1754 Water Innovation: How the First American Municipal Water Works Impressed John Adams

The first American municipal water works 💧 was built in 1754 by Hans Christopher Christiansen for the Moravian settlement of Bethlehem, PA. 😄

Hans Christopher faced the challenge of efficiently transporting water from the spring at the hill's bottom to the living quarters at the top. A pump forced water through bored hemlock logs onto a wooden reservoir, providing plenty of supply for the entire Bethlehem community of more than 1,000 people with drinking, cooking, and bathing needs. 🚰

Unfortunately, the only information historians have about Hans Christopher Christiansen is that he came to the USA from Denmark and worked as a millwright.

The system was considered state-of-the-art at that time and served as a model for later waterworks projects. Proud Moravian guides also showcased the waterworks to the numerous visitors to colonial Bethlehem. 😄

During the Revolutionary War, John Adams, lodging in the Sun Inn, mentioned the waterworks in a letter to his wife Abigail, dated February 7, 1777:

"They have carried the mechanical Arts to greater Perfection here than in any Place which I have seen. They have a set of Pumps which go by Water, up through leaden Pipes from the River to the Top of the Hill, near a hundred feet, and to the Top of a little Building, in the shape of a Pyramid, or Obelisk, which stands upon the Top of the Hill and is Twenty or thirty feet high. From this Fountain Water is conveyed in Pipes to every Part of the Town."

The earliest communal buildings of Bethlehem were built in stone; they have survived the subsequent history of the city. The water works building had been renovated 3 or 4 times and still stands today.  🏛️

© Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)