Excerpt from Building A College: An Architectural History of Berea College[1]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Waterworks, 1904-1905
Plans provided by R. D. Kimball Company, Boston, MA
Engineer: Mr. Gilman
Contractors: Gleaves and Company, Lynchburg, VA
Opening Dedication: October 21-22, 1904
In the later years of the nineteenth century and periodically in the early twentieth century, Berea was gravely short of water. Money to build the Waterworks was given by Dr. Daniel K. Pearsons in 1901, who also gave the funds to construct Pearsons Hall. Addison Ballard ( College Trustee 1896-1906), instrumental in obtaining the funds from Dr. Pearsons for the waterworks, broke ground at the ten springs in the college forest on October 22, 1904, four months after Phelps Stokes Chapel was begun and during the year of the catastrophic Kentucky House Bill 25. Fourteen inch and ten inch pipes were laid for three and one half miles to take this water from the reservoirs to the campus and community. The Prudential Committee voted that since the water supply was paid for by Dr. Pearsons' gift, and that the water was for College consumption and fire suppression, and if it were to be made available and used by the public, the water would have to be sold (PAR, June 7, 1905; July 3, 1911).
Town's people were invited to the dedication ceremonies which took place at the Tabernacle. The printed dedication announcement read: "Bring basket lunches and cups, the College will provide coffee" ( Berea Citizen, October 20, 1904; October 27, 1904). During Commencement, June 7, 1905, Mrs. William Eleazar Barton of Oak Park, IL, standing in for Dr. Pearsons, "officially started the water flowing on the College campus" by turning on a fire hydrant in front of Lincoln Hall ( Berea Citizen, June 8, 1905, 1). Water shot thirty feet into the air amazing the skeptics who questioned "how Berea College could get water to flow up Prospect Hill" (Virginia Ferrill Piland). At the same time Berea was getting a clean safe water supply, construction of another much larger water project, the Panama Canal, was begun by President Teddy Roosevelt.
In the early nineteen twenties, two additional reservoirs and dams were constructed in Pigg Hollow in a watershed of 1,400 acres. One of these, the Kales Dam held 10,000,000 gallons of water; the College and town used 150,000 gallons a day (PCM, May 10, 1920; PAR, 1921; W. J. Hutchins letter, May, 1921). These new reservoirs provided additional water and fire protection. One dam was donated by Mrs. William R (Alice G.) Kales of Detroit (Kales Lake- Pigg Hollow Lake #1; BTM, October 21, 1920) and the other by Harry Munger and his sister (auxiliary dam, B Lake on Ballard's Branch whose total cost was about $50,000). President William Hutchins wrote Mrs. Kales: ''With your new reservoir, we shall be able to handle almost any fire peril to which we might be subjected, [and it] . . . will save our students and the people of Berea from the terrible water famines which have been the curse of the place" (W. J. Hutchins to Kales, May 11, 1921).
An original springhouse was built over a clear and pure spring in 1878, and after renovating, cleaning and sealing it anew with a large stone, the College Trustees and President Hutchins named it at a dedication ceremony, April 9, 1928, in honor of President Henry Fairchild. This spring was located below Bare (Bear) Knob where Fairchild had earlier planted a peach orchard and had built a lookout tower (Berea Citizen, April 12, 1928, 1).
------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Citation: Boyce, Robert Piper. Building A College: An Architectural History of Berea College. Self-published. Berea, Ky: Berea College Printing Services, 2006, p149-150.
NOTE: This content is reproduced here with permission of the author and is COPYRIGHT PROTECTED. Fair Use access granted for educational purposes only, therefore, this content may be used in the classroom or classroom assignments without prior permission as long as proper citation is provided. For commercial use, publication, or reproduction, permission must be obtained from copyright holder or owner.
Boyce, Robert Piper. Building A College: An Architectural History of Berea College. Self-published. Berea, Ky: Berea College Printing Services, 2006, p 149-1150.