| Introduction | Historical Background | Chronology | Geography | Biography | Technology | Ownership and Financing | General Bibliography |
| Biography | Albert Stein |
Albert Stein was born in Düsseldorf, on December 9, 1785. He trained and worked as a hydraulic engineer before coming to Philadelphia in 1816, where he may have known Frederick Graff, superintendent of that city's water works..
Stein built water works in several cities before settling in Mobile, where he bought the existing water works system. He was also involved in numerous river and harbor projects.
He died July 26, 1874 on his estate at Spring Hill near Mobile.
| Albert Stein's Water Works Experience | |||
| City | State | Years | Projects |
| Philadelphia | PA | 1816-1817? | Stein may have known Frederick Graff? |
| Cincinnati | OH | 1817-1820 | Built water works. |
| Lynchburg | VA | 1827-1830 | Built water works pumping water into a reservoir 245 feet higher. |
| Richmond | VA | 1830-1832 | Built water works, first attempt at
filtration (apart from early Spanish mission) |
| Nashville | TN | 1832-1833 | Built water works. |
| New York City | NY | 1833 |
Surveys, stream gauging, and estimates for Croton Aqueduct |
| New Orleans | LA | 1833-1840 | Built water works. |
| Mobile | AL | 1838-1874 | Bought and improved water works system in 1841. |
References
1820 Cincinnati Advertiser, June
17, 1820, Page 3.
Cincinnati Water Works
In our last number we promised some account of the new water works,
erected for the purpose of supplying the inhabitants of this city with a
regular supply of good water. We have, for some time, been desirous
of obtaining such information, on this important subject, as might be
relief upon, and we can now assure our readers that the following account
and description of the same is substantially correct.
By an ordinance of the Town Council, of the 31st of March, 1817, the
Cincinnati Manufacturing Company were granted the "exclusive privilege,
for an during the term of ninety-nine years, of conducting water by tubes,
or otherwise, from the Ohio river, thro' the streets, lanes, alleys, and
commons of the Town of Cincinnati, for the purpose of supplying the
inhabitants thereof," on certain conditions and requisitions therein
named.
The said Cincinnati Manufacturing Company, in March last, after expending
large sums of money in erecting a very solid and permanent stone building,
on the bank of the river, for the foundation of said water works, were
apprehensive of a failure in completing the same by the time limited in
said ordinance, and the difficulty of raising sufficient funds for that
purpose, appeared so great, they assigned, for a valuable consideration,
the said exclusive privilege and all their right and interest in the same,
to Col. Samuel W. Davies, by
whose enterprize and perseverance, directed by the great skill and
experience of Mr. Albert Stein,
the chief engineer, the said water works have progressed & been
brought to their present state of perfection. The said stone
building, on the bank of the river, extends 130 feet, by a front on the
river of 60 feet. In the front of this stone work is sunk, in the
solid rock, a well several feet lower than the lowest water, and from said
well has been excavated, in the solid rock, and covered with stone, a
canal, extending 210 feet, to the channel of said river. Upon the
stone building has been erected a lifting pump which raises the water from
the well, and with the aid of pipes, conveys the same to a small reservoir
on the north side of the Columbia road. In this reservoir is placed
a forcing pump with propels the water through iron pipes, to the main
reservoir on the hill, elevated about 180 feet above the river, at low
water. In addition to a larger filtrating reservoir, which it is
intended soon to erect on said stone work, all the reservoirs will contain
partitions and apartments of stone and gravel, through which the water
will pass and filtrate before it reaching the leading pipes that convey it
to the city. The pumps, reservoirs, and all the pipes for conveying
the water from the river to the main reservoir, across Deer creek, through
Fifth street to Sycamore street, and down Sycamore to Market street
together with all the necessary buildings and machinery, are completed and
now in successful operation. The pipes from the main reservoir,
across Deer creek to Fifth street, are of large white oak logs, and from
thence they are of yellow pine. Each log is twelve feet long, banded
at both ends, with heavy iron bands, and connected to each other with iron
tubes, on a plan the most approved, by experience, both in Europe and
America. the water may be conveyed from the pipes, by hose, over the
roof of almost every building in the city, and hydrants may be so
constructed, with the use of hose, as to supersede the necessity of fire
engines, on the bottom, in case of fires. The main reservoir will
contain 100,000 gallons, and is so constructed as to be enlarged as
necessity may require, to almost any extent, with great ease and
facility. Its present capacity can be filled by the operation of the
pumps in eight hours. The pumps are of cast iron, and the whole
works are of the most solid construction, while no pains or expense has
been omitted to render them as perfect and durable as possible. The
whole has been planned and directed by Mr.
Stein, whose great skill in Hydraulics and Hydrostatics entitle
him to the highest confidence. The very short time allowed him to
complete the works, thus far, forced upon him the adoption of some plans
of minor importance, which he did not entirely approve, but which when
time permits, can be exchanged for others more perfect, without any
inconvenience to the public, or much expense to the proprietor.
The great benefits which the public must derive from a constant and
plentiful supply of pure water, in contributing to the health and
cleanliness of the city, and to the comfort, and convenience of the
inhabitants, together with the incalculable advantages in cases of fire,
we have no doubt will insure to these works the prompt and liberal
patronage of all classes of our citizens. Too much credit cannot be
given to the persevering enterprise and indefatigable exertions of the
present proprietor, when we consider the distressed and embarrassing
circumstances of the times, and that some years must certainly elapse
before he can expect to realize a clean annual income beyond the interest
on his very heavy expenses. It is to the wealthy and enterprising of
our citizens we must look for works of great public utility and
convenience.
We understand the present proprietor of these works, some few weeks since
made application to the City Council for the appointment of a committee
from their body, who together with an equal number of citizens to be
appointed by himself, should examine the works, together with the expenses
of the same, and report what in their opinion would be a fair price for
the inhabitants to pay for the use of the water, to which application no
reply has been made. We do not think any blame can be attached to
the present Council for not adopting any measures upon this
application. The subject is placed on the most proper ground in the
ordinance granting the exclusive privilege. No person is obliged to
take the water from these works, but at such prices and on such terms as
may be voluntarily agreed upon. It must, therefore, be the interest
of the proprietor to furnish the inhabitants at as low a rate as they can
procure it any other way.
We cannot close this article without congratulating the citizens of this
city, upon the fair prospect, now presented, of soon being supplied with
one of the most healthful and necessary articles of domestic and public
use, good, and wholesome water; and at the same time we indulge a hope the
proprietor of these works will receive a reward, equal to his expenses and
a patronage liberal as his exertions.
1829 "Lynchburg Water
Works," Columbian Centinel (Boston, Massachusetts), August 1,
1829, Page 2.
Lynchburg, (Va) July 23.- This important work has so far progressed, that
on Saturday last the machinery was put in motion, and a column of water,
nine inches in diameter, was propelled through the main pipes from the
pump house to the reservoir, a distance of 2200 feet with an elevation of
245 feet. We know of no works in Europe or America, where water is
raised to so great an elevation. The machinery was again put in
motion on Monday last, and operated about one hour. The experiment
made is highly satisfactory. The machinery operates with great
regularity and trueness -- and the labour of lifting so great a column of
water is performed with apparent ease -- by these experiments the pump and
pipes have been subjected to all the pressure they are designed to sustain
-- and the fact that in all the range of pipes not a leak is discoverable,
and the water was raised to its distant point on the first application of
the power, without the occurrence of the last casualty -- a circumstance
no in the history of any work of similar kind, reflects great praise on
our able and persevering Engineer, Mr. Albert Stein.
1833 "City
Water Works," Richmond Enquirer (Richmond, Virginia),
October 25, 1833, Page 4.
Nashville, October 1. On yesterday, for the first time, the Water
Works which have been in the course of construction for the last two
years, were put in operation, and a fair experiment made, fully testing
the excellence and capacity of the works, as far as completed.
Too much credit, in truth, cannot be accorded to Mr. Stein, for the skill,
industry, and success with which he has accomplished this important work,
amidst difficulties, as we understand, of no ordinary kind.
1834 "Report
from the Watering Committee, May 10, 1834," Richmond Whig,
May 16, 1834, Pages 2-3.
Your Committee avail themselves of this opportunity, to express their high
opinion of the skilled displayed by Mr. Stein, in the plan and of his
integrity in the execution of the works.
1835 Board of Aldermen, February 16, 1835: the following report was received from the Commissioners appointed, pursuant to a law passed by the legislature, on the 2d of May 1834, in relation to supplying the City of New-York with pure and wholesome water, which was referred to the Committee on Fire and Water | Also here |
1836 Report
of the water works committee of the Commercial Bank of New Orleans.
Presented February 18, 1836, and published by order of the board of
directors
Pages 3-4: Doubts and difficulties existed until the autumn of 1833,
when the Board was so fortunate as to secure the services of an engineer
very eminent in his line, and whose entire success in works of the kind
elsewhere, gave assurance of a similar result here. Mr. Albert Stein
had constructed water works at Richmond and Lynchburg, Va., and also at
Nashville, Tenn. From gentlemen of the highest respectability in
those cities, we received accounts, that those works had been completed by
Mr. Stein entirely to the satisfaction of the watering committees, and
within the estimates as first made. That distinguished engineer, the
late Mr. Telford of London, had given his opinion of his abilities, and
the Board, judging what Mr. Stein could do, by what he had
done, authorized his engagement.
1838 Letter from Albert Stein to Henry Hitchcock concerning Mobile Water Works, January 29, 1838 (included in 1859 Ordinances, below)
1840 Agreement between the City of Mobile and Albert Stein, December 26, 1840. (Included in 1859 Ordinances, below)
1843 The Commercial Bank of New Orleans v. Albert Stein, 4 La. 189, March 20, 1843, Supreme Court of Louisiana
1843 A
Memoir of the Construction, Cost, and Capacity of the Croton Aqueduct:
Compiled from Official Documents : Together with an Account of the
Civic Celebration of the Fourteenth October, 1842, on Occasion of the
Completion of the Great Work : Preceded by a Preliminary Essay on
Ancient and Modern Aqueducts by Charles King
Page 82: Richmond, the capital of Virginia, derives water from the
James river by works planned by Mr. Albert Stein, who was among the
engineers originally employed to survey the courses of, and make estimates
for, the Croton Aqueduct.
An engine house 56 feet long and 58 wide, built of stone, on the banks of
the river, cover two wheel pits and two pumps, constructed like those at
the Fairmount works.
The water-wheels are of cast iron, with the exception of the buckets and
soling, 18 feet in diameter to the point of the buckets, 10 feet wide
between the shroudings, and 14 inches depth of shrouding. The cast iron
shaft of the water-wheel is 10 inches in diameter in the journals, and 16
feet 6 inches long.
The head and fall of the water is 10 feet. Each pump is calculated to
raise in 24 hours, 400,000 gallons into the reservoir 160 feet above the
pump. The reservoir will contain one million gallons, and is divided into
four apartments, two of which are for filtering.
Pages 134-135: The Commissioners then proceed to present a synopsis of the
report made by Mr. Douglas, Mr. Martineau, and Mr. Cartwright, as well as
the results of information obtained by them from Mr. A. Stein, relating to
the route, modes of construction, and cost thereof, of an aqueduct from
the Croton, that on all hands being adopted as the only advisable plan. As
in a subsequent part of this Memoir, we shall have occasion to detail with
some minuteness, the particulars, on all these heads, of the route finally
adopted and perfected, our readers will feel that analagous details here
would be superfluous.
Page 161: On 5th September, 1833, Major Douglas guaged the river,
and found 51,522,486 gallons running; and on 26th of the same month, Mr.
Stein found 50,074,044 gallons. These were considered as fair averages of
what may be depended on—though at times the Croton rolls to the Hudson
several hundred million gallons daily. But over and above the running
supply, the Croton lake created by the dam, is estimated to contain
100,000,000 gallons for each foot in depth from the surface, and this may
be drawn down five or six feet, yielding as many hundred million gallons.
The receiving reservoir will contain 158 millions of gallons, and the
distributing reservoir 19 millions—altogether forming an aggregate
surplus, in case of excessive and long continued drought, sufficient for
any possible emergency.
1859 "Acts, Correspondence and Contracts for the Mobile City Water-Works," from The code of ordinances of the city of Mobile, with the charter and an appendix by Alexander McKinstry
1860 "An Important Decision," The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee), April 20, 1860, Page 2.
1860 Daily
Confederation (Mobile, Alabama), April 22, 1860, Page 3.
An Important Decision.--The long pending suit of the State of Alabama vs.
Albert Stein, accused of "supplying the citizens of Mobile with poisonous
water," called in our Court some time ago and venue changed to Baldwin
county, was closed before Judge Rapier on Thursday, and the defendant
found guilty and fined $2,000--the highest penalty allowed by the
statute. We learn from parties who were in attendance at the trial,
that the water of the Mobile Waterworks, of which Mr. S. is the
proprietor, along with water taken from a brook in Baldwin county, was
subjected to a chemical analysis before the jury, and that the effect
produced upon the Waterworks water was exactly the same as upon the brook
water after dropping a handful of shot into it. Proof was also
received of the poisonous qualities of lead. Another point proved,
as we learn from the same source, was, that in all cities into which water
has been introduced through pipes, iron pipes are used a leading pipes
universally, while the Mobile Waterworks have, in a great number of
instances, used lead pipes for leads.
Another suit, Same vs. Same, for non-fulfillment of contract to supply a
sufficient quantity of water for extinguishing fires, was called and laid
over on account of absence of witnesses.
R. H. Smith and R. B. Armistead, Esqs., for the State; Dargan & Taylor
for the defense.-- Mobile Advertiser.
1861 Stein
v. The State, 37 Ala. 123, February 23, 1861, Supreme Court of
Alabama.
"The theory of the law is, that a criminal intent is a necessary
ingredient of every indictable offense. The furnishing of poisoned
water is not, of itself, a crime: the criminality of the act
depends upon the question, whether it was furnished with a knowledge of
the poisonous quality; knowledge is an ingredient of the offense, and
must be averred."
1874 Albert Stein Grave
1887 Stein v. Bienville Water-Supply Co., 32 Fed Rep 876, Circuit Court, S.D. Alabama (December 3, 1887)
1888 Stein v. Bienville Water-Supply Co., 34 Fed Rep 145, Circuit Court, S.D. Alabama (March 7, 1888)
1891 Stein, et al. v. Gordon et al., 92 Ala. 532, Supreme Court of Alabama (April 16, 1891)
1891 Stein v Bienville Water Company, 141 U.S. 67, United States Supreme Court, (May 11, 1891)
1897 Stein, et al. v. McGrath, 116 Ala. 593, November Term, 1897, Supreme Court of Alabama
1906 McGrath, et al. v. Stein, et al., 148 Ala. 370, 42 So. Rep. 454, November 22, 1906, Supreme Court of Alabama
1973 History of Water Supply of the Mobile
Area, Alabama, by Joseph F. Ricco and Conrad A. Gazzier,
Circular 92, Geological Survey of Alabama | Text
enabled pdf |
Pages 16-17: The proposition was accepted by the city. And as a
result, [Henry] Hitchcock engaged an engineer, Albert Stein of New
Orleans, who submitted a report to him dated January 29, 1838, concerning
the introduction of water from Three Mile Creek into the city of Mobile.
It was 1840 before the city met with any success with its public water
system. On December 26, 1840, the city of Mobile entered into a contract
with Albert Stein which, in effect, gave him a franchise to supply the
city with water for 20 years. Further, the contract provided that Stein
deliver water to the city within 2 years. Also, that at the expiration of
the 20 years, the value of the works constructed should be detennined by 6
arbitrators and the amount determined paid Stein by the city or any time
thereafter when the works would become the property of the city of Mobile.
All pipe on hand and that already installed were to be purchased by Stein
from the city at the price they could be delivered at Mobile at the time
of purchase.
On January 7, 1841, the agreement between the city of Mobile and Albert
Stein was confirmed by the State legislature.
Stein, born in Dusseldorf, Germany, in either 1785 or 1786, was employed
by Napoleon as a hydraulic engineer. He came to Cincinnati in 1817 and
founded the water works for that city, and in the ensuing years
established systems in Lynchburg· and Richmond, Virginia; Nashville,
Tennessee; and "engineered" the canal construction from Dayton to
Cincinnati, Ohio. He arrived in New Orleans in 1832 and established their
public water system and served as an engineer on channel improvements
until he moved to Mobile in the latter part of 1840.
1996 Pipe Dreams: Commercial Bank of New Orleans v. Albert Stein, Waterworks Engineer, by Carolyn Kolb
2001 Water
for Gotham: A History, by Gerard T. Koeppel
Page 166: The over-abundant and expensive Croton could hardly be
needed with the cheap and ample Bronx close at hand, argued the Mirror,
fearful of heavy new taxes on its wealthy readers. The commissioners' only
response was consulting with Albert Stein, a German-born engineer who had
just completed a water supply for Nashville; with the commissioners in
tow, Stein conducted gauges of the Croton in September and prepared a
brief supportive report.
2006 At the Confluence of Science and Power: Water Struggles of New Orleans in the Nineteenth Century, by Carolyn Kolb, University of New Orleans, Dissertation in Urban History
2011 "Albert
Stein," by Greg O'Brien, from the Encyclopedia of Alabama
© 2018 Morris A. Pierce