Documentary History of American Water-works

Bordentown

Bordentown, New Jersey

Bordentown was first settled around 1682.

The Bordentown Water Company was incorporated in 1835 by John L. McKnight, Lewis W. Pancoast and Samuel S. Bunting "for the use and purpose of supplying the Borough of Bordentown, and its vicinity, with water from the most eligible situation it can be obtained, for domestic purposes; and as a further security against loss by fire."

A second Bordentown Water Company was incorporated in 1849 by John L. McKnight, Edward Robbins, Richard Shippen, Garret S. Cannon and Robert Hankins for the same purpose. Neither of these companies appear to have built anything.

The Bordentown Reservoir and Water Company was incorporated in 1855 by Mahlon Hutchinson, George B. Raymond, Daniel S. Mershon Jr., Samuel C. Taylor, Whitall Stokes, John F. R. Combs, Jacob Ford, William Steele "to supply the borough of Bordentown with good and wholesome water." This company built a system that pumped water from the Delaware River into an elevated reservoir using a Worthington steam pumping engine. The water plant burned in 1883, destroying the pumping machinery, but it was rebuilt.

The City of Bordentown bought the Bordentown Reservoir and Water Company in 1905 for $19,000 and took possession on April 1st of that year. The city only bought the distribution system, and not the plant or real estate. Water is supplied from wells tapping the Magothy-Raritan aquifer.

Water is provided by the City of Bordentown.

References
1835 An act to Incorporate the Bordentown Water Company. December 13, 1835.

1836 A supplement to the Act entitled "An Act to incorporate the Bordentown Water Company," passed February thirteenth, eighteen hundred and thirty-five. March 7, 1836.

1849 An act to incorporate the Bordentown Water Company. March 1, 1849.

1851 A supplement to the act entitled "An act to incorporate the Bordentown Water Company," approved March first, eighteen hundred and forty-nine. February 28, 1851.

1853 A further supplement to the act entitled "An act to incorporate the Bordentown Water Company," approved March first, eighteen hundred and forty-nine. January 26, 1853.

1855 An act to incorporate the Bordentown Reservoir and Water Company. February 6, 1855.

1856 Supplement to "An act to incorporate the Bordentown Reservoir and Water Company," approved February sixth, eighteen hundred and fifty-five. February 20, 1856.

1857 A further supplement to "An act to incorporate the Bordentown Reservoir and Water Company," approved February sixth, eighteen hundred and fifty-five. February 12, 1857.

1870 A Supplement to an act entitled "An Act to incorporate the Bordentown Reservoir and Water Company," approved February sixth, eighteen hundred and fifty-five. February 16, 1870.

1882 Bordentown, N.J. from Engineering News 9:131 (April 22, 1882)

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

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

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

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

1905 Trenton Evening Times, January 15, 1905, Page 1.
End of Bordentown Water Fight. The Board of Water Commissioners of Bordentown has signed papers with the Bordentown Reservoir and Water Company, whereby the board has secured the old water works, except the real estate, for $19,000. The board will take possession April 1.

1911 The Inhabitants of the City of Bordentown, defendants in error, v. William Anderson et al., plaintiffs in error. 81 N. J. L. 434, March 6, 1911, New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals.
A water company agreed to supply water to a consumer at a fixed annual price. Subsequently it conveyed a large part of its property, including its pipes and franchises, to the city, but retained some of its property, including real estate with the reservoirs and pumping building thereon. The city then sought to recover the reasonable value of water furnished thereafter. Held, that the city was not bound by the contract of the water company and was entitled to recover the reasonable value of the water furnished by it.