Documentary History of American Water-works

Waterbury

Waterbury, Vermont

Waterbury was incorporated as a village in 1882 and merged into the town of Waterbury in 2018.

The first water system was built by Charles C. Warren and Joseph Somerville in 1879.

The village of Waterbury built another gravity system in 1896. On October 14, 1904, village president and water commissioner Edward Farrar was killed while digging a sewer trench, which caved in on him.

The village of Waterbury was dissolved in 2018 and the water and sewer systems were taken over by the Edward Farrar Utility District that was formed July 1, 2018.

Water is supplied by the Edward Farrar Utility District

References
1879 Argus and Patriot (Montpelier, Vermont), June 4, 1879 Page 3.
Mr. Wyman, J.C. Griggs, and C.O. Graves have each put water pipes into their stores from the new water works of Warren & Summerville, and now they sprinkle their street fronts with rubber hose and nozzle, in city style.

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

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

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

1894 An act in addition to an act to incorporate the village of Waterbury, approved November 28, 1882. November 14, 1894.

1896 An act in addition to an act to incorporate the village of Waterbury, approved November 28, 1882. November 14, 1894.

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

1904 "Waterbury Man Killed," Montpelier Evening Argus, October 14, 1904, Page 2.
Edward Farrar Buried by the Caving of a Ditch.

1910 Joseph Somerville (1829-1910) grave. He built the first water system with C. C. Warren.

1910 "Died in Waterbury," Montpelier Evening Argus, March 31, 1910, Page 1.
Mr. Somerville was esteemed citizen and prominent Mason.
Mr. Somerville was one of the forty-niners. He twice went to California during the gold rush, once by way of Panama and once around Cape Horn. There he acquired considerable wealth and upon his return took up farming.

1915 History of Waterbury, Vermont 1763-1915, edited by Theodore Graham Lewis
Pages 161-162: An elaborate and exhaustive report was submitted at a special village meeting August 27, 1895, touching on water supply in and about Waterbury, the cost and feasibility of bringing water to the village for fire, domestic and other purposes. Appropriate resolutions were thereafter (December 9, 1895) adopted authorizing the village to take and hold, under Act 195, Laws of 1894, certain springs and streams, in the towns of Waterbury and Stowe, to issue bonds to the amount of $20,000, payable in twenty years, redeemable in five years, bearing 4 per cent interest, and authorizing the treasurer to borrow on temporary loans not exceeding $14,000.
The rules and regulations governing the Village Water Works were adopted September 24, 1896.
Page 202: Charles C. Warren. In 1889 he assisted in locating the Vermont State Hospital in town by selling to the state the farm and grounds they now occupy. As state fish and game commissioner he located and erected the state fish hatchery at Roxbury and, with the late Joseph Somerville, supplied the village of Waterbury with their first system of water-works.

1928 "Death of Charles C. Warren, Prominent Business Man," The Burlington Free Press, November 5, 1928, Page 14.

2018 "Goodbye to village; Hello to Ed Farrar," by Tommy Gardner, Waterbury Record, May 10, 2018.

2018 An act relating to approval of the adoption of the charter of the Edward Farrar Utility District and the merger of the Village of Waterbury into the District. May 28, 2018.

Vermonters and the Automobile
Charles C. Warren of Middlebury
Mr. Warren was a serious auto enthusiast who in addition to purchasing the first automobile in Vermont (1899 Haynes Apperson) held Vermont registrations #1 and #2. Between 1903 and 1905 he drove his 28hp Packard over 10,000 miles.
In addition, he and Mr. L. Bart Cross, of Montpelier, used the same car in a European tour in the fall of 1905.
Mr. Warren’s estate on Main Street in Waterbury is now the grounds of the State Office Complex and State Mental Hospital. His house and carriage still stand on Main Street.