The Florence Water Works is located along John J. Pershing Drive in the Florence neighborhood of

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

. Home of the Minne Lusa Pumping Station, the Water Works has provided water throughout the city of Omaha since 1880.

History

The Florence Water Works was constructed in 1879 and finished in 1880 by the City Water Works Company, a private venture owned locally. That company defaulted on its loans, and in 1887, it was purchased by the

American Water Works Company American Water is an American public utility company that, through its subsidiaries, provides water and wastewater services in the United States. It offers water and wastewater services to approximately 1,700 communities in 14 states serving a po ...

. American operated private water companies in many cities, including

South Omaha South Omaha is a former city and current district of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. During its initial development phase the town's nickname was "The Magic City" because of the seemingly overnight growth, due to the rapid development of the Union S ...

and

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. American started construction on the Minne Lusa Pumping Station that year, and it was opened by Mayor

James Dahlman James Charles Dahlman (December 15, 1856 – January 21, 1930), also known as Jim Dahlman, Cowboy Jim and Mayor Jim, was elected to eight terms as mayor of Omaha, Nebraska, serving the city for 20 years over a 23-year-period. A German-America ...

on August 1, 1889. A private owner took control of the local operations in late 1895, reopening the business as the Omaha Water Works. American provided ice produced from Missouri River water and distributed throughout the region. The Metropolitan Utilities District (MUD) was founded in 1913, and was intended to consolidate the city's utility services under public control. However, MUD faced severe opposition from American, which refused to sell their interest. The city persisted their case, eventually taking the case to the United States federal courts. After a federal ruling in their favor in 1916, MUD acquired the works. It continued to produce ice for several years. In 1917, the City of Florence reported to the

Nebraska State Legislature The Nebraska Legislature (also called the Unicameral) is the legislature of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The Legislature meets at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln. With 49 members, known as "senators", the Nebraska Legislature is the small ...

that it was unable to pay its

bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemical ...

s due to the loss of tax receipts from the privately owned American Water Works. This effectively bankrupted the town, and it was annexed by the City of Omaha the following year.

Description

Operated by the Metropolitan Utilities District, the Water Works operates the intakes and pumps that draw water from the Missouri River for the city. It is the site of a chlorination plant, sedimentation and storage basins, and a filter plant that has a daily capacity of 72 million gallons. An intake station sits on the opposite side of J.J. Pershing Drive at the edge of the Missouri. The entire site is screened by trees.(1947
"Omaha from the Air,"
''

Omaha World-Herald The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...

''. Retrieved 8/27/10.

References

External links

Historic photo of drainage basins

1907 photographic post card
{{Omaha History of Omaha, Nebraska Infrastructure completed in 1888 Water treatment facilities Former buildings and structures in Omaha, Nebraska Water supply pumping stations in the United States Water supply infrastructure in Nebraska 1888 establishments in Nebraska

History

Description

See also

References

External links