The Chillicothe Water and Power Company Pumping Station is a historic building on the northern side of Chillicothe,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. A

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

structure built in 1881, it was constructed to house the city's

waterworks Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...

and

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

. Its architecture and its location in

Yoctangee Park Yoctangee Park is a public park in Chillicothe, Ohio, adjacent to the Historic First Capital District. City Park was the official name of the park from its establishment in 1875 until it was changed to Yoctangee Park sometime in the 1890s by Willi ...

was chosen specifically in order to beautify the park as well as to have a location near other elements of the city's first waterworks, which were built at the same time as the pumping station.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 2. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 1215-1216. From 1881 to 1882, Chillicothe constructed a water supply system; among the elements of this system were a well, a massive

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

, the pumping station in Yoctangee Park, and water mains to supply all parts of the city. A single- story building with a two-and-a- story tower, it is a brick structure with a foundation of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

and a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

roof. By the late 1970s, Chillicothe had erected a new waterworks, and its electricity was supplied by other sources; consequently, the old building was abandoned. Ideas were proposed for its renovation and

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

: plans were laid for its conversion into a

community center Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

, and it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

late in 1979. Key to its designation as a historic site was its historic architecture, primarily because of its construction as an "ornament" for Yoctangee Park. Today, the pumping station has been converted into an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

, the Pump House Center for the Arts.Pump House Center for the Arts: About Us
, Pump House Center for the Arts, 2010. Accessed 2010-09-13.

References

External links

*
Pump House Center for the Arts
{{NRHP in Ross County, Ohio Energy infrastructure completed in 1881 Arts centers in Ohio Buildings and structures in Chillicothe, Ohio Former power stations in Ohio Gothic Revival architecture in Ohio Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Ross County, Ohio Sandstone buildings in the United States Tourist attractions in Ross County, Ohio Water supply infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places Water supply pumping stations in the United States Former pumping stations 1881 establishments in Ohio