Documentary History of American Water-works

Ohio

Salem

Salem, Ohio

Salem was incorporated as a city in 1830.

The first water works were built in 1862 by Abel Phillips that pumped water into a wooden tank atop a brick tower.

A new system was built in 1887 by the Salem Water Company, which was controlled by Turner, Clarke and Rawson of Boston.

This company went into receivership in 1892 and was sold in 1899, with the new owners forming the Salem Water Works Company to own and operate the system.

The City of Salem bought the company in 1909 for $131,000.

The waterworks are currently owned by the City of Salem.

References
1862 The Hise Journals A Diary of the Life of Daniel Howell Hise From the Year 1846 to 1878. Addendum Diary by Edwin Hise From the Year 1879 to 1883
Page 501: 1862. August 16. Attached the Hose to the fire Plugs for the first time Salem is now well Supplied with water. Abel P Phillips is Proprietor of the whole.

1879 History of Columbiana County, Ohio: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, by Horace Mack
Page 211: Water-Works. A large spring on the Davis or Hawley farm supplies the village with water. In 1860, Abel Phillips built a reservoir of brick, 24½ by 41 feet, and covered it; also a tower with two tanks, one above the other, and each 20 feet in diameter. The top of the upper tank was 26 feet from the ground. Friday, May 30th, of that year, after the pumping of the day, the water rose in the reservoir six inches in two hours, showing the spring's capacity to be about 1750 gallons an hour. A contract was made with the authorities in 1862, under which iron pipes were laid through the village, supplying water for domestic and for fire purposes. The works were sold to Daniel Koll, who sold them in 1868 to L. B. Silver, who in turn sold them in February, 1879, to A. B. Silver, of the Silver and Deming Manufacturing Company. The pumps are worked by an engine, which carries the furniture manufactory of J. & C. Hinshelwood.
Artesian Well. In 1860 a number of persons in Salem, prominent among whom were John Sheets and Benjamin Pennock, put down an artesian well with the hope of finding oil. The boring was made at a point a little east of the Methodist Episcopal church on Broadway. At the depth of one hundred and eighty feet a vein of water was struck, which filled a four-inch tube and rose seven feet above the surface. This unsought spring has maintained its copious flow to the present time. The well was purchased by Abel Phillips, who leased the property, for a term of fifty years, to the gas and railroad companies, having first laid pipes to the premises of these corporations. The works are now owned by Albert R. Silver.

1882 Salem, from Engineering News 9:411 (December 30, 1882)

1887 Annual Report of the Ohio Secretary of State
Page 391: April 13, 1887, incorporation of the Salem Water Company, Salem, Ohio. Capital stock $200,000.

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

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

1891 "Salem's Drink. The Story of the Present Water Service," The Salem Daily News, June 17, 1891, Page 2.

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

1892 "Salem Shocked! Has the Water Company Really Gone to Smash," The Salem Daily News, January 9, 1892, Page 4.
The Sheriff Snatching Their Salem Property for Delinquent Taxes To-day.

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

1898 History of Salem and the Immediate Vicinity: Columbiana County, Ohio, by George Dillwyn Hunt
Pages 179-181: The Water Works. “A large spring on the Davis or Hawley farm supplied the city with water for several years. In 1860 Abel Phillips built a reservoir of brick, 24½ by 41 feet, and covered it; also, a tower with two tanks, one above the other, and each 20 feet in diameter. The top of the upper tank was 20 feet from the ground. Friday, May 30th, of that year, after the pumping of the day, the water rose in the reservoir six inches in two hours, showing the spring’s capacity to be about 1750 gallons an hour. A contract was made with the authorities in 1862, under which iron pipes were laid through the village, supplying water for domestic and for fire purposes. The works were sold to Daniel Koll, who sold them in 1868 to L. B. Silver, who, in turn, sold them in February, 1879, to A. R. Silver.” It was sold to the Salem Water Company in 1887.”
An Artesian Well. “In 1860 a number of persons in Salem, prominent among whom were John Sheets and Benjamin Pennock, put down an artesian well with the hope of finding oil. The boring was made at a point a little east of the Methodist Episcopal church, on Broadway. At the depth of one hundred and eighty feet a vein of water was struck, which filled a four-inch tube and rose seven feet above the surface. This unsought spring has maintained its capacious flow to the present time. The well was purchased by Abel Phillips, who leased the property, for a term of years, to the gas and railroad companies, having first laid pipes to the premises of these corporations. The works are now owned by Albert R. Silver.”
By the aforesaid means and some wells, the city was supplied with water till the system of water supply now in use was completed. On the 19th of March. 1887, an ordinance was passed “Providing for the supply of water to the village of Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio, and its inhabitants, authorizing the firm of Turner, Clark & Rawson, of Boston, Massachusetts, and their successors, or assigns, to construct and maintain water-works in said village, contracting with said Turner, Clark & Rawson, their successors or assigns, for a supply of water for public uses, and giving said village an option to purchase said water-works. ”
This ordinance contained plans, specifications and every requirement of the aforesaid water-works. On the 24th of July, 1888, they were accepted as completed according to contract. And they were set into operation. Much of the water, for awhile, came from a spring on the farm of George Rogers. This is now shut off, and all the water is obtained from the aforesaid Hawley spring, and from wells drilled at the tank in the western part of the city.
By engines at these places water is pumped into the stand pipe on East Main street, and thence by pipes is conveyed to all parts of the city. The stand pipe is eighty feet high, and thirty feet in diameter, having a capacity for 300,000 gallons. From this the city is now amply supplied with water for all purposes, including what may be needed in time of fires.

1899 "Salem Water Plant," The Evening Review (East Liverpool, Ohio), May 8, 1899, Page 3.
Will be sold by Receiver Kelly by Order of United States Court. The United States court at Cleveland has issued an order for the sale of the Salem Water company's plant, comprising about 20 miles of mains, 200 hydrants, 1,500 private hydrants, two pumping stations, and a standpipe 25 feet in diameter and 35 feet high; its capacity is 316,000 gallons. The average daily consumption is nearly 500,000 gallons.
The plant has been in the hands of Receiver H. A. Kelly, of Cleveland, and the sale will be the outcome of a suit brought against the company by the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company.

1899 Annual Report of the Ohio Secretary of State
Page 474: Incorporation of the Salem Water Works Company, Salem, Ohio, July 12, 1899, Capital stock $67,500.

1900 Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Co. v. Salem Water Co. et al., 94 Fed. 238, 10 O.F.D. 35, U.S. Circuit Court Northern District of Ohio.

1903 "Waterworks System, Salem, Ohio," from Fire and Water Engineering 34:137 (September 12, 1903)

1908 "Citizens Vote for City to Purchase Plant of the Salem Waterworks Co.," The Salem Daily News, November 23, 1908, Page 1. | Part 2 on page 8 |
Bond issue of $131,000. 886 in favor, 421 opposed. 871 required to obtain two-thirds necessary to approve purchase.

1921 "The Typhoid Fever Epidemic at Salem, Ohio," by W. H. Dittoe, Chief Engineer, Ohio State Department of Health. Read September 15, 1921, by Morris Knowles. Journal of the New England Water Works Association 35:335-353 (December, 1921)

1964 "Water Supply Good," The Salem News, September 24, 1964, Page 1. | Part 2 on Page 8 |