A lot more photos of the Chicago Avenue Pumping Station
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| 20190914 9263 Sometimes a grab shot is the best shot. I took this while walking along Michigan Avenue on my way to a tour of the pump station. I learned later that get such a clear view across the pedestrian and bus traffic of Michigan Avenue is rather rare. And the tower just happened to be between skyscrappers. |
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| 3D Satellite I saved the view because as skyscrapers get built around the water supply complex, it is harder to get a 3D view. |
Before the surrounding skyscrapers:
Update of Update: this indicates that the first pumping station started in 1842, not 1854. The use of wooden pipes as the street water mains is a reminder of how expensive iron was in 1842 in the Midwest.
I found this reference while researching some other pump stations. It shows that the shoreline used to be a lot closer to the pumping station than it is now.
Update: The water supply system that we see today was the "New Water Works" that went online in 1867. The first pumping station started operation in February, 1854, and was built 1.5 miles south of the urban area to avoid the sewage flowing into the lake from the Chicago River. This water supply would deliver small fish to the households! Note the "New Water Works" still did not have any treatment facilities. Also, a 6-mile tunnel was later built parallel to the original 2-mile tunnel. (Chicagology)
I forgot to mention that the water tower was a standpipe. Note there is no tank on top for storage. The standpipe absorbs the surges of water created by a pump driven by a crank on a flywheel. The speed of the pump's plunger is sinusoidal rather than constant. The standpipe allows the flow into the mains to be at a constant rate.
The standpipe was 3' wide and stood 138' tall. The octagonal tower rises 154' above the ground level. [InspiredImperfection]
We have already seen how Chicago built intake cribs further out in Lake Michigan to try to avoid the City's sewage being dumped into the lake by the Chicago River. Recently I have come across some pictures of the pumping station and water tower that moved the water from the intake crib to the city.
Much more information on the first water crib, tunnel, pumping station, and the water tower including some pictures of the original steam driven pumps.
The pumping station was upgraded from steam to electricity.
A darker exposure:
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| Photo from HABS ILL,16-CHIG,42--1 from il0097 |
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| Neil Gale posted Chicago's first water system |
I found this reference while researching some other pump stations. It shows that the shoreline used to be a lot closer to the pumping station than it is now.
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| Neil Gale posted The History of the Chicago Water Tower - One of Six Surviving Structures of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. GREAT photographs! Lots of great pictures and a bonus... A large map of the Chicago Fire burnt district and the original 1909 Chicago street renaming & renumbering documents in pdf. |
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| Chicagology |
I forgot to mention that the water tower was a standpipe. Note there is no tank on top for storage. The standpipe absorbs the surges of water created by a pump driven by a crank on a flywheel. The speed of the pump's plunger is sinusoidal rather than constant. The standpipe allows the flow into the mains to be at a constant rate.
The standpipe was 3' wide and stood 138' tall. The octagonal tower rises 154' above the ground level. [InspiredImperfection]
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| Linda Connelly posted Chicago Water Tower, 1890. Gary Elkhorn 9 years after the fire. Curtis Carter Look at how narrow Michigan Ave was back then, compared to East Tower Ct. |
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| Chicagology: 1867, Artist: Louis Kurz |
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| Mike Tuggle posted Looking south on Michigan Avenue from the Palmolive Building in 1929. |
Much more information on the first water crib, tunnel, pumping station, and the water tower including some pictures of the original steam driven pumps.
The pumping station was upgraded from steam to electricity.
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| Alison Kay commented |
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| Fabio Sorano shared William Charles Hartenstein Jr.'s photo 1868 - Chicago Water Tower and Pumping Station. This is an amazing photo of Pre - Water Tower fire area on Michigan Ave. John Boda Nice - it was Pine Street at the time and ran along the shore line of the Lake. Go there now and see how much more real estate has been added from Michigan Avenue. It always amazes me. [Some of the comments on the photo provide quite a bit of information about the 1871 fire.] Sharon Avendano shared Jack Spatafora's post There is often very little that endures from age to age...behold one of the grand exceptions here in our Chicago ~ the original Water Tower....it stood here on North Michigan Avenue [called Pine back then] BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER the Great Fire of the 1870s...it speaks to us Traditionalists of the fact that in the continuing vortex of Change, Constancy still exits...a small lesson for the restless young |
A darker exposure:
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| Raymond Kunst posted Looking east on Chicago Ave. towards Michigan Ave. 1868. A few years before the Great Fire. Raymond Kunst shared |
These buildings, like the Joliet Prison, where made with stone cut from the Lemont, IL, quarries. The Water Tower and Pumping Station still stand. They are famous for being some of the very few buildings that survived the 1871 fire. William Koclanis posted a couple of pictures taken "from the 6th. floor Starbucks at Water Tower."
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| Pumping Station |
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| Water Tower on the right |
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| Mike Tuggle posted Looking north on Michigan Avenue from Chicago Avenue in the 1940s. |
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| Kal Elorte posted |
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| Mike Tuggle posted Looking north on Michigan Avenue toward Chicago Avenue in 1967. The unfinished John Hancock Center can be seen ahead. |
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| Raymond Kunst posted The Water Tower, View South along Michigan Avenue; Chicago Daily News, Photograph, 1929 [I doubt if those black buildings started with that color. I wonder if the stone of the water tower is able to release the coal soot during the hard driving rains of a Chicago thunderstorm.] |
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| Richard Pitchford posted Jonas Dovydenas, Iron Worker, c.1969, Chicago. This is the Hancock Building under construction, as you can see Michigan Ave and the Water Tower below. [Too bad he wasn't working on a beam a little further to the left so that we could see all of the pumping station. :-)] |
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| Shela Kirby 1950's Aerial looking north from Water Tower to Drake Hotel By Curt Teich Klaus-dieter Ihnenfeld Drake Hotel hiding behind Palmolive Building Gene Schuldt posted [Chicago's first pumping station is in the right foreground.] Wes Wetherell: The Palmolive Building… My dad’s office in the mid 40’s though the mid 60’s (33rd floor and more). “Warren Wetherell and Associates.” On a clear night, the rotating beacon would light up our living room on Rt 53 in Glen Ellyn! Dad took pictures from the Beacon (and he talked Mom into going up there with him!)
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| Curtis Carter comment on above posting ]In this 1924 photo the Drake is clearly visible. Also note how vew cars on what has become the Magnificent Mile.] |
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| Sheila Kirby posted Michigan Ave. In 1943. |
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| Richard Pitchford posted On March 25, 1867, Chicagoans gathered to celebrate the laying of the Water Tower’s cornerstone and the structure’s dedication. It would be one of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. [A reminder that during a period before movies Stereoscopes were very popular.] |
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| Jeff Nichols posted Water Tower, undated. University of Kentucky. Anthony Ward Sr Based upon the fact that in the backgroung is a Brick building and that the trees seem immature I would guess between 1880 and 1900 after the Fire and before the invention of the Automobile. |
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| Sheila Kirby shared Michigan Ave 1920s By Dan Phillips Candace Bennett Pre--Hancock and Water Tower Place! |
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| Raymond Kunst posted Looking north on N. Michigan Ave from Chicago Ave, 1921, Chicago. Susan Mattes Still lots of residential housing. Hard to imagine considering how the area looks today. |
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| Jeff Davies posted
View of the Chicago Water Tower and Palmolive building at the intersection of Chicago and Meridan Avenues.
1949.
Photo courtesy of The Smithsonian.
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| Zachary Taylor Davis - Chicago Architect posted “Tower Town” c. 1950. Shaw, Metz & Dolio’s new building for Bonwit Teller (I. Magnin in 1971) can be seen in the background with its original windows. [Looking north with the ?/Playboy/Palmolive Building in the background.] |
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| US City Views posted Aerial View of Michigan Avenue Chicago (1950s) An aerial view of Michigan Avenue in the 1950s showcases the bustling activity and architectural splendor of Chicago's premier boulevard. This decade saw Michigan Avenue, known as the "Magnificent Mile," lined with grand hotels, department stores, and cultural landmarks. The avenue was a vibrant artery of commerce and tourism, attracting both locals and visitors. The aerial perspective highlights the blend of historic and modern buildings, the busy traffic, and the well-manicured streetscapes. Michigan Avenue's prominence as a central thoroughfare for business, shopping, and entertainment is evident in this panoramic view, capturing the essence of mid-20th-century Chicago. Whitney Elam Hill sharedGreat view! Before the Water Place and John Hancock. |
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| Don Andrade posted I found this rare picture of the Water Tower under construction. Don Andrade Probably Alexander Hesler, who took a lot of early Chicago photos.Chet Lunsford I believe this was taken during the cornerstone laying ceremony.Chet Lunsford 1869, two years before the fire.Chet Lunsford The camera is askew from the cardinal directions. I'm guessing the camera is looking sw. Lucy Esparza This picture is from March 25 1867 by photographer John Carbutt. The caption states "March 25, 1867, during the laying of the Water Tower cornerstone at the culmination of the parade." But I don't know what parade.That explains the huge crowd. (Source: http://shifting-grounds.net/pre-history/tower-docs.html ) |
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| Ken Damrau posted The Water Tower. 1929. |
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| Historic Chicago posted Downtown Chicago (1924) Tom Wells Can that possibly be the beach so wide at North Ave? This might have been normal before all the groins were built up on the north shore that have stopped sand migration southward. Since then beach at North Ave has been replenished with trucked-in sand. Don't know how often, but obviously not enough to maintain what was there. Michael Scott Linde Tom Wells I believe it’s a partially frozen lake Tom Wells Michael Scott Linde That makes sense. Hard to believe the beach was ever so wide, but ice, yeah. Jaber A Bazzaz No lakeshore drive |
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| 150th Celebration |
A posting from the Library of Illinois History Journal (I thought it was Lemont, not Joliet, limestone that was used to build the tower and pumping station.) Thanks to Chicago being built on a swamp, it sounds like the foundation is as massive as the tower itself: "The foundation of the Water Tower consists of 168 piles filled with concrete and capped with 12-inch oak timbers. Massive stones laid in cement complete the base up to six feet below the grade."
Marty Swartz posted quite a bit of history of the water supply, and its waste.
Marty's source: Municipal Journal. 1918. “100,000 Tons of Coal Wasted by Chicago
Municipal source: The water works system of the city of Chicago; report prepared by the Chicago bureau of public efficiency (FMI (For My Information) .pdf file is stored on disk drive)
Some other interesting results with the keywords "waterworks system chicago bureau public efficiency".
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