Madison County History and Genealogy

History and Genealogy



History of Madison County


The London Waterworks


From History of Madison County, Ohio, Chester E. Bryan, Supervising Editor, B.F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis (1915)

The first reference found to a waterworks plant in London is when the London Waterworks Company submitted to the village council a contract for a franchise to lay water mains in the streets of the village. The council referred the contract to a committee composed of C. D. Rayburn, Edward Armstrong and William Neil, and later voted to submit the proposition to the voters of the village for their decision, which was done on August 23, 1884, with the result that three hundred and sixty-three votes were cast against the proposition and one hundred and eighty-one for it.

The waterworks proposition then lay dormant for about five years, when, after much agitation and public discussion, the council, on July 26, 1889, passed "An ordinance to submit to the qualified voters of the incorporated village of London the question of ratifying the contract between John P. Martin and assigns and the incorporated village of London for supplying water to London and its inhabitants for fire and other purposes, dated the 26th day of July, A. D. 1889, as therein set forth, and contingently upon the satisfactory ratification of said contract, granting to the said John P. Martin and assigns the right to lay, relay and maintain in and under the streets, lanes and alleys and public grounds of said village, water mains for the purpose of conveying water to said corporation and the citizens thereof." The contract to be voted upon called upon John P. Martin and his assigns "to supply the corporation for fire purposes, cisterns, streets, squares and public buildings, citizens for private use; the system to be of a combination of the standpipe and pumping, capable of being operated as either; mains to embrace eleven miles of from four to fourteen-inch pipe; to erect and maintain one hundred double-delivery, frost-proof fire hydrants, two duplicate steam pumps with a daily capacity of one million five hundred thousand gallons; two steam boilers, building for a pump house and boiler-room, a standpipe one hundred and twenty five feet high and inside diameter of twenty feet." This proposal was voted on by the voters of the town on August 26, 1889, and was ratified by a vote of four hundred and sixty-nine to two hundred and thirty-nine.

Before the ratification vote had taken place, Martin, on August 13, had obtained a sixty-day option on the famous Lohr artesian wells. However, some trouble arose, and the Lohr wells were not used. A well that was intended to be used was drilled on the bottom land of J. C. Bridgman, but this well proved unsatisfactory and the well was sold to Mr. Bridgman. It was several months before the wells were finally located. Work began on the waterworks plant immediately, and in the early part of August, 1889, Councilman Lenhart was the first to break the ground, and Councilman Bridgman the first to use the shovel in the trenches at the station below Placier's mill.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLANT

The water-plant is located on a ten-and-one-half-acre tract, three squares west of the court house on West High street, facing the Big Four railroad tracks. The most noticeable feature of the plant is the mammoth standpipe, which towers upward one hundred and twenty-five feet. The first ground broken was for the foundation of this pipe, which is eight feet thick and thirty-eight feet in diameter. In the foundation were placed eight hundred barrels of cement to solidify the broken stone into a monster stone of two hundred and fifty cubic yards. The base is above the high-water mark. The standpipe is made of rolled steel, the lower plates being five-eighths of an inch and the upper three-eighths of an inch in thickness. It has a diameter of twenty feet, with a capacity of two hundred and ninety-five thousand gallons, and its height gives a pressure through the mains of fifty-five pounds to the square inch.

The water-mains running from the plant embrace about eleven miles of the best cast-iron pipe of five to eleven inches in diameter. To these were attached one hundred and one double-delivery, frost-proof fire hydrants, so distributed by order of the council as to protect every dwelling house in London with the aid of two hundred feet of hose. The pipes were laid by R. B. Carothers, of Newport, Kentucky, and were furnished by the Addystone Pipe and Steel Company, of Cincinnati.

There were three wells driven. Well No. 1, from which the temporary supply of water for testing the mains and standpipe was taken, is seventy feet deep and flows within three feet of the surface. This well was tested to the capacity of eight hundred thousand gallons daily with no apparent decrease in the volume of flow. Well No. 2 was the startling wonder, spouting water in a large stream twenty-seven feet above the surface. It is one hundred and fifty-six feet deep, and is supplied with a sixteen foot screen to prevent sand from mixing with its flow. Around it is built a stone reservoir, with cemented bottom, thirty-one feet in diameter and sixteen feet deep, with a capacity of one hundred thousand gallons of water. Over this was placed a twelve sided building with a pagoda roof. Windows give a good view of the flowing well and cistern. Well No. 3 flowed six hundred thousand gallons of fine water daily when tested. Its depth is one hundred and sixty-five feet, and flows a five-and-one-half-inch stream twelve feet above the surface of the ground. A mammoth cistern forty-three feet in diameter and twenty feet deep, with a capacity of two hundred thousand gallons, stores the water. This cistern was covered with a water-tight floor, except in an eighteen-foot building supported on iron pillars. On the inside of this structure was placed a three-foot walkway supplied with railing and balcony, from which visitors can see the wonderful and capacious cistern.

The pumping station is a neat, brick building built on a ten-foot stone foundation, forty feet square, with an ornamental slate roof and practically fireproof. The smoke stack is sixty-five feet high, built of octagon pressed brick. The power is supplied by one complex-compound pumping engine of one million two hundred thousand gallons daily capacity and one duplex engine of eight hundred gallons daily capacity. These pumps are of the Gordon make (Hamilton, Ohio), and were furnished by the Boughen Engine Company, of Cincinnati. The boiler-room has two fifty-four-inch, twelve-foot steel boilers, filled by a strong pump of the same manufacture as the others. Armstrong Brothers furnished the boilers The pumps are so arranged that one or both can be used, likewise the boilers. Ordinary service pressure is generated by the standpipe. In case of fire, the pressure can be increased to two hundred pounds per square inch by means of the Steam pumps if necessary.

FAILURE OF MUNICIPALIZATION PLAN

The waterworks plant was opened on Thursday, December 12, 1890, by a big celebration, consisting of a long parade, showing the various industries of the town. The board of trade presented John P. Martin, the builder of the plant, with an elegant gold beaded ebony cane.

At an adjourned meeting of the council on the night of Tuesday, December 16, 1890, a proposition was presented to that body and an ordinance passed looking toward the purchase from John P. Martin of the water-plant just completed, with all its appurtenances for the sum of one hundred and forty thousand dollars, subject to the approval of the voters at a special election called for Monday, January 12, 1891. If the proposition was approved by the people, the clerk and mayor were to issue one hundred and forty bonds of one thousand dollars each, payable in thirty years from date, with five per cent. interest, and redeemable in ten years in blocks of twenty thousand on six months' notice. The rules were suspended and this ordinance was read three times and passed, every member of the council but one voting for it.

At once a great popular "howl" arose, and a mass, or indignation, meeting was called for the following Wednesday evening in Toland hall, at which meeting S. W. Durflinger presided as chairman. The members of the council met the same evening and made a move toward undoing their action of the night before. A resolution was introduced repealing the Ordinance calling for a Special election. It was given. One reading and adjournment was taken until Thursday night, at which adjourned session the ordinance was given a second reading and was laid over until nine o'clock, Friday morning, January 19, 1891, at which time it was repealed.

The waterworks people took steps to force the mayor and council to call the special election, but their application for a writ of mandamus was overruled by the court.

Another artesian well was driven in September, 1894, by John Calkins, of Newton Falls, Ohio, to the depth of one hundred and seventy-five feet, of eight-inch pipe. It tested eighty-five thousand gallons capacity for twenty-four hours. In June, 1895, another well was put down.

About 1897, a fire broke out in the Gould planing mill that threatened to wipe out the whole village. The firemen claimed they were almost powerless to resist the flames, because of the very low pressure in the water mains. At its next meeting following the village council notified the water company and later refused to use the water from the fire plugs or pay the water bills. In 1900 the water company sued the corporation for water rent and damages. After a hard-fought period of litigation the case was compromised with a judgment against the village in favor of the water company. On August 23, 1901, an ordinance was introduced before the council to sell seven seven thousand-dollar bonds to pay the claim. This ordinance was passed and the bonds were sold on October 18, 1901, to M. H. White, of Shepherd, Michigan, at a premium of six hundred and ninety-seven dollars. Other bonds were issued later to cover the remainder and the judgment was paid off.

In 1899 C. P. Fisher was made the Superintendent of the London waterworks. In April, 1905, the waterworks at Washington C. H., owned by the same company, was also placed under his charge, and Mr. Fisher is at present superintendent of both of these plants.


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