| Introduction | Historical Background | Chronology | Geography | Biography | Technology | Ownership and Financing | General Bibliography |
| Middle Atlantic States | New York | Rome |
Rome was settled around 1750 and was incorporated as a city in 1870.
The Rome Aqueduct Company was incorporated in 1832 by Bela B. Hyde, Amos Parmalee, Plina Darrow, Hiram Wheedon, Jane Lynch and Peter A Jay, John O'Neil, Thomas Hurmatty, Lyman Briggs, Jeremiah B. Brainerd, James Merrill, and Jeremiah Brainerd "for supplying the village on or near the Erie canal, in the town of Rome, Oneida county, with good and wholesome water, by means of conduits or aqueducts."
The Rome Water Works Company was incorporated in 1851 by Benjamin N. Huntington, Horace Adams, John Stryker, Edward Huntington, Jesse Armstrong, Roland S Doty, Calvert Comstock, John B. Jervis and Hervey Brayton for "the purpose of supplying the village of Rome with pure and wholesome water." The charter was revived in 1853 and the incorporated were changed to Bloomfield J. Beach, Horace Adams, John Stryker, Edward Huntington, Enoch B. Armstrong, Roland S. Doty, Calvert Comstock, Hervey Brayton and John B. Jervis.
The Rome Hydraulic Company was incorporated in 1855 by Edward Huntington, John Stryker, Samuel W. Mudge, David Utley, William E. Wright, Seth B. Roberts, and Newton M. Wardwell to maintain or reconstruct a dam, provide water for hydraulic power, and to supply the village of Rome with pure and wholesome water.
No evidence has been found that any of these companies built anything.
The 1870 charter for the City of Rome authorized them to contract with a company to supply water, or to build their own water works. They chose the latter option and constructed a system that began service on December 2, 1872, pumping water from the Mohawk River using water power to an elevated reservoir. Cement-lined wrought-iron pipe was used initially, but was replaced with cast iron. The system was expanded in 1909, 1937, 1957, and 1964. The Frank Clark Water Filtration Facility was opened in August, 1987.
Water is provided by the City of Rome, which has a water system history page.
References
1832 An act to incorporate the Rome Aqueduct
Company. April 24, 1832.
1851 An act to incorporate the Rome Water Works Company. April 8, 1851.
1853 An act to revive and amend chapter ninety-six, Laws of eighteen hundred and fifty-one, entitled "An act to incorporate the Rome Water Works Company." April 8, 1853.
1855 An act to incorporate the Rome Hydraulic Company. April 9, 1855.
1869 The Ogdensburg Journal, May 17,
1869, Page 3.
The people of Rome are moving in relation to water works, and held a
meeting at the Court House on Wednesday evening, of last week, to consider
the subject. Messrs. Flagler and Keith, of the Holly Manufacturing
Company, were present and explained the workings of their system.
The Romans should sens a committee to Ogdensburg to examine our works
which are built upon the Holly plan, and which work to a charm. The
Holly plan, we believe, will become the most popular system ever invented
for the purpose of supplying villages and cities with water and protection
against fire.
1869 New
York World, June 9, 1869, Page 1.
The citizens of Rome, N. Y., yesterday voted on the question of taking
stock to the amount of $60,000 in the proposed water-works for the
village. The vote stood at 323 for the project to 391 against it.
1870 An
act to incorporate the city of Rome. February 23, 1870.
15. To contract with any hydraulic company for supply of water for said
city, and regulate and keep in repair the reservoirs, hydrants,
water-pipes and public wells in said city.
28. To provide by ordinance for the supplying the city with pure and
wholesome water.
1871 The Ogdensburg Journal, August
31, 1871, Page 2.
Rome has decided to erect water works by a vote of 558 for, to 208
against. The event was elevated with fire works, music and cannons.
1872 "The Rome Water Works," Daily Albany Argus, December 9, 1872, Page 2.
1878 History of Oneida County, New York: With
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men
and Pioneers
Page 389: Rome City Water-Works. The present system of water-works in Rome
was established in 1872. George Merrill, at that time mayor of the city,
visited some of the principal cities in the Union and examined their water
systems, and finally the commissioners adopted the machinery made at
Watertown, N. Y., as being the cheapest, most durable, and most powerful
of any which had come under their inspection. Two pumps are in use, made
on the horizontal, double-action plan, and have a capacity of 84 gallons
per revolution, with a force of 535 horse-power. The daily average of
water pumped is 900,000 gallons, while, if necessary, the amount can be
raised to 1,200,000. The water-pressure has been tested as high as 160
pounds to the square inch; with this force the hose belonging to the city
would burst in pieces. The usual pressure is 50 pounds at the works, or 60
at the city, the fall in the intervening distance, and the advantage of a
straight pipe, raising it 10 pounds; 100 pounds per square inch is the
highest ever used. The pumps are run entirely by water-power, the dam
being six feet in height. A short raceway is used, and a turbine-wheel
with surface capable of taking 1840 inches of water. The average daily run
is fourteen hours, the pumps not being kept in operation Sundays nor
nights, except in case of necessity. The water is elevated 65 feet into a
circular reservoir 21 feet in depth and 297 in diameter, having a capacity
for 9,000,000 gallons. This reservoir is kept constantly full. There are
in the city about 13 miles of water-mains and a few over 100 hydrants. The
original cost of the works, or the amount for which bonds were issued, was
$160,000; this has been increased to about $172,000 at the present date
(July, 1878). Not more than twenty-five dollars have been laid out for
repairs. Until the winter of 1877–78 telegraphic signals were established
between the city and the waterworks; but the telephone has since been
introduced, and works very satisfactorily. William N. Mott, a man of much
experience with machinery, is chief engineer, and has his residence at
Ridge Mills, where the works are located. The general superintendent is
Charles T. Hayden, with the office at Rome. The members of the Water Board
are Mayor E. L. Stevens, B. J. Beach, G. V. Selden, John J. Parry,
Theodore Comstock. The system has proved very effective here, and although
numerous alarms of fire have been given in the city, the force of the
streams from the hydrants is such that flames are speedily extinguished.
1881 Rome, Engineering News, 8:393 (October 1, 1881)
1882 Rome, from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.
1888 "Rome," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 1.
1890 "Rome," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 2.
1891 "Rome," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.
1896 Our County and Its People: A Descriptive
Work on Oneida County, New York, by Daniel Elbridge Wager
Page 528: The Rome water works were established in 1872 and are owned by
the city, bonds having been issued to the amount of about $172,000 for the
purpose. The plant comprises two horizontal, double action pumps, with a
capacity of eighty-four gallons per revolution. The usual pressure is
about fifty pounds to the square inch, but this can be greatly increased.
The water is elevated sixty-five feet into a reservoir twenty-one feet
deep and 297 feet in diameter, with capacity of 9,000,000 gallons There
are now about 2,000 consumers, and the pressure is such that there is very
little need for fire engines. The water works are in charge of the Water
and Sewerage Commission, comprising in 1896, W. J. P. Kingsley,
ex-officio, chairman, John S. Baker, H. S. Bedell, A. R. Kessinger, and J.
S. Haselton. H. S. Wetherbee is superintendent.
1897 "Rome," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.
© 2015 Morris A. Pierce