How Boston in 1704 Paved the Way for Urban Drainage in Early America

Did you know that most of the early American sewers were built with private capital?

It wasn't until 1704 that Bostonian Francis Thrasher was given permission by the city government to construct a sewer which was "not only benefit by freeing the street from the usual annoyance... but a more particular benefit to ye neighborhood as a common shore [sewer]." All city residents were ordered to connect their drains to the public sewer. 😱😱😱

By the mid-eighteenth century, few cities of the world were drained as well as Boston.  🙌 🚀  

It took other American cities decades to follow Boston's advanced and revolutionary approach.