City Cincinnati OH - The cities water supply 1901 Postcard

Colorized photo from 1901 Original title: The Reservoir, Eden Park Photographer: Detroit Publishing Location: Eden Park, Cincinnati, OH Fresh water has always been the challenge of any city, this one started with small wells that people dug in their yards, way back in the late 1700's. Industries needed more water so by 1820, they built an all wood reservoir, complete with wooden pipes. This served them well enough, but they leaked, and were eventually all replaced by the 1850's. During this time they built a new reservoir, this time made or limestone. It was constructed on the South side of Third street, held 5.5 million gallons, and replaced 2 older wooden reservoirs. It was used from 1875 to 1907. But it had problems, partly it was being fed from the same part of the river where it was polluted. The other was that the water was so bad that when people drank it, they got cholera. In 1866, noting that their systems were making people sick, they created a brand new reservoir, it was constructed in Eden Park, on 13 acres of land. In total it held around 100 million gallons of water. The lake was divided in two halves, the left half, which has the gazebo (which held 57 million) and where Mirror lake is, and the right half, what we see here (that held 43 million). There was a dam in the middle. It took 10 years to build, finishing in 1878. They wanted a location some place away from the city, and surrounded by nature to lessen disease. The pump in the background moved water from the river too the standpipe. This remained the water supply for Walnut Hills till 1963! They upgraded the system again, only this time they wanted the water to be underground, so it stays nice and clean. They removed the lake on the left half and dug a deep hole, placed many supporting columns in, and capped it off. This was used from 1965 to present, Mirror lake was placed on top back in the 1960's, and the remaining half of the reservoir was drained and removed half way to remind people what it looked like. As for pump station, it was used as a radio station for a while in the 1940's, and there is talk that it may become a brewery.