HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

This is the first of a three-part history of Boston’s water supply. First up is the early history of water in Boston, from its reliance on natural springs to the construction of the first aqueduct. We’ll compare today’s pure, plentiful drinking water to the challenges that early Bostonians faced in obtaining clean water. First, we’ll look at natural springs, hand-dug wells, and cisterns in early Boston, but as the city grew, these sources became increasingly scarce and polluted. Then we’ll talk about new technologies at the turn of the 19th century, such as drilled artesian wells and the Boston Aqueduct, which brought water from Jamaica Pond into the city. However, these new technologies were controlled by private companies, only providing water to the wealthiest Bostonians, leaving most residents desperate for a new, public source of water in the mid-19th century. Later episodes will explore the near-miracle that introducing a public water supply from the Cochituate reservoir represented and the engineering marvel of our modern Quabbin reservoir.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/292/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

• Big thanks to Morris A. Pierce of the University of Rochester, for compiling the Documentary History of American Water-works.
• 1794 act incorporating the Boston Aqueduct Corporation
• Corporate records of the Aqueduct Corporation
• Boston selectmen approve piping water to Long Wharf in 1797
• Description of the drilled well on Long Wharf in the Journal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers.
• Our past episode about the well on Long Wharf
• Canavan paper presented at the Colonial Society of Massachusetts in 1907
• Massachusetts Water Resources Authority wins “Best of the Best” Water Taste Test
• MWRA Water Given “People’s Choice Award” at New England Water Works Association Conference
• MWRA Receives Public Water System Award from Mass DEP
• Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, 2008 Platinum Award for Utility Excellence
• Eden on the Charles: The Making of Boston, Michael Rawson
• City Water, City Life: Water and the Infrastructure of Ideas in Urbanizing Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago, Carl Smith
• The Crooked & Narrow Streets of the Town of Boston, 1630-1822, Annie Haven Thwing