USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 24
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of water in and about said village, from Coldbrook, from the lake or lakes from which it has its source, or either of them, and from no other source." This charter was very comprehensive in the powers which it granted to the company, giving the right to enter upon and use streets, lands and springs in and about the village, as might be requisite for its legitimate work, and moreover its franchises were given substantially in perpetuity.
The Hydraulic Company's charter was drawn by Solomon L. Withey, who became a member of the company, and its first meeting was held, June 20, 1849, at which time its organization was completed by the election of officers. Canton Smith was its first president, and its stock books were opened for subscription, June 22, 1849. Having reached the limit of its supply, while the demand was steadily increas- ing, the company began to look about for more water. This they obtained from springs a little south of Wealthy street and east of Jefferson, laying logs from that locality to Fulton street, and thence toward the river. They then had a fairly adequate supply for the residents along their lines, and that portion of the then business part of the town west of Division and south of Pearl street. But the city continued to grow, while the springs did not, and more water must be had. The company went still further south and gathered the out- flow from several springs on what was then called the "Penney eighty." About 1854 Christopher Kusterer and John Mangold began the use of a large spring between Michigan and Hastings, a little east of Ottawa street, as a source of water supply for domestic use. Prev- iously, at a very early day, a portion of the stream from that spring had been carried down Michigan street to a watering trough in front of the old Bridge Street House, and this for years made an excellent watering place for horses. In the summer of 1855 the council gave permission to the proprietors of the Bridge Street House and Western Hotel to lay pipes from the spring mentioned for their own use. Kusterer and Mangold, under a franchise obtained in 1859 from the council, after having constructed a reservoir in which they collected the waters from this and other contiguous springs, laid pump logs down Michigan street and through Kent alley to Lyon street; also to and along by the buildings on the west side of old Canal street, as far south as Huron, and down old Canal street to near Pearl, giving to the residents thus reached a fair supply of excellent water for domestic use. Neither they nor the Hydraulic company had sufficient pressure to carry water much above the second floors of buildings even on the lower levels. Only wooden pipes or logs were used until 1857, when upon the first paving of Monroe street, the Hydraulic company laid a small iron main down that thoroughfare.
In 1864, Amos Roberts, Warren P. Mills, James Lyman and Joseph Penney became stockholders in the Grand Rapids Hydraulic Company. The total stock subscription, Oct. 29 of that year, was $24,800. In 1870 the water rights of the Kusterer & Mangold Com- pany were by mutual arrangement merged in those of the Hydraulic Company. In 1872 the company undertook the construction of a deep reservoir upon ground purchased of Mr. Penney toward the south- eastern part of the city, in the hope of greatly increasing its supply. This was a large brick curb with a cast-iron shoe at the bottom, sunk to a depth of about thirty feet.
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But the increase in population in the city and the growing im- portance of its thriving industries made imperative the demand for a more ample water supply, and led to much discussion and many pro- posed plans. Actual progress toward the desired result was not made until 1873, various causes interfering to delay the project. A Board of Public Works had been created for the city, by an act passed in March, 1873, under whose control the subject of water supply and the construction of the necessary works was placed, after a general plan should have been submitted to the council. In July the Board submitted a plan, with the recommendation that $250,000 be raised for that purpose, and this was submitted to popular vote and adopted. The financial panic of that year delayed the work somewhat, but pipes were purchased, and before the first of December about two miles were laid down in Michigan, old Canal and Monroe streets, and connected with a small reservoir belonging to C. C. Comstock, on the brow of the hill, near Newberry street. Thus a temporary supply of water was obtained, adding considerably to the means for extinguishing fires. In the Spring of 1874 work was resumed, and in that year about eleven miles of the banded wood pipe known as the Wyckoff patent pipe was laid. The site for a reservoir, comprising about five and one-half acres, was purchased, and the reservoir constructed, at a total cost of $54,082.71. A site for the pumping house, on the bank of the river at the mouth of Coldbrook, was also purchased, and the building erect- ed that year. This ground included five lots, with 250 feet front on Monroe avenue by 186 feet on Coldbrook street. The choice of this site gave, in addition to the control of the water in Carrier creek, Cold- brook and Lamberton creek, access to Grand river, rendering it cer- tain that in no event would the city ever be short of water, at least as good as the river would afford.
The original pumping engines were designed by Demetrius Turner and constructed by Butterworth & Lowe, of Grand Rapids. The river water being considered unfit for use in summer, resort was had to Coldbrook and Carrier creeks, near their junction, about 1,900 feet east of the pumping works. The distribution at first included about twelve miles of pipe-about two miles being of cast iron and the rest of wood. The iron pipe was laid by Charles Peterson and the wood pipe by T. B. Farrington and H. A. Branch. Work done in 1874 on the city water works cost upward of $260,000, of which about $118,000 was for the pipe system. A published statement showed at the end of that year 10,389 feet of iron pipe laid, and 56,262 feet of wood pipe-about 12.7 miles in all. The wood pipes were kept in use about fourteen years, doing good service under strong pressure. The work during the year 1875, in addition to laying of pipes in the streets, included a pipe across the river for supplying the west side, and the purchase of ground for and the construction of a settling basin, the latter being located on Coldbrook, just above the crossing of the railroad track, where it is joined by Carrier creek. On Jan. I, 1876, the city had 99,668 feet of water mains laid. Attached to these were 199 public and several private hydrants, and 107 stop valves. The engineers estimated the cost of the works up to that time at about $341,000. In 1876, about three and a half miles of water mains were laid, and thirty-six hydrants. The amount expended upon the works that year was $29,328.
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From 1878, onward for several years, very little progress was made in improving the city water works, the chief labor and outlay being for their care and preservation. Various efforts were made to obtain funds to procure an increase of water supply, but all efforts were defeated for a period of about ten years. And the Hydraulic company did not make much addition to their water resources until 1886, when they procured a site near the east bank of the river, about three-fourths of a mile north of the city, where they sank a reservoir or well, and established a pumping house station. The city attempted to restrain and enjoin the Hydraulic company from further laying of water pipes within the city, but the Superior court decided in favor of the private corporation, in 1887, and its decision was affirmed by the State Supreme court. Up to the end of 1888 the Hydraulic com- pany had laid about fifteen miles of iron mains, and displaced all but three or four miles of the old wood pipes. They had also erected at the corner of Clinton and Newberry streets a stand pipe, 100 feet high and 20 feet in diameter.
After having defeated, four times in succession, the proposition of enlarging and extending the municipal plant, in 1888 the citizens of Grand Rapids seem to have experienced a radical change in their ideas, and on Aug. 7 of that year the electors voted-yeas 2,799; nays 946-in favor of procuring by loan $150,000 to extend the mains and improve the water supply. Bonds to that amount were issued, and from this sale $168,348.35 was realized. A contract was made for thirty-one miles of pipe, and thirteen miles were laid before the end of 1888. Other improvements made to the water system included a filtering crib in the center of the river, with a pipe from the crib to the pumping house well; also a new boiler house. A very important item was the cast iron main, sixteen inches in diameter and 600 feet long, laid across the river in 1886, near the pumping station. This took the place of an earlier and smaller one which had become value- less. The legislature, at the session of 1889, passed an act authorizing the city to borrow a sum not exceeding $80,000, issuing bonds there- for, to substitute iron pipe for the wooden pipe, for the erection of a standpipe, and for other improvements of the water works system. In accordance with a vote of the common council, bonds to the amount of $80,000 were issued and sold at a premium, and the proceeds were applied as designated in the act-the more important improvements being the replacing of the wood pipe with iron, the extension of the mains, the erection of a standpipe, and the construction of the filtering beds in the channel of Grand river, nearly opposite the pumping house. The later plans and work involved the abandonment of Coldbrook and Carrier creeks as sources of supply, the great growth of the city in that direction having too much contaminated their waters; and with them the settling basin also went out of the use for which it was made. In 1890 a standpipe of wrought iron, 30 feet in diameter and 75 feet high, was built on a lot purchased for that purpose, next to the reser- voir.
On Feb. 12, 1892, a bill of complaint for foreclosure was filed in the United States Circuit Court for the Western District of Michigan by the American Loan & Trust Company, of Massachusetts, against the officers of the Grand Rapids Hydraulic Company, and on
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April 25, 1893, Thomas J. O'Brien was appointed receiver by the Court. The company was then operated under the receivership until Oct. 23, 1906, when, with the consent of the parties interested, the property was returned to the management of the board of directors. At the session of the legislature, in 1905, a bill was passed repealing the act of 1849, incorporating the Grand Rapids Hydraulic Company, and providing for the allowance and payment of the claims of the company against the city for the value of its tangible property. The repealing act was attacked in the courts; was held valid by the deci- sion of Judge Perkins, May 7, 1907, and that decision was affirmed, July 13, 1908, by the State Supreme court, and by the United States Supreme Court, Dec. 12, 1910. Since the passage of the repeal- ing act negotiations have been entered into and have been prolonged, looking to the purchase of the tangible property of the Hydraulic company by the city. A proposition was finally made by the com- pany, offering to sell its interests to the city for $80,000. The ques- tion was submitted to the electors at the Spring election of 1917, but it was defeated by a vote of 10,737 nays to 6,506 yeas. The company is still engaged in business and is supplying water to its customers.
In 1893 a subsidence basin was excavated in the rock bottom of the river to a depth below the bottom of the pump-well, with walls built from the river bottom to a point above the surface of the ground about the station of the city water-works plant. The basin was built with a partition wall through the center longitudinally, so that one side could be cut out of service whenever it becomes necessary to re- move sediment from it, by closing gates, leaving the other side open for use. The basin was covered with a roof to prevent dust or for- eign material from getting into the water, as well as to protect the public against injury. The same year a larger conduit than the old one was found essential, and plans were adopted for excavating a new one which extended from the subsidence basin to the intake. The sides of the conduit were lined with masonry and an arch of stone work built, the arch being covered with concrete masonry. In con- nection with this work was the extension of Coldbrook and the cul- vert across the pump house grounds to the river. This connection was about 200 feet long. The river rock bed was cleared off, stone abutments built thereon upon a footing of concrete which extended entirely across the work. The last 100 feet toward the river was plastered with cement mortar, one inch thick, making the bottom where it passed over the new conduit and for a considerable distance each way as tight as a cistern. This arrangement placed the outfall of the creek culvert below the conduit, in the rapid current of the river. In addition to the items mentioned, there was a large quan- tity of earth deposited between the retaining wall and the subsidence basin and around the culvert.
In January, 1892, a Gaskill pump was purchased by the city at a cost of $48,000. For the year ending April 30, 1894, 887,839,831 gal- lons of water were pumped into the stand pipe. To meet the con- tinually increasing consumption of water the board, in 1895, erected a 15,000,000 Triple Expansion, High Duty Nordberg Pumping En- gine, which, when installed, together with the Gaskill pumping en- gine, transferred to the hill service, was able to furnish a daily supply
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of 23,000,000 gallons, a quantity anticipating the city's demands for a number of years. The large pumping engine was installed Sept. 5, 1895. To economically distribute the quantity thus used, it was nec- essary that an additional force main be placed on the hill service, re- mote sections of which were for a time poorly supplied, as well as to increase the standpipe to give additional pressure on that service, and a large main was laid to that section of the low service where the supply was inadequate. These required expenditures were neces- sary to supply the territory that was added to the city in 1891. Be- cause of the extremely cold weather in the winter of 1898-99 many water mains were frozen, and the following summer those which gave the most trouble were lowered. In 1898 the city commenced a policy of putting in meters for metering the water to residences. It was expected that this would result in reducing the amount of water pumped.
In 1899 the city employed two water experts of New York to ex- amine the water-works of the city and the conditions of the city and surrounding territory and report thereon. On Dec. 6, 1899, these ex- perts reported that the source of supply was ample in quantity, but that it was contaminated by sewage and manufacturing wastes, which rendered the water unsuitable for domestic use. The experts also re- ported that there was an insufficient pressure of water for fire pro- tection. Early in the morning of July 2, 1900, the city reservoir burst its walls to the south of the head of Livingston street and poured its contents of 6,000,000 gallons with a tremendous roar to the south and east and moved away nearly everything in its path. The pump- ing station had sent too much water into the reservoir, and with the break the flood swept down the hill east to Coldbrook Creek, which was soon swollen to the size of a great river. Houses and sidewalks were overturned and wrecked, trees and telephone poles were torn out of the earth, and Newberry street, Coit avenue, Clancy street, and Bradford street for many rods were torn up and completely wrecked. No lives were lost by the accident, but several were severely injured, and the loss in property was estimated at nearly $100,000. In the year 1902-3 two new boilers were installed at the pumping station at a cost of $3,500 and a steam header at a cost of $5,149.32. At the Spring election in 1903 $170,000 was voted for water-works extension. At the Spring election of 1907, in accordance with the recommendation of the Board of Public Works, there were submitted to the electors of the city the question of a water supply in three different forms : In favor of Lake Michigan water, in favor of Grand River water, fil- tered, and opposition to a bond issue for either Lake Michigan wa- ter or filtration of Grand River water. The election resulted as fol- lows: In favor of Lake Michigan water, 3,391; in favor of Grand River water, filtered, 1,779; opposition to a bond issue for either, 2,635. Thereupon, the question of issuing bonds, in the amount of $2,500,000, for the purpose of securing water from Lake Michigan, was submitted at a special election, held Sept. 17, 1907, but the prop- osition was defeated, receiving only 839 affirmative votes to 8,727 in the negative.
In March, 1909, the council authorized the purchase of one twelve-million-gallon vertical triple expansion pumping engine, and the same year a new pumping station was erected upon the site of the
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old one, at the corner of Monroe avenue and Coldbrook street, the same to be used as a combination pumping and lighting station. The question of a bond issue in the amount of $395,000 was submitted at the Spring election of 1910, such bond issue being designed to make possible the erection of a rapid sand filtration plant for the purifica- tion of the water taken from Grand River. The proposition received a favorable response from the electors and was adopted by a vote of 9,225 yeas to 5,921 nays. A tract of land, bounded by Monroe and Taylor avenues and Caledonia and Quimby streets, was purchased, and the plant was finished and in full operation by Jan. 1, 1913. The total cost of construction was $430,000. The water department keeps the grounds about its stations in fine shape, making them parks in fact. It furnishes water to the citizens at a very low rate, and fire protection is had at 2,104 hydrants, according to the Forty-third (and last) annual report of the Board of Public Works. It is in many re- spects a model municipal utility. It has had the great advantage of municipal ownership, and its mains reach nearly every corner of the city. It has tunnels under the river to carry its pipes, and its pumps work ceaselessly day and night, but it has such reserve power that never are all the pumps running at once. Probably no department of the city government, say its admirers, has been developed to such a high state of efficiency during the past twenty-five years as the wa- ter department. The average daily consumption of water, according to the last published report, in Grand Rapids was 10,263,000 gallons. The total amount of water pumped in the same year was 3,756,230,000 gallons, and 92 per cent. of this was metered. Every resident is re- garded as a consumer of water from the municipal water-works, and the number of wells is so small that they are not taken into account. Water consumers paid the city $195,874.68, according to the same report, and the whole income of the water department was $522,- 544.69. The department paid out $485,546.20, the actual cost of op- eration being $109,801.72. One of the big expenses of the department was $194,340.99 for construction work in extending the system, and the balance on hand was $36,998.49.
Closely allied to Grand Rapids' water-works system, and quite as essential, is the sewerage system, than which no city can boast a more perfect one, and few equally complete and satisfactory. Prior to 1865, however, the city had no definite plan for sewerage; and al- though the population then numbered 11,000, but a few sewers had been built. In that year, what was called a city grade bench was es- tablished, and thus was brought about a general uniformity of descent and flowage. The system was extended from time to time and now covers the whole area of the city. Each year witnesses an extension to meet the growing demands, and it is a matter of civic pride that this, like Grand Rapids' water-supply system, is equaled in complete- ness and utility by few and surpassed by none.
For many years the municipal offices of the city of Grand Rapids were located wherever a convenient place could be had; but the rapid development of the city and the vast increase of municipal business long ago outgrew the limited facilities and space thus afforded, and an urgent need of a permanent building, in which the business of the city's various departments could be transacted and its records be
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preserved, began to be felt. This demand for a substantial and per- manent home assumed definite shape in 1885, when it was decided to erect a building that should in all respects be worthy of the city. The site selected was the north side of Lyon street, between Ottawa and Ionia streets. The building was constructed by W. D. Richardson, of Springfield, Ill., after plans and specifications prepared by E. E. My- ers, of Detroit, and it presents an appearance at once substantial, imposing and handsome. The building has a frontage of 160 feet on Lyon street, and is ninety-six feet deep, and is four stories in height above the basement. The main tower at the southwest corner rises to the height of 163 feet. The building is supplied with numerous massive vaults, and the interior arrangements throughout have been constructed after the most carefully studied plans, with a view to con- venience, comfort, and artistic effect, with the result that everything has been secured that seemingly could be desired. The cost of the building was about $315,000 and at the time of its completion it was considered one of the finest public buildings of its class in the West.
Prior to the occupancy of the new city hall, the officials had vari- ous habitations. On what seems to be good authority, it is related that the first meetings of the common council of the city of Grand Rapids were held on the south side of Monroe, a little above Market street. These meetings were held immediately after the organization of the city government, and a little later the "City Fathers" occupied quarters in the Taylor building, near what is now called Campau Place. They were later domiciled in the Commercial Block, near Campau Place, and still later in the postoffice building at the Arcade. Some of the city offices were established in what had been known as the McReynolds Block, on the east side of old Canal street, south of Lyon. In 1876 the common council began holding its meetings in Morey's Block on Pearl street, which became known as the old city hall. This building was occupied until the present city hall was com- pleted, in 1888.
The first government office established in Grand Rapids was the postoffice, and the first building for that use was the mission station on the west bank of the river, which building was occupied by Leon- ard Slater, who was appointed postmaster by President Jackson, in December, 1832. Mr. Slater's term of service continued until Sept. 1, 1836. His successors have been: 1836 to 1838, Darius Winsor ; 1838 to 1841, Alfred D. Rathbone; 1841 to 1845, James M. Nelson ; 1845 to 1849, Truman H. Lyon; 1849 to 1853, Ralph W. Cole; 1853 to 1857, Truman H. Lyon; 1857 to 1861, Harvey P. Yale; 1861 to 1866, Noyes L. Avery ; 1866 to 1867, Charles H. Taylor ; 1867 to 1869, Solomon O. Kingsbury; 1869 to 1877, Aaron B. Turner; 1877 to 1878, Peter R. L. Peirce; 1878 to 1882, James Gallup; 1882 to 1885, Homer N. Moore; 1885 to 1890, James Blair; 1890 to 1894, George G. Briggs; 1894 to 1898, Thomas F. Carroll; 1898 to 1912, Loomis K. Bishop; 1912 to 1915, W. Millard Palmer ; and the present incum- bent, Charles E. Hogadone, who received his commission in 1915.
After settlers began to come in and the inconvenience of bring- ing letters across the river in canoes began to be felt, Joel Guild acted as deputy or clerk, and in 1834 the reception and delivery of mail matter was conducted at his house, which stood on the site of the
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present National City Bank building. In 1836 the office was removed to the east side of the river and was kept at the house of the post- master, Darius Winsor, at the corner of Ottawa and Fountain streets, where now is the New Aldrich Block. Mr. Winsor soon removed the office to a point on Monroe street, nearly opposite Market. The next move was in 1838, to a little building on the west side of Prospect Hill, on Lyon street. When Mr. Nelson assumed the duties of the of- fice, in 1841, he moved it to old Canal street, just south of Lyon, and in 1844 he again moved it to the south side of Monroe street, above Market, whence it was moved by Mr. Lyon to the east corner of old Canal and Pearl streets, where now is the Lovell Block; in 1849, from the corner a little north on the east side of old Canal street; in 1853, two doors further north; in 1857, to Exchange Place or alley (Arcade), midway between Pearl and Lyon streets; in 1861, to the McReynolds Block, corner of Lyon and the Arcade; in 1868, to the Eagle Building, north side of Lyon, between old Canal and Kent (now Bond), where it remained until the government building, in the block bounded by Lyon, North Division, Pearl and Ionia streets, was finished and taken possession of, Nov. 15, 1879. This building gave ample accommodations for transacting the business necessary at that time, but with the phenomenal growth of the city and the enlarge- ment of the demands upon the postoffice, to meet the urgent need the United States government decided upon a new building. In 1906, a bill was introduced in Congress by Hon. William Alden Smith, and the same was passed, making an appropriation of $500,000 for the purpose. The site of the old building was decided upon as the loca- tion and work was commenced in 1908. The building is three stories in height above the basement, and Vermont marble is greatly in evi- dence in its construction. The style of architecture is of the square old-fashioned type, and is at once ornamental, substantial, and im- pressive. The building throughout is finished and furnished after the most approved style, and gives the Government's postal service and other offices in Grand Rapids a home commensurate with their importance and dignity, and it is also worthy of the city.
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