By North Jersey History and Genealogy Center -

Morristown: 1865-2015 The North Jersey History & Genealogy Center is proud to present a series of articles celebrating Morristown’s 150th anniversary. The exhibit, Morristown, 1865-2015: Identity, Tradition, & Enterprise, is on display in the F.M. Kirby Gallery of the Morristown & Morris Township Library through December 31, 2015.

By Carolyn Dorsey, North Jersey History and Genealogy Center, and Alexandra Savino, History Center Intern

One of the most important public services of today is access to clean and safe water; the health and well-being of our communities depend on clean water to prevent illness and decrease mortality rates. Water supply systems have evolved tremendously over the past 200 years in response to growing populations and public need, as well as geography, technological innovations, public water quality standards, and fire safety requirements.

Morristown’s early residents relied on a loose system of cisterns, wells, rivers, and other local bodies of water. By the late 18th century Morristown had grown into a vital economic hub; however, the rapid increase in population led to water shortages when drought struck in 1797 and 1798. Morristown residents faced difficulty obtaining water.

Morristown’s First Water System

In the early days of the Republic, taxes were an unreliable means of financing public works projects, so retired Revolutionary War General John Doughty and a group of affluent townspeople organized a company to independently solve Morristown’s water crisis. The charter for the Morris Aqueduct Company was modeled after those in Boston and Philadelphia; having passed the state legislature on November 16th, 1799 it became the first of its kind in New Jersey.

They employed Peletiah Ashley from Massachusetts to oversee the construction and planning of the system; according to the announcement published in the Genius of Liberty in 1799, Mr. Ashley had “practical and experimental knowledge in conveying water by aqueduct”. (Shown at left)

The aqueduct consisted of a single supply source; a spring located on high ground about two miles southwest of Morristown on Mount Kemble. It used gravity to convey water downhill in a line of connected bored-out logs buried three feet below ground to Morristown’s distribution system. Pipes ran to several streets in Morristown, servicing several houses and a fountain at the Green. The aqueduct proprietors built their first reservoir in 1805, “on the high ground above Daniel Phoenix’s corner” which was on the base of Fort Nonsense, at the corner of Ann and Chestnut Streets, southwest of the Morristown Green.

There were several problems with the log pipes. They were prone to breakage, rot, and insect infestation. Water could stagnate in pipes that were not angled properly, which could contaminate the supply. The spring was located only about 100 feet above town, and the bore of the pipes was only two to four inches, so the early aqueduct company faced constant problems related to water pressure and volume.

Minutes from a meeting of shareholders on June 28th 1800, addressed the issue of putrid water, “’Resolved, that to remedy the evil of the water becoming putrid the Directors be ordered to have proper measures taken that a hold may be opened at the end of each week or oftener [sic] if the Directors think proper for the purpose of clensing said pipes and that the same be kept open until the filth is discharged, and it shall be the duty of the Directors to see this resolution is carried into effect…”

Theft of water was another issue for the aqueduct company. Subscribers were not allowed to freely give water away to non-subscribers. Subscribers needed to prove that a “stranger” took their water, and the proprietors resolved to publish the names of subscribers who gave their water away in both of Morristown’s newspapers. By the late 1820’s, it is believed the company was bankrupt.

In 1825, James Wood purchased the charter rights to the aqueduct and became its controlling investor. The proprietorship passed to John F. Voorhees in 1843. Voorhees enlarged the reservoir to hold 750,000 gallons and replaced the logs with cement pipe.

Transition to a New Water System

In 1869, Henry C. Pitney acquired the Aqueduct Company and expanded its size, and modernized its facilities. Under Pitney’s presidency the company rebuilt the reservoir on Ann Street and over time, purchased and developed several reservoirs located southwest of Morristown: Jones Woods, Bailey Hollow, Sand Spring, East Primrose and West Primrose, all of which were of greater distances to Morristown.

The introduction of steam pumps in the mid-19th century and improved pressurized pumping systems allowed water to be pumped uphill and from further away. Pressurization created the need for the stronger lead and galvanized iron pipes. Water mains were constructed to connect these supplies to every part of Morristown, and by the late 1880s the company serviced 756 homes. By 1914 the aqueduct supplied water to approximately 184 street-hydrants.

As a privately controlled resource the Morris Aqueduct Company was free to set and change rates at will, in spite of problems with water pressure that often caused unreliable service. Minor repairs were constantly needed to provide an adequate supply of water to subscribers.

Under the direction of Henry C. Pitney, the company was unsympathetic to the growing outrage over its rates. In 1879, the Common Council of the city sought to close the contract between itself and the Morris Aqueduct Company after a failed negotiation to reduce its rates for use of fire plugs and cisterns. Had the contract been canceled at that time, the city would have been without water in the case of fire. The risk of not having water in case of fire was too steep a wager for council members to make in an effort to mitigate the rates. Thus, necessity ultimately constrained the city in its negotiations.

The Photographs of Frederick Curtiss (1863-1938)

The aqueduct and its substantial system of reservoirs was the frequent subject of local photographer, Frederick V. Curtiss. Curtiss was employed by the aqueduct as a bookkeeper in the early 1900s, and developed his skills as a photographer documenting the buildings, people and activities of the Morris Aqueduct Company.

Morristown Acquires the Aqueduct Company

In 1923, at the behest of Mayor Clyde Potts and residents of Morristown, the Morris Aqueduct Company was purchased by the town and reorganized as the Morristown Water Company.

Potts began his employment as an engineer specializing in sanitary work in 1906. With his company, Williams, Proctor and Potts, he carried out multiple commissions for sewerage design in New York and New Jersey, and throughout the eastern United States. In 1906, while working as a consulting engineer for a sewer system for the town, he decided to make Morristown his home. In addition to engineering engagements, Potts was active in the development of water supplies for New Jersey and was water advisor to the governor.

Through his interest in the water problem he was elected mayor in 1922. While campaigning, Potts substantiated claims that the Morris Aqueduct Company “was reporting revenue shortfalls and over-exaggerating losses” and that the water company kept Morristown at a disadvantage by its reluctance to extend its mains. Once elected, he spearheaded its purchase by the town.

The Construction of a New Reservoir

From 1924 to 1930 the water department began construction on the Brookside Reservoir; (Known today as the Clyde Potts Reservoir) and reconstructed and enlarged the Jockey Hollow Reservoir on Western Avenue. In 1926, the Court Street Distribution Reservoir was abandoned after the Jockey Hollow Reservoir became the system’s principal water supply. Potts did all that was in his power to educate public officials about the need for providing water supplies with anticipation for future demands.

Water Treatment and Public Health

The history of water treatment is closely linked with advancements in public health. When the aqueduct was constructed, the link between water and disease had not yet been discovered. In the early 19th century, the prevailing theory was that disease was transmitted by toxic vapors called “miasmas” which were believed to be the result of poor hygienic conditions, contaminated water and foul air. By the mid-1800s, with more widespread use of the microscope, harmful bacteria in water were identified. With the discovery of waterborne diseases, methods of water purification were developed to remove harmful microbes from the water supply.

Chlorine disinfection technology contributed significantly reducing the number of waterborne disease outbreaks in the early 1900s. In 1908, the Jersey City Water Works became the first utility in America to use chlorine for as a primary disinfectant of drinking water. In 1935, Morristown’s first water treatment system was built to treat water from the Clyde Potts Reservoir using chlorination and pH adjustment using lime.

Further Improvements

During World War II, essential maintenance and limited improvements were undertaken. Expansion of the water department continued from the 1950s to the 1970s; maintaining, improving, and expanding the land, pipe lines, reservoirs and wells to serve many new suburban housing and commercial developments, both within and outside of the town’s borders.

The Southeast Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority (SMCMUA) acquired the water supply system from the Town of Morristown on January 20, 1977. Today, the Authority provides drinking water to Morris Township, Morristown, Morris Plains, and the Township of Hanover. It draws its water from the Clyde Potts Reservoir in Mendham Township and thirteen public groundwater wells that are supplied by the Buried Valley Aquifer, a system located in Morris and Essex counties and parts of Union and Somerset.

The SMCMUA owns approximately 40 acres in Morris Township, many of which were originally established and used by the Proprietors of the Morris Aqueduct as reservoirs. The Authority still uses some of those properties today for pumping stations and storage tanks.

Approximately three hundred miles of buried steel pipes service the areas of Morristown, Morris Township, Morris Plains and the Township of Hanover.

Remains of the Old Water System

Vestiges of the old water system can still be seen in and around Morristown, in the remains of the Ann Street reservoir and the drained reservoirs at Western Avenue, Bailey Hollow, and Jones Woods.

In 1978, when a Morris County parking deck was to be built near the courthouse, the foundation walls for the cistern, successor to the initial water supply lines, were discovered. Most of the walls of the site are those of the distribution site from the 1860s, and it is believed that parts of the early 1805 reservoir are incorporated in the southeast corner of the walls. The remnants of this structure can still be seen behind the parking deck at the corner of Ann and Chestnut streets in Morristown, right before the entrance to Fort Nonsense.

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