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| Middle
Atlantic States |
New Jersey | Trenton |
Trenton was established around 1679.
Stephen Scales received a charter to distribute water from a spring on his property in December, 1801, and on September 18, 1801 agreed to sell the system to a group of Trenton citizens who had organized themselves into the Proprietors of the Trenton Water Works. They received a charter in February, 1804, which like the earlier New Brunswick charter contained the proviso "that not more than four rods in any of the said streets, shall be open at any one time, nor the same be kept open for more than six days, and that the same shall be filled-up again at the expence of the company, and rendered as good and sufficient as if the same had not been taken up or removed."
The Trenton Aqueduct Company was chartered in 1811 to compete with the earlier company, but it is unclear if they installed any pipes or perhaps merged into the earlier company.
The Trenton Gas and Insurance Company had been formed in 1838 and the following year was "authorized to erect a reservoir, in or near the city of with water. Trenton, for the purpose of supplying the inhabitants of Trenton, Bloomsbury, and Mill Hill with good and wholesome water, and to lay iron or wooden pipes for conducting the same to and through the aforesaid places; provided, that the said company do not directly or indirectly take the water from the spring or fountain of the President and Directors of the Trenton Water Works."
The Trenton Water Works Company decided to replace its wooden pipes with iron in 1839.
The Trenton and South Trenton Aqueduct Company was chartered in 1848, but does not appear to have done anything.
The Trenton Water Works received authority to take water from the Delaware river in 1852 and built a pumping station and reservoir, but the added expense and local agitation for municipal ownership led to a decision to sell the system to the city.
The City of Trenton purchased the system in 1859 for $88,000 and currently provides water service.
References
1801 An act to authorize Stephen Scales to
convey the water from his spring through the several streets of the city
of Trenton, December 3, 1801
1804 An act to incorporate the proprietors of the Trenton Water Works, February 29, 1804
1811 An act to incorporate the proprietors of the Trenton Aqueduct Company, February 8, 1811
1839 A supplement to an act entitled “An act to incorporate the Trenton Gas and Insurance Company,” passed February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, March 9, 1839
1848 An act to Incorporate the Trenton and South Trenton Aqueduct Company, February 29, 1848
1852 An act to authorize and empower the inhabitants of the city of Trenton to construct works to supply said city with water, and to provide means therefor by loan, February 11, 1852
1852 A supplement to the act entitled, "An act to incorporate the Proprietors of the Trenton Water Works," passed the twenty ninth day of February, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and three, March 24, 1852.
1855 An act to authorize and enable the city of Trenton to purchase a put or the whole of the capital stock of the Trenton Water Works Company, March 2, 1855
1859 As act to authorize "the President and Directors of the Trenton Water Works" to convey their works and franchises to the city of Trenton, and to provide for the management of said works, March 1, 1859.
1871 Trenton Water from History of the City of Trenton, New Jersey: Embracing a Period of Nearly Two Hundred Years, Commencing in 1676, the First Settlement of the Town, and Extending Up to the Present Time, with Official Records of the Population, Extent of the Town at Different Periods, Its Manufactories, Church History, and Fire Department, by John O. Raum
1895 Trenton's Water Supply from History of Trenton, New Jersey: The Record of Its Early Settlement and Corporate Progress. Sketches of Its Genesis, Colonial Conditions and Municipal Evolution, Its Business, Finance, Manufactures and Form of Government, with Particular Notice of the Men who Built the City compiled by Francis Bazley Lee
1914 "Water Purification at Trenton," Municipal Journal, 37(17):589-591 (October 22, 1914)
1929 A History of Trenton, 1679-1929: Two Hundred and Fifty Years of a Notable Town with Links in Four Centuries by The Trenton Historical Society. This is the best account of the Trenton water system.
1882 Trenton, from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.
1882 Trenton, N.J. from Engineering News 9:289 (August 19, 1882)
1888 "Trenton," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 1.
1890 "Trenton," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 2.
1891 "Trenton," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.
1894 "Test of an Allis Triple Expansion Pumping Engine at Trenton, N. J.," Engineering News 31:387 (May 10, 1894)
1894 "Papers on Pumping Engines Before the Mechanical Engineers," Engineering News 32:483 (December 13, 1894) Trial of a 10, 000,000-Gallon Allis Vertical Triple-Expansion Condensing Pumping Engine at the Water Works at Trenton, N. J.
1895 "Trial of a vertical triple-expansion condensing pumping engine, at the Trenton Water-works," by Samuel Webber and S. S. Webber, Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 16: 49-55 (December 1894)
1897 "Trenton," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.
© 2015 Morris A. Pierce