introduction | Historical Background | Chronology | Geography | Biography | Technology | Ownership and Financing | General Bibliography |
| New England States | Massachusetts | Haverhill |
Haverhill was founded in 1640.
In January, 1798, Timothy Osgood and others petitioned the Legislature to be allowed incorporation under the name of the Haverhill Aqueduct Company, for the purpose of "taking the water at & from the round pond, so called, in Haverhill & conveying it through the several streets of said Haverhill for the use & convenience of themselves and others who may be desirous of being concerned therein & for their greater use and convenience." (1922) The town's Representative, Nathaniel Marsh, was instructed "to oppose Osgood's petition for an Acqueduct " to take water from "the Round Pond." (1861)
The Haverhill Aqueduct Company was organized on October 11, 1802, in Harrod's Tavern and was supplying water by 1803. The first iron pipe was installed in 1848, and a pumping engine was added in 1871 to pump water from Kenoza Lake to Round Pond, to supplement the gravity supply. In 1879 a 2,000,000~gallon Worthington pump was erected at Kenoza Lake and a. 200,000-gallon stand-pipe was built and put in use for high service. In 1880 or 1881 a second 2,000,000-gallon Worthington pump was added at this station.into a reservoir for high pressure service. (1893)
The City of Haverhill took the property of the aqueduct company in 1891, paying the appraised cost of $637,500. The city currently owns the system and supplies water to the community.
References
1861 Round Pond and water supply from The
History of Haverhill, Massachusetts: From Its First Settlement, in
1640, to the Year 1860 by George Wingate Chase
1867 An Act granting additional powers to the Haverhill Aqueduct Company.
1883 John
J. Marsh and another v. Haverhill Aqueduct Company, 206 Mass.
103, January 9, 1883, Massachusetts. Supreme Judicial Court
A deed to an aqueduct corporation, after reciting that the corporation
proposed sinking an aqueduct from one point to another named, " to
accomplish which it will be convenient to dig and lay logs through lands "
of the grantors, provided that the grantors " bargain and agree that the
above-mentioned aqueduct company or their agents shall have liberty to
enter upon said lands for the purpose of digging and completing said
aqueduct, and at all times thereafter to enter upon said lands when
necessary to repair the same." Held, that the corporation might enter upon
the land, and increase the size of its pipes or relay its pipes upon the
line originally adopted, but that it could not lay or relay its pipes upon
a new line differing from the original location, and was liable in tort
for so doing. Held, also, that if by inadvertence or mistake, or under the
belief that it bad the right to do so, the corporation dug a new trench in
a line differing from the former one, it did not thereby abandon or lose
its easement, but, upon discovering its mistake, might relay its pipes
upon the original line.
If an aqueduct company has the right to exercise certain rights in the
land of a person by deed, and a statute is passed authorizing it to take
land by the right of eminent domain, and it then does acts on the land in
excess of the powers granted it by deed, a finding, in an action of tort
brought against it by the owner of the land, that It did not act under the
statute, renders the question of the constitutionality of the statute
immaterial.
Page 107: In order to see the effect of this decision upon the rights of
the parties, it is necessary to state the facts developed at the trial.
After the deed, and up to 1842, the defendant maintained a four-inch log
pipe on the premises, which the defendant then took up, replacing it by a
six-inch iron pipe; in 1853, the defendant took up the six-inch pipe and
laid in place of it an eight-inch iron pipe; in 1864, the defendant laid
an earthen pipe in a new ditch, which the presiding judge found was in a
position substantially different from the former; and in 1866 took up said
earthen pipe and laid in place of it an eight-inch iron pipe. At various
times between November 1, 1880, and the date of the plaintiffs' writ, the
defendant entered upon the premises, took up the pipe laid in 1853,
widened the trench and laid therein a twelve-inch cement pipe, and dug up
and carried away the pipe laid in 1866, filling up the trench in which it
had lain.
1883 Haverhill from Engineering News 10:62-63 (February 10, 1883)
1884 An Act Authorizing The Haverhill Aqueduct Company To Increase Its Water Supply, May 21, 1884.
1884 The Haverhill aqueduct : Its History, Ownership, Management, Value, and Relationships to the City The argument of the petitioners, made before the Committee of the City Council of Haverhill, upon the question of assuming municipal control of the Water Supply, at the hearing in City Hall, June 16, 1884.
1884 The Reply of the Haverhill Aqueduct Company to Its Assailants: Delivered Before the Joint Special Committee of the Haverhill City Government, July 16, 1884 bound with Annual Report of the Board of Water Commissioners of the City of Haverhill, Volumes 1-19 (1892-1906) | Volume 29 (1920)
1882 Haverhill, from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.
1888 "Haverhill," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 1.
1890 "Haverhill," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 2.
1891 "Haverhill," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.
1897 "Haverhill," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.
1891 An Act relating to the water supply of the city of Haverhill, May 21, 1891
1893 Meters, from Engineering News 29:456 (May 18, 1893)
1893 "The History of the Haverhill Aqueduct Company 1803-1892," from Engineering News 30:166-167 (August 31, 1893)
1897 Valuation of Water-works Property by Wynkoop Kiersted, reprinted from Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Volume 38, 1898
1908 "An
Old Aqueduct and Its Development" by Albert L. Sawyer, from Journal
of the New England Water Works Association 22(4):442-461
(December 1908) Includes comments on water works history by Moses
Newton Baker.
Page 454: In 1848, at the town meeting, a proposition was made for
the town to pay the difference between a 5-inch and 8-inch iron pipe from
Round Pond to the top of the hill on Main Street, the Aqueduct Company
being about to replace the old logs with a 5-inch pipe of iron. A
committee to whom it was referred reported in favor of a 6-inch pipe,
which was laid, the town paying the difference in cost.
1919 "Haverhill's Water Supply" by Albert L. Sawyer, from The Haverhill Book
1922 Haverhill
water supply from Municipal History of Essex County in
Massachusetts, Volume 2 edited by Benjamin F.
Arrington
© 2015 Morris A. Pierce