Today, most of us don’t give a second thought to where our water comes from. We turn on the tap and it is immediately available. Or we pick it up by the case at a store. But between the time that Willimantic became a borough of Windham (1833) and an incorporated city (1893) its availability became more and more of a concern to citizens, businesses and borough leadership. As the borough grew, it became apparent that wells would not suffice to meet the growing borough’s needs. Water power from the Willimantic River was one of the reasons for Willimantic’s rapid growth. In the early days of the borough, a string of mills was established along the river from Yellow Row (today’s Vermont Drive) to the location of today’s Recreation Park. A “long straggling line of homes…from end to end ” was also established along the length of Main Street according to historian Allen B. Lincoln. And as the borough grew and began to spread out from Main Street, so did the need for water, both for personal use and for fire protection. Water for household usage came not just from wells but from several streams that flowed through the borough and from many springs. In 1882, a newspaper announcement said that, “ Mr. Samuel.G. Adams (who lived on Pleasant Street near Bridge Street) has completed the laying of his main pipes and is now introducing the water into the premises of whoever may desire it. It is conducted all the way from the spring through iron pipes, which is a great recommendation for its purity…. The perceptible difference between it and the liquid this valley affords leads us to the opinion that it will create a deeper desire for the proposed borough water works that everybody may enjoy the blessing. The problem, of course, with wells and many springs, is that they were susceptible to drought. An editorial comment in “The Chronicle”  in 1884 said, “Wells and springs are very low, and our people feel the need of a water supply that will not fail.” Another editorial in 1888 said, “There is a fine tract of land lying west of Jackson Street, which has been suggested as a place for a public park. It contains a beautiful grove and a never-failing spring of water. This tract could probably be bought at a reasonable rate and it might be well for the borough to look into this matter”. (A bit of background from historian Tom Beardsley. “From the mid nineteenth century onwards, the plot of land on the western side of upper Jackson Street, at the border with Mansfield, was a small farm and market garden owned by Calvin Robinson. Its fertility derived from the fact that this area was constantly watered by the numerous springs on Chestnut Hill, which fed into a small pond, and then ran into the Natchaug River. Albert S. Whittemore purchased the Robinson farm in 1869, but later sold the 30-acre Jackson Street farm to Julius Pinney and James Griffin Martin.. Pinney and Martin laid out several streets and avenues upon 22 acres of the land purchased from Albert Whittemore and donated about eight acres of the old Whittemore farm to the city of Willimantic as a park, if it maintained the "watering tub and pipe on Jackson Street." In 1898 the Willimantic aldermen agreed to spend $200 a year for five years to develop what would become ‘Whittemore Park’. That's why Willimantic today has its very own "Park Avenue" which connects Whittemore Road to Jackson Street. Over the years, Whittemore Park became more commonly known as Park Springs.”) As far as supplying the whole borough, though, several entrepreneurs had come up with plans. The most comprehensive plan had been developed and proposed by Whiting, James and Willard Hayden who applied to the general assembly for corporate privileges as a water company, “with the necessary rights of entering upon property for the specified purposes, with the design of meeting this growing want.” (More about the Hayden plan next week). Besides needing more water for residential use, however, was the need for fire protection. Owners of Willimantic’s mills realized the need to protect their property as well as adjoining buildings from fire. By 1874, borough leaders had worked with both the Linen Company and the Smithville Windham company to provide water for the borough as well. The borough voted upon a resolution to lay a six inch pipe from the Linen Company’s office that would connect with the powerful pumps in the spool shop and the mills and carry water to a point opposite the Windham Company’s mill on Bridge Street where it would connect with the Windham and Smithville companies’ pumps.” (To be continued)