| Introduction | Historical Background | Chronology | Geography | Biography | Technology | Ownership and Financing | General Bibliography |
| Middle Atlantic States | New York | Batavia |
Batavia was incorporated as a village in 1823 and as a city in 1915.
The village built a Holly water works system that was tested on December 14, 1869. This was the first Holly works to use a quarter-crank gang pump in addition to a Holly rotary pump that was also used on earlier systems. The initial system was primarily for fire protection and was later expanded to provide a domestic supply.
Water is provided by the City of Batavia.
References
1864 An act to amend the charter of the
Village of Batavia. April 2, 1864.
1869 B.
Holly's System of Fire Protection and Water Supply for Cities and
Villages, Third Edition | Holly pump
for Batavia, from a different copy of this pamphlet |
Page 28: Batavia, N.Y.
The ninth set of works constructed by the Holly Company was for the
beautiful village of Batavia. It has a population of about 3,000—is
probably the wealthiest village of its size in the State—and could well
afford to protect the property within its borders from destruction by
fire. The works for Batavia are to be propelled by steam, and are
guaranteed to throw from hydrants four streams at a time, 100 feet high.
The works are primarily for fire purposes, but will be used especially in
the summer for sprinkling the streets and watering the lawns connected
with the many beautiful residences of that village. The machinery is
finished and awaits shipment when the building in process of erection for
it is complete. A view of this machinery—so far as it can be shown in one
view—as set up in the manufactory, may be seen on the cover of this
pamphlet. There are very many other villages which would find this
set of machinery admirably adapted to their wants for tire protection and
water supply.
1869 "Trial
of the Water Works," The
Republican Advocate (Batavia, New York), December 16, 1869,
Page 3.
On Tuesday we witnessed a trial of the Water Works recently put up under
the direction of the Haweley Manufacturing Company of Lockport, and we
should judge that the trial must have been satisfactory, as to the power
of the Engine and the p1an by which the water was forced through the pipes
and hose. We were present at the engine house and saw the fire set
to the fuel, and in less than fourteen minutes the indicator showed that
the engine had seventy pounds of steam on. The engine could have been set
to work with twenty-five pound, but Mr. Hawley, the builder, wanted to
show the Trustees and spectators what the machine would do. At this time
the steam was applied to the engine, and in an instant the ponderous
machinery was in motion. Almost immediately, on looking up Main street, we
saw the effects. On the corner of State, Jackson and Center streets, were
three streams of water rising to the height of the tallest steeple.
Indeed, the jets went several feet above the top of the steeple of the new
Methodist Church - much the tallest one in town. At the same time another
stream was high in air on Jackson street, near the railroad. Water was
thrown many feet over the battlements of the building on the corner of
Main and State streets, formerly the Genesee House, and that, too, with
sufficient force to have quenched the hottest fire.
We do not know what the Trustees thought of the trial, but for our part,
we can hardly imagine a more satisfactory test, unless it were a real
conflagration, and that would be hardly worth the while to get up for the
purpose.
The only fault we can find with the works is that it requires so many mean
to get the engine running, in tending the fire and fanning the
flames. This looks like a bad features.
1869 "The
Batavia Water Works," Progressive
Batavian, December 17, 1869, Page 4
The apparatus secured to our village for the purpose of suppressing fires,
and thus enhancing the security and value of our property, was thoroughly
tested on Tuesday last, and demonstrated an efficiency highly satisfactory
to our citizens. We have little time or room to particularize this week,
and it must suffice to say that in just ten minutes after the fire was
kindled, the steam gauge indicated thirty pounds of steam — and in
thirteen and one fourth minutes sixty pounds. Hose pipes were attached to
the hydrants at four different points in our village, and four unbroken,
one-inch streams were thrown, at the same time, to a height exceeding one
hundred feet. We are told that the Engine costs $9,000; that a mile and a
quarter of water-pipe has been laid in our streets at an aggregate cost of
$8,000, and that other expenses, including the cost of the Engine House
and Fireman's Building, will swell the total to about $30,000. These
figures seem pretty steep, but, if they proportionately increase the
security of iur property, can well be afforded..
1882 Batavia, Engineering News, 9:39 (February 4, 1882)
1882 Batavia, from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.
1885 "Angry
Workmen," The Norwood News (Norwood, New York), September
15, 1885, Page 2.
Batavia decided to build water works at a cost of $50,000. The
decision was largely due to the vote of the laboring men of the place, who
supposed they would get plenty to do while the works were building.
A large number of Italians were recently imported, as laboring men
believe, to do the work at 75 cents per day. Friday night a meeting
of angry men was held in the streets. Speeches inflammatory in
Character, alternated with more conservative counsels were made. A
member of the water commissioner's board tried to explain matters to the
indignant workmen, but he was hissed off the platform.
1888 "Batavia," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 1.
1890 "Batavia," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 2.
1891 "Batavia," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.
1897 "Batavia," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.
2015 The
History of Batavia: 1801-2015, by Larry D. Barnes, Batavia
City Historian
1861-1871 - The most significant improvement in infrastructure was a set
of hydrants for the purpose of providing water to fight fires in the
downtown area. It served as the forerunner of a Village-wide municipal
water system.
A proposal to provide hydrants was first advanced no later than 1868
(“Batavia Water Works,” Spirit of the Times, Batavia, N.Y., 17
October 1868). Actual construction took place in 1869. Hydrants were
located in four places: the corner of Main and State, the corner of Main
and Jackson, the corner of Main and Center, and on Jackson near the
railroad tracks. (“Batavia Water Works,” Spirit of the Times,
Batavia, N.Y., 18 December 1869) A pumping station for supplying water
appears to have been near the Creek south of the intersection of West Main
and Ellicott streets. A total of 1-1/4 miles of pipe were required for the
installation (The Western New Yorker, Warsaw, N.Y., 23 December
1869).
The hydrants were not pressurized unless a fire had broken out. It then
took 14 minutes to reach 70 lb. of steam pressure, although the system
could operate with as little as 25 lb. At 70 lb. of pressure, streams of
water could exceed the height of the tallest church steeple. It was
claimed that there was “sufficient force to…quench the hottest fire.”
(“Batavia Water Work,” Spirit of the Times, Batavia, N.Y., 18
December 1869)
The 60 horsepower steam engine was manufactured in Lockport (“What We See
and What We Hear,” Spirit of the Times, Batavia, N.Y., 10 July
1869). The engine, plus the hydrants, pipes, engine house, and firemen’s
building cost about $30,000 (The Western New Yorker, Warsaw, N.Y.,
23 December 1869). According to William Seaver, the only fault of the
system was that it required many men to get the engine running, to tend
the fire, and to fan the flames (“Batavia Water Work,” Spirit of the
Times, Batavia, N.Y., 18 December 1869).
1871-1888 - However, in this decade, an extensive system of water mains
was built. By October of 1877, workmen had laid 20,000 feet of water mains
that served most of the principal streets. Hydrants were placed “at all
desirable locations.” Apparently the primary mains ran down Main Street
(and East and West Main), since “strap valves” were reportedly installed
at most of the streets “diverging from Main.” These valves were provided
in order to shut off water flow in an emergency. According to the Spirit
of the Times, Batavia thus had water for extinguishing fires and for
general purposes surpassed by no other village of its size in the State.
(“Batavia Water Works,” Spirit of the Times,” Batavia, N.Y. 13
October 1877)
Water for the mains came from the Tonawanda Creek via a pumping station
located south of the intersection of Ellicott and West Main streets. The
pump (or pumps) was powered by steam. The steam was generated by either a
wood- or coal-fired boiler, probably the latter. (It is known that new
boilers installed a decade later were coal-fired, but it is not clear
whether the earlier one was.)
1881-1890 - Water mains supplying water throughout the Village were built
in the 1870s with most of the principal streets being served by 1877. The
water was supplied by a pumping station located on the Creek south of the
intersection of Ellicott and West Main streets. This appears to have been
below the dam and near the Genesee Country Mills, a facility, at least
originally, powered by water impounded by the dam. In August of 1884, the
mill structure burned and soon afterwards the property was purchased by
Village authorities for the purpose of building a new pumping station.
(Frederick W. Beers, Gazetteer and Biographical Record of Genesee
County, N.Y. 1788-1890 [Syracuse, N.Y.: J. W. Vose & Co.,
Publisher, 1890] p. 186)
By September of 1884, the work of setting boilers for the new water works
was about complete. A smokestack 80 ft. tall was erected. Work was also
proceeding on a building, measuring 20 x 98 ft., to house the boilers. In
the course of this construction, the Village Trustees decided to lay a
feeder line from a point somewhere above the dam, rather than from the
then current location below the dam, in order to insure a more wholesome
water supply. (“Local Record,” Progressive Batavian, Batavia,
N.Y., 5 September 1884) The new water works were completed by January of
1886 (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 20 January 1886), apparently a good
thing since the roof on the old water works building burned the month
before (The Daily News, Batavia, N.Y., 11 December 1885).
Coal was used to fire the boilers of the water works, as was clearly
indicated in the specifics of a law suit brought against the Village by
George Brisbane in 1886. Brisbane complained that smoke and cinders
emitted from the water works chimney fouled the water of his cistern in
his home across West Main Street. (The suit appears to have later been
dropped.) (Larry Barnes, The Brisbanes of Batavia [Batavia, N.Y.:
self-published, 2009] p. 12).
In April of 1887, an article in The Daily News reported on plans to
further extend the Village water mains (The Daily News, Batavia,
N.Y., 13 April 1887). By 1888, there were 8-1/2 miles of water mains
ranging in diameter from 4-in. to 12-in. (Batavia Village Miscellaneous
Directory, 1888, Genesee County History Department, Batavia, N.Y.)
In May of 1890, the Village Trustees voted to add another 3,900 ft. of new
water pipe (“To Extend Water Mains,” The Daily News, Batavia,
N.Y., 24 May 1890).
© 2018 Morris A. Pierce