Documentary History of American Water-works

Warsaw

Warsaw, New York

Warsaw was incorporated as a village in 1843.

The Warsaw Water Works Company was incorporated in 1869 and built a gravity system that began operating on November 26, 1870.

The village built another gravity system that began service on November 1, 1895. The village decided not to purchase the existing system, which went bankrupt in 1908.

Water is provided by the Village of Warsaw.

References
1869 An act to incorporate the Warsaw Water Works Company. April 28, 1869.
§ 25. The directors of the Wyoming County Mutual insurance Insurance Company are hereby authorized, for and in behalf of said insurance company, to take and invest its surplus funds in the stock of the corporation hereby created, to the amount of six thousand dollars.
§ 26. The trustees of the village of Warsaw are hereby authorized, for and in behalf of the corporation of said village, to take and invest in the stock of the said Warsaw Water Works Company to an amount not exceeding three thousand dollars

1869 History of the Town of Warsaw, New York, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time: With Numerous Family Sketches and Biographical Notes, by Andrew White Young

1872 "Letter from Warsaw," Buffalo Morning Express, June 18, 1872, Page 2.
A new motive power for country newspapers - an innovation in Western New York.
Warsaw, N.Y., June 15. Mr. B.H. Randolph, of the Wyoming County Democrat, published at this place, has introduced an innovation to country offices in Western New York, in utiliznig the power furnished by the admirable Warsaw Water Works. He has put into his office one of Stannard's Patent Cold Water Hydraulic Engines from the manufactory of the Pratt & Whitney Company of Hartford, Conn. The size of engine is 2½ horsepower.

1880 History of Wyoming County, N.Y., with Illustrations, Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Some Pioneers and Prominent Residents
Page 76: Wyoming County Insurance Company.
The company continued to do business until the latter part of 1865, making no assessments, paying all its losses with promptness, steadily accumulating a surplus fund, and gaining year by year in the confidence of the community. In the meantime rival companies had multiplied, and, in the intense competition that had sprung up, the rates of insurance were forced down below the point at which a company could safely do business. The directors therefore prudently resolved to cease the further issue of policies and take measures to close up the affairs of the company. A re-insurance of all the existing risks of the company was accordingly effected with the Home Insurance Company of New York, for the sum of $5,000. This left a surplus in the treasury of the company of something over $5,000. The directors, being at a loss how to dispose of this amount in a legal manner, obtained an act of the Legislature authorizing them to invest it in the stock of the Warsaw Water Works Company. This was accordingly done. The investment having proved unexpectedly remunerative, the directors made sale of the stock, under a further act of the Legislature, and applied the entire proceeds of the sale toward the erection of the Wyoming county soldiers' monument. The risks of the company all expired in the year 1868, and it was left without liability or indebtedness of any kind. Its financial record has but few parallels in the history of insurance in this State.
Page 279: FIRE DEPARTMENT—GREAT FIRE—WATER WORKS.
About 1834 the citizens of Warsaw bought a fire engine and hose. A fire company was organized, embracing many of the prominent men of the town. The engine house stood on the south side of Genesee street, just in the rear of the tavern on the corner of Main and Genesee streets. The organization continued many years, but was finally allowed to disband.
What has been known in Warsaw as the great fire occurred on the night of February 19th, 1867. It broke out about midnight in a photographic gallery on the west side of Main street, where L. E. Walker's book store now stands. From the corner of Buffalo and Main streets all the buildings on the east side of Main street to a point opposite Genesee street were burned. The value of' the property destroyed was about $150,000. The final result was favorable, for the “burnt district" was rebuilt in vastly superior style.
In October, 1868, within the limits of the district before burnt, two grocery stores and a clothing store were destroyed, involving a loss of about $30,000.
This fire (the last serious one in the village) awakened people to the necessity of providing suitable protection. A public meeting was at once called. The formation of a joint stock company, to utilize the supply of water which was known-to exist in the vicinity, was resolved on. A charter was granted by the Legislature in 1869, naming as corporators John A. McElwain, William Bristol, Ransom A. Crippen, Thomas S. Glover, Augustus Frank, William D. Miner and Timothy H. Buxton. The capital stock was fixed at $20,000, with the privilege of an increase to $25,000. During the summer of 1869 surveys and estimates were made by James O. McClure, and in the spring of 1870 the entire work was let by contract to Messrs. Michellon & Sexton, of Philadelphia, who completed it in the autumn of that year. The reservoir on the East hill is fed by numerous springs, and has an elevation above Main street of two hundred and sixty-five feet. The water was let into the pipes on the 26th of November, 1870, and since that time the supply has never failed.
Although the only object of these works was to furnish a supply of water for protection against fire, the water came to be used for domestic purposes to such an extent that it was deemed expedient to increase the supply. For this purpose a reservoir was constructed on the West hill, about two miles southwest from the village, at an elevation of three hundred and twenty feet, and connected by pipes with the works already constructed. This reservoir has an abundant supply of water, and there are facilities for increasing this supply to any necessary extent. The expense was defrayed from the income of the company without increase of the capital stock. More than four miles of supply mains are laid in the principal streets, and five hydrants are placed at proper intervals. The reservoirs are so high that no engines are needed. The water is also utilized to some extent for the propulsion of light machinery.

1882 Warsaw, Engineering News, 9:39 (February 4, 1882)

1882 Warsaw, from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.

1886 "Warsaw," The Buffalo Commercial, July 8, 1866, Page 4.
The Warsaw water works company have raised their rates under the new regime.

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

1890 Fire and Water 7(11) (March 15, 1890)
The Warsaw (N. Y.) Board of Trustees has signed a contract with the Warsaw Water-Works Company, by which the latter is to furnish water for fire protection and two watering troughs for the period of three years for the sum of $1000 a year. The contract also gives the trustees the right to put in hydrants at such points as they may deem necessary.

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

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

1895 Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), November 5, 1895, Page 4.
The board of water commissioners of the village of Warsaw has formally notified the Warsaw Water Works Company that the village will hereafter use no water from the company's reservoir or mains. The supply from the new municipal system is ample and ready to use.

1896 Warsaw Water Works Co. v. Warsaw, 4 App. Div. 509, April 1, 1896, Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Fourth Department

1897 Warsaw Water Works Company, Appellant, v. The Village of Warsaw and others, Respondents, 16 App. Div. 592, April 17, 1897, Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Fourth Department
A water works company, incorporated by chapter 394 of the Laws of 1869, cannot compel the water commissioners of a village, acting under the authority of the general act, known as chapter 181 of the Laws of 1875, to acquire its privileges and franchises against their will, notwithstanding the fact that the statute incorporating the water works company invests the trustees of the village with the power of regulating the manner in which the pipes and structures of the water works company should be laid, authorizes them under certain conditions to subscribe to its capital stock, and enacts that "the said company shall furnish water to the trustees of the said village for extinguishing fires and other purposes, as may be agreed upon between the said trustees and the said company."
The provisions of section 22 of chapter 181 of the Laws of 1875, permitting boards of water commissioners to institute proceedings to acquire “ the rights, privileges, grants and properties” of water works companies, do not require the water commissioners of a village to do this where they deem such action unnecessary or inexpedient.

1897 Fire and Water Engineering 22(1): 225 (July 3, 1897) | Also here |
Warsaw, N. Y., has recently been the subject of a legal decision which is of interest to water works men. When the village began some time ago to build a system of water works, the Warsaw Water Works Company instituted an action to restrain construction unless its rights, privileges, and franchises were first purchased. The Fourth Appelate division has just affirmed judgment in favor of the defendants, holding that the plaintiff company could not compel the water commissioners of the village, acting under the authority of the general act of 1875, to acquire its privileges aud franchises against their will, notwithstanding the fact that the act incorporating the water works company invested the trustees of the village with the power of regulating the manner in which the pipes and structures of the water works company should be laid, authorized them under certain conditions to subscribe to its capital stock, and enacted that “ the said company shall furnish water to the trustees of the said village for extinguishing fires and other purposes as may be agreed upon between the said trustees and the said company. ” The court holds that the provisions of the law of 1875, permitting boards of water commissioners to institute proceeding to acquire “ the rights, privileges, grants, and property "of water works companies do not require the water commissioners of a village to do this where they deem such actions unnecessary or inexpedient.

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

1899 Warsaw Water Works Company, Appellant, v. The Village of Warsaw et al, Respondents, 161 N.Y. 176, December 3, 1899, Court of Appeals of the State of New York
1. VILLAGES-INVALID STATUTORY PROVISION FOR WATER RATES DISCRIMINATING AGAINST PATRONS OF PRIVATE WATER WORKS COMPANY. The provisions of chapter 284 of the Laws of 1894, supplementary to the Village Water Act of 1875 (Ch. 181), which, by authorizing village water commissioners to lay and assess water rates upon property not using water from the municipal system, disclose an intent to assist the water commissioners in securing customers from the patrons of an existing private water works company, are invalid and, therefore, not enforceable.
Warsaw Water Works Co. v. Vil. of Warsaw, 16 App. Div. 502, modified.

1908 The Buffalo Commercial, January 2, 1908, Page 5.
The old Warsaw Water Works, which has been supplanted by the new municipal works in this village, was sold recently, being bid in at $8,000 by Mr. Royal V. Lamberson of Ithaca, who was the holder of the judgments under which the property was sold.