HISTORY CORNER

NASHVILLE’S FIRST WATER SYSTEM

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

The site of the present City of Nashville was chosen by the city’s co-founder, James Robertson. He chose a site on the southern bank of the Cumberland River because of the availability of pure water in a spring at the foot of today’s Church Street. There, the first settlers built Fort Nashboro which may have enclosed the spring. Consequently, when Indians surrounded the fort and it was unsafe to go outside, there was plenty of water to meet the settlers’ needs either inside the fort, or close by. Nashville’s first attempt to estab- lish a public water supply was a failure. In 1823, the city entered a contract with Samuel Stacker to build a pumping station at his saw and grist mill at the Fort Nashboro spring. Water mains of bored locust and cedar logs were laid to the city’s reservoir, which the city had already erected at the rear of the Masonic Lodge on Spring Street between Cherry and Sumner streets. Another water line was to be extended from the reservoir to the public square. A section of this wooden, water pipe was unearthed, I think in 1945, by Nashville Gas Company workers who were putting in new lines on Fourth Avenue North. Stacker worked for two years trying to build the water system. He succeeded only in moving water into the reservoir on an experimental basis. The city rescinded his contract and purchased the unfinished works for $2,500. The firm of Avery and Ward began where Stacker left off and finished his project Aug. 19, 1826. On that day,when the plant was placed in operation, the city celebrated calling the new water system a great success. In truth, Avery and Ward had only limited success. They were able to fill the cisterns on the public square, which were used for supplying water to the horse-drawn fire engines in the fire station on the square. The pumping station burned down in 1929, after three years of limited service. So, once again, Nashville was without a water system and reliant on the Fort Nashboro spring. A deliveryman would furnish spring water in two 25-gallon barrels for 25 cents.