Documentary History of American Water-works

Fayette

Fayette, Mississippi

Fayette was founded in 1716.

The Fayette Artesian Well Company was incorporated in 1852 by John H. Duncan Sr., Charles T. Miles, C. haechstadter, H.M. Youngblood, James M. Ellis, James F. Hirst, Robert Deavenport, Isaac Rabel, Thomas Reed, A.J. Tubbs, J.C. Hall, B.F. Fox, A.N. Ford, T.B. Shaw, James B. Wingginten, Joshua S. Morris, J.B. Carpenter, Joseph Beard, J.P. Russell, James S. Dixon and Daniel Sullivan "to build to cause to be built all acqueducts and pipes necessary to convey said water wheresoever they may desired." A 1904 newspaper article mentioned construction of an artesian well, but no details are given.

The city of Fayette built an electric light and water works plant in 1902.

Water is currently supplied by City of Fayette.

References
1852 An act to incorporate the Fayette Artesian Well Company. October 18, 1852.

1902 Southern Hardware, 46:82 (February 1, 1902).
A large boiler for the Fayette waterworks, Fayette, Miss.

1904 "Fayette," by Judge Jeff Truly, Exposition Edition, The Fayette Chronicle, July 29, 1904, Page 1.
The question of an adequate water supply was then, as now, one of the grave problems of municipal government, and the record discloses that the “Big Spring,” on Spring Street was dedicated to the public use, while the first work of public improvement was the digging of a well from which all were permitted to use. Obstacles which might well have daunted brave hearts speedily disappeared before the indomitable energy of the pioneers of that day, and soon a town sprang up where only trees had stood.
Here was erected a “Temple of Justice,” so the Courthouse was termed, and soon after there arose an altar to the Deity, in whom all trusted, in the form of the “Old Brick Church,” which through many decades stood as a sentinel in the City of the Dead, keeping watch and ward over the raves of the brave men and noble women resting ‘neath its solemn shade.
How changed are conditions to-day! The old stage coach with Its pleasures and perils, its roughness and romance, has vanished, and in its stead the locomotive places us in close connection with the marts of the world, in every quarter. The old Tavern, which re sounded so merrily to the blast of the coachman’s bugle, is but a memory now, while a modern hotel with there luxuries than were dreamt of in the philosophy of that primitive day, makes pleasant the traveler’s stay. The waters of the “Big Spring” still ripple from their pure source, but the unceasing yet unavailing murmur against their waste is drowned in the throb of the engine which, near by, supplies from an artesian well a never-failing flow of water delivered to every part of the town.
The town owns a thoroughly equipped waterworks and electric light plant, by which water and lights are furnished consumers with unfailing regularity and reasonable rates.