The City of Beloit Waterworks and Pump Station was built in 1885 in

Beloit, Wisconsin Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 36,657 people. History Twelve men in Colebrook, New Hampshire, created the "New England Emigrating Company" in October 1836 and sen ...

just below a hill on top of which sits the Beloit Water Tower. It was added to 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 artist ...

in 1990. Beloit was first settled in 1836, and the city incorporated in 1856. In those early years, fire fighters had to draw water from private wells and cisterns, which were often inadequate, resulting in lost buildings. Also,

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

and

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over severa ...

were around, transmitted through contaminated water. Both problems could be addressed by a public waterworks system. Many agreed on that, but they debated whether it should a public project owned by the city, or a private for-profit venture. with About 1885, two of the city's manufacturing companies expanded: the Eclipse Wind Engine Company (later

Fairbanks-Morse Fairbanks, Morse and Company was an American manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, coffee grinders, radios, farm tractors, ...

), and the Beloit Iron Works. With those factories and the accompanying population growth, the citizens approved a privately-owned water utility, with the city paying a tax for use of fire hydrants and the public paying a charge per faucet. The Beloit Water Company was formed, and built the pump station which is the subject of this article. In 1885 the company built the pump station and the concrete reservoir. The reservoir is 40 feet by 115 feet by three feet high, built into the hill. The station is 1.5 stories with a clipped gable roof. Walls are red brick with shallow segmental arches above most windows. The main entrance is protected by a shed-roofed porch supported by columns. A balcony originally protruded above and beside the porch, but that has been removed. The roof was originally covered with slate. Originally the interior was divided into a pump room on the west, a boiler room in the middle, and a room for coal storage on the east. The Beloit Water Company also laid over seven miles of mains and installed 72 hydrants on both sides of the

Rock River Rock River may refer to: Streams ;United States * Rock River (Mississippi River), a tributary of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin and Illinois * Rock River (Iowa), a tributary of the Big Sioux River in Minnesota and Iowa * Rock River (Lake Mich ...

. The octagonal stone water tower up the hill was added to the system in 1889. It supported a 100,000 gallon

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the la ...

tank which held the water. With that, the pumping station could periodically feed water into the tank, and gravity supplied constant water pressure from the tank to homes and businesses. When there was a fire, the pumping station fed directly into the mains and hydrants to supply the fire-fighting equipment more than twice the pressure of the water tower. In 1927 the metal water tower was built to replace the old stone and wood one. Taller than the old one, it provided water at 80 pounds per square inch as compared to 50 before. At about the same time the new pump shed was added to the complex. The NRHP nomination considers the waterworks complex significant as "the only remaining unaltered public service building in Beloit form the 19th century." It is also a symbol of the early community coming together to provide fire protection and improve the health of all citizens.

References

Buildings and structures in Beloit, Wisconsin Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Water supply pumping stations on the National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Rock County, Wisconsin {{Wisconsin-NRHP-stub