Documentary History of American Water-works

Wrentham

Wrentham, Massachusetts

Wrentham was settled in the 1660s.

The First Aqueduct Company in Wrentham was chartered on June 21, 1798 by John Hall, Samuel Cowell, Philip Blake, Madey Decoublans, John Madey, Cyrus Bean, Ebenezer Foster, Oliver Farrington, Luther Fisher, Lemuel Brown, William Brown, and Daniel Shaw. No evidence has been found that this system was constructed.

The Town of Wrenthem was authorized to build a water system in 1904. The Town of Wrentham currently owns the system and supplies water to the community.

References
1798 An act to incorporate certain persons in the town of Wrenthem, for the purpose of conducting water by subterraneous pipes in said town. June 21, 1798.

1904 An act to authorize the town of Wrentham to supply itself with water. February 16, 1904

1907 An act to extend the time within which the town of Wrentham may accept the act to authorize said town to supply itself with water. April 13, 1907.

1918 History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, Volume 1, by Louis Atwood Cook
Page 307: WATERWORKS
On February 16, 1904, the governor of Massachusetts approved an act of the Legislature authorizing the Town of Wrentham to provide a supply of water for the inhabitants by driven, artesian or other wells, or to ''take by purchase or otherwise and hold the water of any pond, stream or spring, or artesian or driven well within the limits of said town," etc., and to borrow not exceeding $125,000, to be repaid in annual payments, beginning five years after the first issue of bonds, notes or scrip, the act to become effective when accepted by a vote of two-thirds of the legal voters at a meeting called for that purpose within three years, not more than two such meetings to be called in any one year.
The three years expired before the terms of the act had been accepted by the required vote, and on April 13, 1907, an act was passed extending the time for such acceptance to February 16, 1908. Not long after the passage of this act a meeting was called and the necessary two-thirds vote was obtained. A loan was effected and work was commenced upon the plant. The board of water commissioners made their first annual report in 1908.
According to the report of the commissioners in 1916, there were then a little over eleven miles of mains in use; total number of connections, 315; number of gallons of water pumped during the year, 38,486,250; receipts for the year, $5.991.32; operating expenses, $2,185.78; bonds outstanding on January 1, 1917, $50,700. Extensions and new connections have been made every year since the works were established, and with receipts more than double the operating expenses it is evident that Wrentham will soon own its water plant unencumbered by debt and its benefits will be extended to all parts of the town. The board of commissioners at the beginning of the year 1917 was composed of Edward P. Bennett. Murray Winter and Dr. J. F. Jenckes.