| Introduction | Historical Background | Chronology | Geography | Biography | Technology | Ownership and Financing | General Bibliography |
| Middle Atlantic States | Pennsylvania | Lancaster |
Lancaster was incorporated as a borough in 1734.
In 1772 Casper Singer was granted the right to install conduits to convey water to his tannery, and this apparently led to others installing similar conduits. The City of Lancaster was granted permission to build waterworks in 1822, which came to nought.
The Lancaster Water Company was incorporated in 1829 with George Lewis Mayer, Robert Evans, John Longenecker, Henry Keffer, and Philip W. Reigart appointed to sell stock, but this company appears to have done nothing.
The City of Lancaster built water works in 1836 that were designed by Frederick Erdman. Water was introduced to the city on February 22, 1837.
The waterworks are owned by the City of Lancaster.
References
1822 An act to supply the city of Lancaster
with pure water. March 18, 1822
1829 An act ... to incorporate the Lancaster Water Company, and for other purposes. April 23, 1829
1836 A further supplement ... and to an act entitled "An act to incorporate the city of Lancaster, and for other purposes. March 21, 1836.
1869 "City
Water Works,"from An Authentic History of Lancaster County:
In the State of Pennsylvania by Jacob Isidor Mombert
1882 Lancaster, from Engineering News 9:373 (October 28, 1882)
1882 Lancaster, from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.
1888 "Lancaster," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 1.
1890 "Lancaster," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 2.
1891 "Lancaster," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.
1894 "The Lancaster Reservoir Failure," from Engineering News 32:346 (October 25, 1894)
1894 "Expert's Report on the Reservoir Failure at Lancaster, Pa.," from Engineering News 32:462-463 (December 6, 1894)
1897 "Lancaster, from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.
1883 "The
Water-Works," from History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania:
With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men
by Franklin Ellis, Samuel Evans
Page 381: The first action taken by the borough authorities to secure or
provide a water supply to serve as a protection against fire was upon
Sept. 14, 1772. Under this date the following appears in the records of
the burgesses: “it being represented that Casper Singer, of this borough,
Tanner, hath lately obtained permission from from Isaac Whitelock, of the
said borough, to take and lead the water of a certain spring which rises
in the ground of the said Isaac Whitlock, near his Brew-House, into Water
Street, to the intent that the said Casper Singer may by pipes or other
proper conduits carry and convey the water thereof to building and
tanyards of him, the said Casper Singer, in King Street, in the some
Borough, and the same Casper Singer, now requesting the privilege of
laying pipes and conduits for the purpose aforesaid along Water Street,
and to break the ground to fix them properly, and he engaging in return
and satisfaction for the privilege aforesaid to have a stock or jet d‘eau
fixed in such a pipe or conduit at such place as the Burgesses or
Assistants of the Borough shall direct in King Street aforesaid where such
pipe or conduit shall cross the said street so that the public (in cases
of fire and at such other times as it shall not be injurious to the said
Casper Singer to be deprived of said water) may be supplied with water
from the same, and that, at his own expense, that he, his heirs and
assigns, shall and will maintain and keep in good order and repair such
stock or jet d'eau at his and their expense. Upon consideration had upon
the premises, the privilege aforesaid of breaking the ground in the said
streets, and of laying pipes, trunks or conduits in and through the
streets aforesaid for taking and conveying the water is granted unto the
said Casper Singer, his heirs and assigns, forever. He and they in
laying and fixing such pipes or conduits, and in keeping them in good
order and repair from time to time, taking care to cover them as not to
obstruct or hinder the easy and convenient passage in and through the said
streets, and that expeditiously and without unnecessary delay, and he and
they, from time to time, and at all times, fixing and keeping the said
stock or jet d'eau in good order and repair for the use and benefit of the
inhabitants of the said Borough at the time and seasons before mentioned."
1972 "Lancaster's New Water-Treatment Plant," by Calvin E. Levis and Wilson B. Smith, Journal of the American Water Works Association 64(1):25-28 (January 1972)
1978 The
Heritage of Lancaster by John Ward Willson Loose
Page 32: Casper Singer, a tanner whose yard was along Water Street, had an
idea. He would lay a wooden pipe under Water Street to King Street where a
jet d 'eau, a stream of water spouting upward, would be installed wherever
the borough officials desired, all at his own expense, provided the
borough would permit him to dig up Water Street and would not deprive him
of water necessary for the tanning vats. Approval came swiftly, along with
the proviso that Singer, his heirs, and assigns, keep the system in repair
forever. An ordinance then was adopted to penalize anyone who would
"willfully or maliciously" interfere with or destroy the system.
The success of Singer's jet d'eau prompted the borough to dig cisterns in
King Street and other parts of the town for holding water in large
quantities when needed for firefighting. Numerous springs that lay in the
vicinity of East King and North Duke streets were connected to the
cisterns, using wooden pipes, or "conduits" as the borough officials were
fond of calling them. One of the larger springs was under the Sign of the
Leopard Tavern, a hundred feet east of Duke Street on the north side of
East King Street.
Pages 101-102: Lancaster's water supply continued to be the
Conestoga River from which waterwheel-powered pumps sent raw water to the
town's reservoirs located east of the prison between King and Orange
streets. The ancient machinery, installed in 1837 when the original
waterworks was constructed, no longer was capable of serving a city of
thirty-five thousand persons, even when assisted with the steam pumps
added in 1878. Lancaster was growing rapidly in the northeastern and
northwestern portions, the most remote areas from the pumps and
reservoirs. Late in 1888 a new pumping station was built along the
Conestoga River near the railroad bridge at the Grofftown Road. Two large
steam pumps operated with a daily capacity of eleven million gallons.
These were placed on a reserve basis in 1929 when eight
electrically driven and three gasoline-powered pumps were installed. This
plant was removed in 1976, having been replaced by a small pumping station
used to augment the city's water-treatment plant located along the
Susquehanna River in Columbia. This was constructed in the 1950s.
Lancaster's water was used untreated until 1907. A large reservoir built
in Buchanan Park in the 1890s burst during its initial filling, flooding
the west end. A small wading pool marks the site.
Of considerably greater interest to the water committees of the city
councils than planning for replacement and expansion of the water
facilities was how the water was to be used. After Jacob Demuth put a
bathtub in his home in 1839, one of the first bathtubs in the Republic,
the city was aghast when eight more tubs appeared in city homes; and to
make the well-washed citizens pay their proper share, each tub was
assessed three dollars annually. Most physicians in Lancaster were not
entirely convinced frequent bathing was healthy, but one doctor
demonstrated the courage of his convictions by putting in his own tub in
1849. Dr. John Light Atlee, a leader in the healing arts, was the
straw that broke the camel's back – the city charged him thirty dollars.
Out came the tub and up went the protest. The city relented and lowered
the annual charge for tubs to sixteen dollars.
Until the germ theory was understood in the 1880s, health care and
sanitation were not critical matters to Lancastrians. Cholera deaths in
1832 and 1854 were attributed to fogs and misty clouds of putrifying
organic matter decaying along the streams and canal. One
Lancastrian, however, believed differently. Dr. John L. Atlee, owner of
the bathtub and one of the nation's most distinguished physicians, thought
some organic substance he could see in his microscope probably was the
cause of cholera. Dr. Koch proved him correct about thirty years later.
Creation
of the Lancaster Water Works, by David P. Schuyler.
© 2015 Morris A. Pierce