The Waterworks Museum is a museum in the Chestnut Hill Waterworks building, originally a high-service pumping station of the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Metropolitan Waterworks. It contains well-preserved mechanical engineering devices in a

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

building. During its busiest years, the waterworks pumped as much as a hundred million gallons of water each day. The station was decommissioned in the 1970s, and later some of its buildings were turned into condominiums. After a period of disuse, the pumping station was restored, and in 2007 the Waterworks Preservation Trust was set up to oversee its conversion into a museum. In March 2011, the building reopened to the public as the Waterworks Museum.

History

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. 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 The Fisher Hill Reservoir and Gatehouse are historic elements of the public water supply for the Greater Boston area. History The reservoir was located on Fisher Avenue between Hyslop and Channing Roads in Brookline, Massachusetts, and is now the ...

, where gravity would then push the water to the surrounding area. In 1894, the station put its third water pump into operation: a steam-powered water pump designed by Erasmus Darwin Leavitt. The

Leavitt-Riedler Pumping Engine The Leavitt-Riedler Pumping Engine (1894) is a historic steam engine located in the former Chestnut Hill High Service Pumping Station, in Boston, Massachusetts. It has been declared a historic mechanical engineering landmark by the American Societ ...

, 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 The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

. It was fully restored by the museum and is the centerpiece of its main floor.

Trivia

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three ...

filmed part of his 1992 "

You Gotta Believe ''You Gotta Believe'' is the second and final studio album by American hip hop group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, released on September 15, 1992. The album peaked at number 67 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. Two singles were released from the ...

" in the basement of the building. The building contains the stonework faces of its designer,

Arthur H. Vinal Arthur H. Vinal (July 1, 1855 – August 25, 1923) was an American architect who lived and worked in Boston, Massachusetts. Vinal was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, on July 1, 1855, to Howard Vinal and Clarissa J. Wentworth. Vinal apprenticed at ...

, and his wife.

Gallery

Chestnut Hill Pumping Station - HAER MA-24 - 076452pu.jpg Chestnut Hill Pumping Station - HAER MA-24 - 076453pu.jpg Chestnut Hill Pumping Station - HAER MA-24 - 076456pu.jpg Great Engines Hall, Metropolitan Waterworks Museum-9336.jpg Waterworks Museum (85472)bw.jpg Waterworks Museum - defunct Chestnut Hill Pumping Station (85495s)bw.jpg Worthington Engine, Chestnut Hill Pumping Station.jpg Leavitt-Riedler eng.jpeg

References

External links

* * * *{{HAER , survey=MA-24-B , id=ma1245 , title=Boston Water Works, Worthington Pump , photos=3 , data=1 , cap=1 , link=no Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts Historic American Engineering Record in Massachusetts Museums in Boston

History

Trivia

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links