From Town Pumps to Water Towers : Hydrating Cuba City Through the Years

Many a happy hour has been spent round the old town pumps in days of old, when folks traveled, pails in hand, to replenish their home's water supply and perhaps socialize for a restful moment or two. Cuba City had just such a pump in its infancy, when shallow wells could be found along Main Street, one located in front of the old post office, beside today's Presidential Courtyard. [1] That area would long be a destination for the thirsty, the pump being replaced in later years by a drinking fountain like the one below.

Lillian Heitkamp (right) poses with a friend beside a drinking fountain on Cuba City's Main Street, circa 1920s. Photograph courtesy of Rachel Butts.

Even before lots were publicly sold, when Cuba City was just a plan on paper, the town's founders understood the importance of offering a public source of water. As the article below points out, a public well was dug, and there was even talk of incorporating a windmill, though there is no proof that that transpired. [2]

Published in the Grant County Witness (June 17, 1875).

In the years that followed Cuba City's founding in 1875, newspapers were filled with glowing depictions of the village's prosperity, quite possibly written by the founders themselves and designed to sell lots. Water played a role in these persuasive arguments, one claiming that "a never-failing well, centrally located, furnishes a cooling and healthful beverage for the thirsty, a convenience as well as a blessing that most towns in the West cannot boast of." [3]

Cuba City's shallow public wells were ill equipped, however, to accommodate all of the growing city's water needs. In addition to public water access, residences had cisterns to capture and store rain for private use, and some businesses dug their own wells. Even so, village dwellers suffered during dry spells and began pushing for a more sophisticated system:

"Water! Water! Is the cry in town at present. Cisterns all dry and only two wells in town from which water can be pumped. The great need of the place at present is a public well and it is strange that business men and property holders do not take hold of this matter and push it to completion; a very little agitation by the right party would soon have a well where it would do some good." [4]

Inconvenience was far from the only argument for a more robust water supply. Fighting fires in the early days was often a losing battle since the only way for the village's fledgling fire company to transport water was via bucket brigade. Often, the best one could hope for was the removal of all persons and valuable belongings from a structure before the blaze consumed the rest.

The village's shallow wells also bred disease and were easily contaminated by nearby latrines. A number of cases of typhoid fever were reported in Cuba City in the late 1800s, and local historian Edward O'Neill attributed this to the city's water supply. [5] One typhoid epidemic in 1894 lasted two to three months and killed at least five people, with countless others falling ill. [6]

A large step in the right direction for improved public health and safety was made just a few years after the typhoid epidemic when, in 1896, the village of Cuba City installed a "modern" waterworks, complete with underground pipes and a deeper well, operated by a gasoline engine. The new system was based in the northwest corner of the city park, at the corner of Clay and Washington Street.

Published in The Mining Times (August 27, 1896). The Benton newspaper editor was likely either joking or in error when referring to "Mayor Kivlahan," as John Stephens was Cuba City's village president at the time. The Kivlahans were Cuba City businessmen, however, and certainly could have been involved in the waterworks project.

Despite the fanfare, Cuba City's new waterworks did not immediately pass muster. It took the installation of a much more powerful twenty-horsepower engine before residents and city officials were satisfied, at least as far as firefighting capabilities were concerned. [8] 

Published in the Grant County Witness (May 8, 1901).

While the new waterworks was proving satisfactory in fighting fires, what about the water quality? In 1902, Cuba City's Dr. Edward McDonald sent a sample from the city well to the State Board of Health for testing. The results can be seen below in their entirety, but the conclusions were generally positive. The consulting chemist and bacteriologist found the village's water to be "pure" and though "somewhat high in number of bacteria," containing "no evidence of pollution."

Published in the Nineteenth Report of the State Board of Health, Wisconsin, 1903.

After the waterworks installation in 1896, Cuba City continued to make improvements to the town's water system over the next few decades. The town's first water tower, for instance, was built in 1903 and was located beside the pump house and electric station in the city's park. And, in 1918, an additional well was drilled to ensure access to plentiful water in emergencies. [9,10]

The water tower was located at the intersection of Clay and Washington Street, in the northwest corner of today's Veterans Memorial Park. Postcard published in 1908 by B. H. Dingman of Plymouth, Wis.

Better water supply in the twentieth century meant conveniences such as drinking fountains and, just as the town pump was a place of interest in the community, so too did the town's drinking fountains become gathering spots.

Published in the Cuba City News-Herald (May 20, 1921).

As the above article suggests, the town's drinking fountains often drew the comical attention of Cuba City newspaper editor W. H. Goldthorpe, who announced their opening and closing with the seasons and sometimes publicly urged city officials to improve their performance. In the plea below, water and light superintendent J. R. "Joe" Kay was targeted on behalf of Michael Banfield, operator of the Northwestern Hotel:

"Hey you, Joe Kay, as superintendent of the city water works, come quickly. And bring along your tongs, your tools and your turning tackle. Then regulate, please, the flow of water from the drinking fountain at the Post Office (it's Cuba City P.O. now, mind you) to a stream which will fit the drinker of our good friend, Michael Banfield. We are to lose his semi-frequent daily visits to the west side of the street if you don't. 'Mike,' you know, is a heavy drinker--of water. He has a tin cup of his own at the Northwestern Hotel, and there is quite a bit of aqua pura to be obtained there. But for some reason he likes our First Ward water the better and dotes on trotting across to the post office corner for 'steen or more pulls at that fountain, every day. But he now 'puts up' a protest against the quantity we are giving up there; says he can't cover the nozzle without having the water squirt up his nostrils, into his eyes, or down his shirt front. We don't want to lose 'Mike's' visits. So, Joe, turn down the water." [11]  

Main Street was not the only place to benefit from an improved water supply. In 1924, a large water fountain installed in the center of the city park became a destination for merrymakers, particularly on warm, summer days.

Image of the park fountain, with a nearby drinking fountain, from the "Remember When" DVD put together by Beanie Loeffelholz and the City of Presidents.

As the years marched on, Cuba City's once modern waterworks aged and required further improvements. In 1937, permission was granted for a new, deeper well to be drilled on the northern edge of the city, near today's VFW building, and in the 1950s, Mayor Harry Kilkelly convinced the City Council to approve a new water system, with a sewage system installed in 1955, making the private latrines that once proved so detrimental to the city's water supply a thing of the past. [12]

Though the town pumps and fountains no longer offer the gathering place they once did, I think it's safe to say that Cuba City's current residents much prefer the modern water system, which they may be reminded of every time they lift a faucet or glance up at the "new" water tower, built in Splinter Park in the 1970s.

 

Notes

[1]  Edward J. O'Neill, Cuba City Centennial: 100 years, 1875-1975 (Cuba City, Wis.: Cuba City Centennial Committee, 1975).

[2] "From Cuba City," Galena Daily Gazette, June 30, 1875, 3.

[3] "Cuba City, Its Business Advantages," Galena Daily Gazette, May 25, 1876, 3.

[4] "From Cuba City," Grant County Witness, September 4, 1889, 2. 

[5] O'Neill, Cuba City Centennial.

[6] "The City," Dubuque Daily Times, November 29, 1894, 8.

[7] "Town and County News," Grant County Herald, November 1, 1894, 5.

[8] "Cuba City," The Mining Times, November 26, 1896, 1.

[9] "City Pump Out of Commission," Cuba City News-Herald, October 19, 1917.

[10] Cuba City News Herald, October 4, 1918.

[11] "Curt's Column," Cuba City News-Herald, September 4, 1925, 4.

[12] Opinions and Decisions of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, September 29, 1937.