Ohio’s First Publicly Owned Water System

Ohio’s First Publicly Owned Water System is an Ohio historical marker in Hamilton County.

Hamilton County · 801 E. Pete Rose Way, Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point, Cincinnati, OH -- Sawyer Point Park, Ohio River Front, just E (upriver) of the I-471 bridge over the Ohio River

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Side A: On June 25, 1839, Greater Cincinnati Water Works became the first publicly owned water system in Ohio, when the city purchased a privately owned water company in operation since 1821. This purchase required approval of the voters of Cincinnati and authorization by the Ohio State Legislature. The Water Works, with two steam pumps at this site, three and a half miles of iron pipe, and 19 miles of wooden pipe, provided one million gallons of water per day. Front Street Pumping Station (ruins at this site) replaced earlier facilities and operated from 1865 to1907. Side B: Same

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Marker data: Ohio Historical Markers program, Ohio History Connection (Remarkable Ohio)

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