The Metropolitan Water Works Museum Redux

April 28, 2024

A reliable water supply of potable water is essential to sustainable life in America.

In the 1850s, Boston began modernizing its water supply, which at the time was a combination of wells, pond water, and downhill piping from a Natick reservoir.^[3]

"The water for the Metropolitan Waterworks originally came from Lake Cochituate in Natick, MA. In 1906, it started coming from the Wachusett Reservoir in Clinton and later it came all the way from the Quabbin Reservoir  some 65 miles to West of the metropolitan waterworks facility in Chestnut Hill, MA," says Gerard McMahon, Facilities Manager of the Waterworks Museum in Chestnut Hill, MA at 355 Chestnut Hill Ave., Brighton, MA.

NOTE: Be sure to read the comment below by Eric Peterson, Executive Director of the Waterworks Museum

The Richardson Romanesque building was designed Erasmus Darwin Leavitt

In 1886, this 'high service' pumping station was designed by Erasmus Darwin Leavitt., and the next year it came online as the Chestnut Hill pumping station where it stands today at 355 Chestnut Hill Ave., Brighton, MA. Richardson's utilitarian aesthetic architectural style stands across from the Chestnut Hill Reservoir abutting Boston College at 355 Chestnut Hill Ave., Brighton, MA

From Wikipedia...

In the 1870s, Boston city leaders decided the city needed to scale up its water filtration and pumping and began looking into options.

In 1886, this 'high service' pumping station was designed, and the next year it came online as the Chestnut Hill pumping station - only a few years after the first such station in the world, in Germany. Water was pumped from this station uphill to the Fisher Hill reservoir, where gravity would then push the water to the surrounding area.^[7]

In 1894, the station put its third water pump into operation: a steam-powered water pump designed by Erasmus Darwin Leavitt.^[3] The Leavitt-Riedler Pumping Engine, as it was later called, was promoted as "the most efficient pumping engine in the world" it was first unveiled, and remained in operation through 1928. In the 20th century it was declared a historic mechanical engineering landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.^[8] It was fully restored by the museum and is the centerpiece of its main floor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavitt-Riedler_Pumping_Engine

Leavitt-Riedler Pumping Engine at Chestnut Hill Waterworks Museum. one of several examples of elegant designs by Boston architects.

Richardson's architecture style....form and function.

Behind the Waterworks building...

.

Towering smoke stack...

Towering smoke stack...

Stately architecture, 355 Chestnut Hill Ave., Brighton, MA.

Form and function...

..
Master bricklayers, stonemasons and machinists took pride in their work...

Embodied by this historic landmark they created at 355 Chestnut Hill Ave., Brighton, MA.

Design, fabrication, creativity, imagination and skill all employed to create the immense machinery to move water for miles.

355 Chestnut Hill Ave., Brighton, MA.

Reminiscent of the photography of Charles Sheeler https://www.ebay.com/itm/185849526053?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1LHd_8PaoT6uPZm-ONTWhjw45&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=185849526053&targetid=1585159291611&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9002064&poi=&campaignid=19894961968&mkgroupid=148855406073&rlsatarget=pla-1585159291611&abcId=9307911&merchantid=101679609&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoZG22ZfphgMVwl9HAR1ehQ8AEAQYASABEgJnvvD_BwE

 

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-photography-of-charles-sheeler-american-modernist/3212807/item/64081939/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=low_vol_f%2fm%2fs_standard_shopping_customer_aquisition&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=688842569242&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvOrewq3phgMVdFlHAR2ayg50EAQYASABEgL-xfD_BwE#idiq=64081939&edition=7833688

Photos of Waterworks Museum by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Comments

[Eric Peterson, Executive Director of the Waterworks Museum]

Comment by Eric Peterson, Executive Director of the Waterworks Museum

A reliable supply of potable water is essential for sustaining life. This was certainly the case in colonial Boston, which initially relied upon the existence of ‘the Great Spring’ located in the vicinity of today’s Financial District. Accessing this water through wells and moving it around with wooden pipes, worked for more than a century. But as the town grew into a city, that supply diminished and became polluted. A larger, cleaner source of water became necessary and desperate citizens pressured city officials to do something. After much debate, a viable source was found fifteen miles outside the city near the town of Natick. Water from Long Pond, today known as Lake Cochituate, was first delivered downhill to thirsty citizens via an underground aqueduct completed in 1848. In less than 50 years this proved to be inadequate, so a massive civil engineering project was undertaken to create the Wachusett Reservoir northwest of Worcester. Even this was not enough for a fully developed Boston, so another huge watershed was created some sixty miles from the city. Today the 400-billion-gallon Quabbin Reservoir provides drinking water for nearly three million Massachusetts residents.

In the late 19th century, before the Wachusett Reservoir became necessary, Boston erected a state-of-the-art facility along the shoreline of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, which had served as a water storage area since 1870. The Chestnut Hill High Service Pumping Station was designed to augment the downhill flow of water into Boston by pumping some of it to another nearby Reservoir on Fisher Hill, where it was able to reach areas of higher elevation around Boston that were then being developed. To emphasize the importance of this facility, the City Architect at that time, Arthur Vinal, deployed an amazing fresh style of architecture created by his mentor and predecessor, H. H. Richardson. The approach that became known as Richardsonian-Romanesque blended references to European techniques with the use of local materials. It was wildly popular, and many municipal buildings, libraries and churches were constructed in this style. The magnificent Chestnut Hill High Service Pumping Station celebrated Boston’s wealth and sophistication during its Golden Age. Inside were technologically advanced steam-powered pumps that delivered water to waves of immigrants that settled among Boston’s hills. When the Quabbin Reservoir finally began supplying water to the city, the pumping station became obsolete and it was eventually decommissioned in the mid-1970’s. Abandoned for more than 20 years, it survived demolition by being repurposed as a residential condominium community. Yet, surrounded by fancy apartments, a kernel of the original facility survives, in the form of the Metropolitan Waterworks Museum.