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| Middle Atlantic States | New York | Peekskill |
Peekskill was incorporated as a village in1816 and as a city in 1940.
The village built a system that used water power to pump into an elevated reservoir, with auxiliary steam engines added for use during periods of low water. The system was tested on October 6, 1875.
Water is provided by the City of Peekskill.
References
1868 An act to incorporate the Peekskill
Water Works Company. May 8, 1868
1872 An act to provide for supplying the village of Peekskill with water, and authorizing the issue of bonds therefor, and to create a board of water commissioners. April 16, 1872
1875 "The Peekskill Water Supply," New-York Tribune, June 18, 1875, Page 2.
1875 The
Catskill Recorder, October 1, 1875, Page 3.
Peekskill’s water works will cost $200,000 and the reservoir has a
capacity of 26,000,OOO gallons. It will be
employed chiefly for culinary and laundry purposes
1875 The
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 7, 1875, Page 2.
The new water works of Peekskill were tested yesterday. The result was
satisfactory.
1876 Rates, Rules and Regulations in relation to the Introduction, Supply and Use of Water from the Peekskill Water Works for 1876.
1881 "Peekskill," from Engineering News 8:341-342 (August 27, 1881)
1882 Peekskill, from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.
1886 History
of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge,
and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, by
John Thomas Scharf.
Page 408: The Peekskill Water Works was completed and put into
operation in the year 1875. Most of the work of its construction was
performed under the direction of a board of water commissioners,
consisting of Reuben R. Finch, president; George W. Robertson, secretary;
C. F. Southard, treasurer and William S. Tompkins and Gilbert T. Sutton.
On a point occupied during the Revolutionary War by an encampment of
American soldiers and hence known as "The Campfield,'' is located the
reservoir. It is three hundred and seventy-six feet above tide water, is
five acres in extent and has a capacity of thirty-one million gallons. The
water is pumped from the Peekskill Hollow Brook by means of turbine
wheels. The cost of the work, up to the time of its being put into
operation, was one hundred and forty-one thousand dollars, the length of
the street mains laid was thirty-eight thousand and seventy-five feet and
the number of fire hydrants set seventy-six.
The water is of great purity and on evaporating leaves no deposit. The
pressure in the pipes varies from one hundred pounds to the square inch in
the highest parts of the village to one hundred and sixty-three pounds to
the square inch at the docks. In the business portion the pressure is one
hundred and ten pounds, which is sufficient to throw a stream from an inch
nozzle to the height of one hundred and fifty feet. At the docks a stream
can be thrown one hundred and eighty feet high.
1888 "Peekskill," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 1.
1890 "Peekskill," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 2.
1891 "Peekskill," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.
1892 Peekskill,
Fishkill, Matteawan and Cold Spring : their representative business
men and points of interest
Page 6: Peekskill water works
1897 Report of the Board of Water Commissioners 1877-1897
1897 "Peekskill," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.
1905 History
of Peekskill
September 30, 1875, water pumped into Peekskill reservoir.
1908 "The Peekskill Water Supply," Fire and Water Engineering 43(11):159 (March 11, 1908) | also here |
1911 "Peekskill's Water Supply," New York Tribune, April 16, 1911, Page 47.
© 2018 Morris A. Pierce