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Like many cities, New Haven grew rapidly in the 1800s. In 1800, the population was around 4,000. In 1850, it was 20,000. In 1860, it was almost 40,000. The new residents were attracted by the city’s industrial boom, but the many new factories greatly increased the risk of fire. There was no city water supply, so fire prevention was difficult, and residents relied on wells to drink. Unfortunately, there was also no city sanitation system, meaning those wells were often unsafe.
The city needed a solution. In 1849, a group of New Haven civic leaders had founded the New Haven Water Company to create a city water system. They struggled to raise money and to overcome political opposition to their plans. In the late 1850s, Eli Whitney Jr. took over the company and began building the Lake Whitney Dam and the planned waterworks at the Armory site.
As well as the dam, the Water Company built water-powered pumps, a reservoir, and eighteen miles of pipe to carry water to New Haven. The system opened on January 1, 1862. The company provided water to private properties, fire hydrants, and public water fountains like the one built on New Haven Green. In 1871, the company introduced steam pumps to increase the efficiency of the waterworks. These pumps were housed in a building that still stands on Armory Street.
The NHWC grew with New Haven, acquiring other local water companies, building more reservoirs, and expanding the water system. In 1980, the company became part of the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority (RWA). Lake Whitney is still part of the RWA system and supplies part of New Haven’s water.
After a 1901 outbreak of typhoid fever, a waterborne disease, the NHWC built a water purification facility across Whitney Avenue from the Armory and Waterworks property. A purification plant still operates there today, and a new facility was built in 2005. It includes the distinctive shiny, steel-clad building that you can see from Whitney Avenue, Armory Street, and East Rock. Around the purification plant, the RWA built a public park that also embraces two historic buildings from Eli Whitney Sr.’s time: the boarding house and the 1816 Barn, which is part of the EWMW.