| Introduction | Historical Background | Chronology | Geography | Biography | Technology | Ownership and Financing | General Bibliography |
| Middle Atlantic States | Pennsylvania | Erie |
Erie was first settled in 1753 and was incorporated as a city in 1851.
The borough of Erie was authorized to construct water works in 1838, and to borrow $50,000 to pay for them. What, if anything, was done with this authority is unclear, but on April 16, 1841, the Hon. Thomas H. Sill and others petitioned the borough council "to take immediate measures to bring water into the Borough as a protection against fire." The council on June 11 authorized the town clerk "to advertise for bids for bringing the water into town in wooden logs." Rufus S. Reed and Thomas G. Cold were appointed a committee and were authorized "to contract for bringing the water into town in wooden logs and devise ways and means to defray the expense." The work was completed by the fall of 1841. In 1853 local citizens agitated for a better system, but nothing was done until 1865.
The Erie Water and Gas Company was incorporated in 1865 "for the purpose of introducing water and gas into the city of Erie, water to be taken from lake Erie, or from any other point, which may be deemed most expedient." C. M. Reed, John Hearn, John W. Shannon, Joseph McCarter, J. C. Selden, S. A. Davenport, W. S. Brown, W. F. Rindernecht, A. Scott, J. O. Burgess, L. A. Morrison, V. M. Thompson, O. Noble, Conrad Brown, A. B. Kellogg, R. J. Pelton, G. W. Starr and A. H. Gray were appointed commissioners for the company..
Philadelphia engineer Henry Peter Miller Birkinbine (1819-1886) was engaged to prepare a water supply study in July, 1866, although two 1896 histories differ on whether the city or Water and Gas company engaged him. His February 26, 1867 report estimated the cost at $850,000 and recommended the water be taken from Presque Isle Bay. Birkinbine had been chief engineer of the Philadelphia water works for ten years and designed many water system.
On March 9, 1867 the Erie Gas Company's charter was amended to allow it to introduce water into the city.
On March 11, 1867, the Erie Common Council directed the Mayor to contract with the Erie Water and Gas Company for fifty fire hydrants at $180 each per year, but included a proviso that the company was not to begin construction for a year, and if the city had started to build their own water system in that time the contract would be void, but the city would pay any expenses the company had incurred.
A law passed on April 4, 1867 created a board of water commissioners, which proceeded to build a system after much debate about the water source and between a tank and stand pipe. The commissioners contracted with Birkinbine to design the works and chose Lake Erie as the water source. They ended up building a tall standpipe supplied by two Cornish Bull engines with a capacity of 5 million gallons per day. The works were placed in operation in November, 1868 and completed the following year.
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| Erie Water Works Building, from The Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal 2::203 (October, 1869) | Pumping station and standpipe after 1894 addition of an ornamental finial of six feet, | Pumping station with 1887 addition and 1894 ornamental finial from Annual Report of the Board of Water Commissioners to the Councils of the City of Erie, for the Year Ending December 31, 1897 |
An additional pump as added in 1887 and a major expansion and rebuilding was undertaken in 1912, including a hypochlorite plant in 1912, removal of the stand pipe in 1913, and a filter plant was placed into service on June 28, 1914.
A 1937 law abolished the Board of Water Commissioners and the city took over direct ownership of the water system on September 1, 1937. An immediate savings was effected by reducing the salaries of the water system managers, which had become excessive.
The Erie County Water Authority was formed by the city council on September 23, 1966 and leased the city's water system on April 1, 1991 for a period of 25 years, which has been extended to 2050. The Authority took over the water system on January 1, 1992.
Water service is provided by the Erie City Water Authority, commonly known as the Erie Water Works, which has a history page.
Erie Water Works Wikipedia page
References
1838 An act empowering the Burgess and Town
Council of the borough of Erie, in the county of Erie, to borrow money,
and to supply the said borough with water, and for other purposes.
April 13, 1838.
1862 The
History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, by Laura G. Sanford
Pages 106-107: In 1835, Erie was authorized to borrow $50,000 to
supply the borough with water. This contemplated improvement was
never carried out.
In 1841, Erie was supplied with water by wooden pipes communicating with a
spring a mile or two distant, the expenses being paid by consumers.
1865 An act to incorporate a water and gas company, in the city of Erie. March 16, 1865.
1867 A further Supplement to the charter of the city of Erie, to provide for the appointment of water commissioners, and to define their powers and duties. April 4, 1867.
1868 A further supplement to an act to incorporate the city of Erie. April 2, 1868. Sections 8 and 10 refer to the Water Commissioners.
1868 Pittsburgh
Weekly Gazette, September 15, 1868, Page 2.
The Erie City Iron Works have recently completed for the Erie Water Works
a stand pipe two hundred and twenty feet high, five feet in diameter and
weighing twenty-five tons. It cost $8,000, and it said to be the
tallest stand pipe in the world.
1869 "Water-Works
Buildings, Erie, Pa.," The Architectural Review and American
Builders' Journal 2:201-204 (October, 1869) | also here
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[Exerpt] The most imposing feature is the standpipe, (the highest in the
world.) it is a straight, wrought iron tube, 5 feet in diameter and 217
feet high, resting upon a east iron base plate. This pipe is used to
equalize the flow of water from the pumps, all shocks or waves being lost
in it, and as the city did not feel that at present it could afford a
reservoir, a uniform pressure upon the street mains is maintained by this
stand-pipe. Its mode of construction was similar to the Irishman’s who
built his house by holding up one brick and laying another under it. For
the upper sheets were ri vetted together and held up while the next series
were attached below, and thus the pipe was slowly raised by adding to the
bottom until it was complete and rested upon its base.
On account of the cold and stormy weather at Erie, the standpipe is
enclosed, and a spiral staircase passed around the iron pipe, and between
it and the enclosing wall, whereby visitors can reach the summit and enjoy
a grand view of the city, lake, and the country for miles which can there
be had. For those more timid a less elevated lookout is provided on top of
the engine house. Mr. Birkinbine, the engineer, can boast of not only
introducing the use of the standpipe into American waterworks, but of
constructing the highest. The first he erected at Germantown Water-works,
in Philadelphia, in 1851; it is one hundred and thirty (130) feet high.
The second at West Philadelphia Water-works, in 1854; it is 130 feet high,
with a spiral staircase surrounding it. The third at Kensington
(Philadelphia) Water-works, 170 feet high, handsomely ornamented at the
top. The fourth at Camden, N. J., with a finial covered with patent metal,
and last but largest at Erie, 217 feet high.
1870 "Petroleum Gas and Fuel. The Boilers of the Erie Water Works Heated by Gas from a Well," The Pittsburgh Commercial, May 6, 1870, Page 1.
1870 "The Erie Water Works," The Titusville Herald, November 5, 1870, Page 3.
1871 Annual Report of the Water Commissioners of the City of Erie, May 1, 1871.
1873 "A Description of the Stand Pipe Water Works, at Erie, Pennsylvania," The South-Bend Weekly Tribune, October 11, 1873, Page 1.
1880 Annual
Report of the Board of Water Commissioners to the Councils of the City
of Erie, for the Year and 2-3ds Ending December 31, 1880.
Page 5: During the year eight feet have been added to the height of
the Stand Pipe to give a greater force to the current though the 20-inch
main.
[1880] Erie City Water Works; height of stand pipe 23 ft. [label on back reads "237 ft"}
1881 Erie, from Engineering News, 8:333 (August 20, 1881)
1882 Erie, from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.
1884 History
of Erie County, Pennsylvania
Page 515: The borough was authorized, in 1835, to borrow $50,000 for
the purpose of furnishing a water supply for the town, but the project was
never carried out. In 1841, water was brought from a spring a mile
or two distant, through wooden pipes, each consumer to pay $1 rate for his
supply. These were the first water works that Erie possessed, and,
doubtless, were of much service in furnishing the borough with good water.
Pages 543-545: "Water Works"
Page 544: The standpipe tower, built to inclose the standpipe, is
octagonal in shape. Forty-five feet above its foundation, throughout which
distance the tower is brick, a belt of stone five feet high is placed;
thence upward it is a circular brick tower. Its total height is 217 feet,
and its total elevation 237 feet above the surface of the bay, while an
additional sixteen feet has been added to the stand-pipe since its
erection, making it 253 feet above the water level—the highest stand-pipe
in the world. A spiral stairway in the interior ascends to the top of the
tower, which is suitably decked and enclosed by an iron railing. The
visitor may here obtain the finest view imaginable of the city, harbor and
lake.
1885 Annual
Report of the Board of Water Commissioners to the Councils of the City
of Erie, for the Year Ending December 31, 1885.
Page 31: The Standpipe is 247 feet high.
1886 County
of Erie versus Commissioners of Water works in the City of Erie, 113
Pa. 368, April 29, 1886, Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
A municipality owning property, in this case water works, from which
revenue is derived is subject to a county tax.
1887 Annual
Report of the Board of Water Commissioners to the Councils of the City
of Erie, for the Year Ending December 31, 1887.
Page 35: The Standpipe is 251 feet high.
1888 "Erie," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 1.
1888 "A
Partial List of Stand-pipes of the United States," from Manual
of American Water Works, Volume 1. [Note: this list is
not included in any known electronic version of this volume.]
Their heights, diameters, thickness and other details of
construction. Classified first in order of diameters and secondly in
order of heights.
Erie - 233 feet, 16 feet added since first built
1888 Sanborn
Fire Insurance Map from Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania. September,
1888.
Sheet 4 shows Erie Water Department with 251' water tower
Sheet 36 includes description of water system
1888 The
city of Erie : with illustrations of its public buildings, churches,
schools, summer resorts and some of its residences, business blocks,
manufactories and citizens. | also here
| also here
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Page 22: The raising of the iron stand-pipe, which is a straight
wrought-iron tube five feet in diameter, and 217 (now 233) feet high, was
a feat worthy of special record. It was accomplished in a way suggested by
George Selden, Esq., of the Erie City Iron Works, contractors, by the use
of heavy blocks and tackle rigged on a derrick. The top of the pipe was
first raised a short distance and stayed. The next lower section was then
put on, and so, section by section, until the full height of the pipe was
reached. Around this pipe the brick tower was afterwards built. It rests
on a very heavy foundation of stone, is octagonal in shape, and extends
with tapering sides to a height of 31 feet above the level of the lake.
Its base area is a circle of 24 feet. Forty-five feet above the top of
this foundation--the intervening distances being built of brick--is a belt
course of stone five feet high--and from thence the stand-pipe is a
circle, inside of which is a spiral staircase to the top (251 feet above
the surface of the lake), of the platform, which is 14 feet in diameter,
enclosed in a substantial iron railing for the safety of visitors. The
tower is lighted by nine windows. It is claimed (and we think the claim is
correct) to be the highest water works stand-pipe in the world.
1890 "Erie," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 2.
1891 Manual
of the City Councils of the City of Erie, Pa., April, 1890 to April,
1891.
Pages 32-34: Annual Rates for City Water
1891 "Erie," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.
1893 Commissioners of Water Works in the City of Erie, Pa: Mr. Amerman, from the Committee on the Public Lands, Submitted the Following Report:[To Accompany H. R. 9826.]
1893 An act granting certain rights and privileges to the commissioners of water works in the city of Erie, Pennsylvania. February 23, 1893. 2nd Session, 52d Congress
1894 Annual
Report of the Commissioners of the Water Works in the City of Erie, to
the Mayor and Councils, for the Year Ending December 31, 1894.
Page 6: It was found advisable to add six feet to the iron part of
the Stand Pipe, on which was placed an ornamental finial of six feet,
making the increased height twelve feet. The total elevation of the Stand
Pipe above the zero level of the bay is now 259.65 feet.
1895 Erie, Pa., 1872, Stand-pipe Accidents and Failures, by Prof. Wm. D. Pence, 33:287, Engineering News, 33:287 (April 25, 1895) Example of buoyant action of ice in a stand-pipe.
1895 Submerged Cast Iron Pipe Intake for the Water-Works of Erie, Pa., by Walter C. Brough, Designing and Constructing Engineer, Engineering News, 34:277-278. ( December 5 1895) | Illustration on page 374 |
1896 "The Engineering Work on the New Water-Works Intake at Erie, Pa.," Engineering News, 35:42 (January 16, 1896)
1896 On Lake Erie as a Water Supply for the Towns on its Borders, by George W. Rafter, read before the Microsopical Club of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, January 13, 1896. Reprinted from the Buffalo Medical Journal 36(1):10-25 (August, 1896) | Correspondence from Dr. William G. Bissell 36(4):307-308 (November, 1896) |
1896 "Water Department," from Nelson's Biographical Dictionary and Historical Reference Book of Erie County, Pennsylvania, by Benjamin Whitman
1896 "History of the Water Works at Erie, Penn'a.," by Wm. W. Reed," from Thirtieth Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Water Works in the City of Erie, to the Mayor and Councils, for the Year Ending December 31, 1896.
1897 "Erie," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.
1900 Sanborn
Insurance Maps of Erie, Pennsylvania
Sheet 1: Water facilities, modified gravity and direct pressure
system of water works. Gravity system covers all that portion of the
city lying North of 19th Street, and is supplied through 30 inch main by
Worthington Compound Duplex Pump of 12 million galls. capacity, which is
run at a uniform rate of speed, the surplus water feeding, and deficiency
supplied from a reservoir of 35 million galls. capacity, located on 26th
st. at an elevation of 237 ft. above city datum, also feeding a stand pipe
at water works, which acts as an equalizer. Pressure at City Hall,
60 lbs. per sq inch.
Direct pressure system covers all that portion of the city lying South of
19th St. and is supplied by Worthington Compound Pump of 8 million gals.
capacity through 20 inch main. One Gaskill Pump of 5 million galls.
capacity is held in reserve, and can be used on either system.
Pressure at highest point of service 65 lbs. per sq. inch.
Average daily consumption seven million galls. 100 miles of water pipes, 4
inch to 30 inches diameter. 500 Single and 100 double hydrants.
Sheet 51 shows Erie Water Dep't Pumping Station with Standpipe 251' High,
5' diameter
1905 39th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Water Works, in the City of Erie, for the Year Ending December 31, 1905. | another copy |
1908 "Laying Erie's New Intake," Municipal Journal 25(6):168 (August 5, 1908)
1909 43rd
Annual Report of the Commissioners of Water Works, in the City of
Erie, for the Year Ending December 31, 1909.
Page 106: Stand Pipe. The standpipe was erected in 1868. It
was five feet in diameter and 259.65 feet high. A spiral staircase
surrounded it and all enclosed in brick.
In 1908 a portion of the stand pipe was taken down by taking off 90.93
feet of the brick work and 25.7 feet of the steel pipe above the brick
work, on account of its weakened condition, leaving its height at 143
feet. The stand pipe has not been in use for some years.
1912 46th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Water Works, in the City of Erie, for the Year Ending December 31, 1912.| another copy |
1913 "Water Purification at Erie," Municipal Journal, 35(3):72 (July 17, 1913)
1913 47th
Annual Report of the Commissioners of Water Works, in the City of
Erie, for the Year Ending December 31, 1913. | another copy
|
Page 71: The standpipe has not been in use for some years, and was
taken down in September, 1913.
1914 48th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Water Works, in the City of Erie, for the Year Ending December 31, 1914. | another copy |
1915 Proceedings
of the Twenty-Fifth Annual Convention of the American Railway, Bridge
and Building Association, held at Detroit Mich. October 19-21,
1915.
Page 153: Tanks over 50 years old.
1867 Erie, Pa. Standpipe, size not given, erected in 1867, taken
down in 1913, plates in good condition, enclosed with brick, never
painted, either inside or outside.
1915 "The High Duty Pump at Erie," Fire and Water Engineering 58(18):308 (November 3, 1915)
1916 "The Erie Water Works," Fire and Water Engineering, 60(11):201 (September 13, 1916)
1921 Sanborn Insurance maps of Erie, Pennsylvania, Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 |
1922 "The Erie Water Works Plant," by J. N. Chester and J. S. Dunwoody, Journal of the American Water Works Association, 9(1):26-38 (January, 1922) | also here |
1922 56th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Water Works, in the City of Erie, for the Year Ending December 31, 1922.| another copy |
1923 57th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Water Works, in the City of Erie, for the Year Ending December 31, 1923.| another copy |
1925 History
of Erie County, Pennsylvania, by John Elmer Reed.
Page 291: June 25, 1841, R. S. Reed and Thomas G. Colt were
appointed a committee with power to contract for bringing water into Erie
in log pipes. This was then secured, and a Pump-log Water Works was
constructed at the cost of $442.28, bringing the water from Ichabod's Run
near Seventeenth and Peach streets to the village below the park.
Pages 298-300: Erie's first water works was a system of log pipes
laid under ground about 1840 or 1841, which brought excellent spring water
down town from the springs on the Reed Farm south of Eighteenth and west
of Parade Street, until other supplies were gradually introduced. The Reed
House was the last taker of water from that old system.
In 1865, an act of the legislature incorporated John W. Shannon and a few
other men of the city under the style of "Erie Water and Gas Company," and
organized with a capital of $100,000 under the provisions of the general
corporation law of the state of March 11, 1857, and the Mayor and Councils
of the city were duly authorized to contract with the company for water
and gas. The Erie Gas Company took steps to compete for this water
business by securing the passage of an act permitting them to insert the
word "water" in their charter, wherever it formerly authorized them to
introduce "gas".
The problem of selecting the source from which the water supply was to be
taken, provoked much heated argument, and the holding of numerous public
meetings until the election of Orange Noble for Mayor, in 1867, on a
platform of immediate city improvements, when the Act of Assembly of April
4, 1867, was passed entitled "A further supplement to the charter of the
city of Erie, to provide for the appointment of Water Commissioners, and
to define their powers and duties." On June 29th, 1867, the first Board of
Water Commissioners was organized under this act, the members having been
William L. Scott, Henry Rawle, and William W. Reed, who had been appointed
by the court under the provisions of the act. They appointed as their
secretary, Mr. William Brewster, and Mr. Birkenbine was chosen as their
engineer to plan and superintend the construction of the water works. The
plan used at Detroit was finally adopted, but shortly after was changed to
the one which was constructed. One of the features of the city perspective
was the tall tower of the water stand-pipe which was a wrought iron tube
five feet in diameter and two hundred and seventeen feet in height,
surrounded by a brick tower. Between the tube and the wall of the tower
was constructed a spiral stair case reaching to a balcony upon the top of
the tower, from which a most wonderful view of the surrounding countryside
could be obtained.
The manner of raising this great tube was conceived by Mr. George Selden,
of the Erie City Iron Works, who suggested the raising of the top section
a short distance from the ground, then attaching the next section to it,
and then section by section in like manner, until the entire tube was
standing in place. Nine windows pierced the walls of the tower. Subsequent
additions to it reached the total height of 260 feet above the normal
level of the bay, constituting this water stand-pipe tower the highest of
its kind in the world. A reservoir was constructed on Twenty-sixth Street
of an area of seven acres, the bottom of which is 210 feet above the
surface of the bay, and holds 34,000,000 gallons of water. A later
reservoir was constructed upon the high ridge of land farther south, which
affords better water pressure to the southern portions of the city.
But the great improvement made by the water department, and which has
spared the City of Erie further ravages of typhoid fever, was the
construction of a new intake pipe far out into the open lake. The water
drawn through it is treated chemically and filtered at the new plant on
the peninsula, from whence it is forced into and through the city. Since
this improvement has been in operation, no cases of the dread disease have
been traceable to the water served by this department.
1937 "Erie Will Save $9800 Yearly by Salary Cut," The Harrisburg Evening News, September 1, 1937, Page 2.
1962 "The Water Works," Chapter 23 of Erie, A History, by Herbert Reynolds Spencer
2013 A History of
Presque Isle: As Told through Conversation with the Park’s Legendary
Hermit, Joe Root, by Eugene H. Ware
Page 246: Waterworks
Park - Part I
Page 262: Waterworks
Park - Park II
© 2016 Morris A. Pierce