From its founding in 1836 as Bloomington, Muscatine’s early years were inextricably linked to its abundant freshwater resources, the mighty Mississippi and the aquifer underlying the young community. Unknown to the community at the time, the management of these resources would create the model for municipal utilities serving the community for years to come.
Early citizens of Muscatine took their water supply directly from the river. It wasn’t until 1875, however, that a company was organized for the specific purpose of supplying Muscatine with water. The Muscatine Water Works Company, with George W. Dillaway as president, began operating on a 25-year franchise agreement from the city in the spring of 1876.
The expiration of the Muscatine Water Works Company’s 25-year franchise in 1900 presented the city with a prickly problem. Consisting of 11 miles of mains, 125 hydrants, and a pumping station located on the waterfront just west of Chestnut Street, the company had never been a money maker. In addition to not being profitable, the steam engine at the pumping station sucked water directly out of the river without the benefit of a filtration system. Consequently, “disease and sickness held Muscatine in a dread grip,” an early newspaper article reported. “There was little question but that impure water taken directly from the river without filtration was at least a large factor in the presence of sickness in the community.”
That June, the Muscatine City Council agreed to buy the water works from the private company for the sum of $100,000 at the end of 1900, pending a special election. The result was anti-climactic. The measure won hands down, 1,202 to 258. Men voted for the proposition 4-1; women were for the measure by nearly a 6-1 measure.
The mayor and council moved quickly to appoint a three-person board of trustees to oversee the operation of the water works. William L. Roach, Sam Cohn, and T.R. Fitzgerald held an organizational meeting on Sept. 19, 1900 in preparation for the formal transfer of the property in December.
Roach, Fitzgerald, and Cohn were all well-known in the Muscatine business community. William LeRoy Roach, the first president of the board of trustees, was a 38-year-old native of Muscatine and in 1900 was president and general manager of the Roach and Musser Sash and Door Company. Thomas Rodney Fitzgerald was a prominent attorney and real estate investor in Muscatine. Samuel Cohn rounded out the trio. With his brother, Lewis Cohn, he ran one of the city’s most prominent mercantile establishments, and had experience with the waterworks, having served on the board of directors of the private company for a number of years prior to the 1900 municipalization.
The three trustees faced their first crisis in December 1901 when Muscatine County advertised the water works for sale for unpaid taxes. City attorney J.F. Devitt advised that the county could try to collect back taxes from the former stockholders of the Muscatine Water Works Company, but that, “is a matter with which, as city officials, we have nothing to do.”
The matter of back taxes was settled amicably, but the problem of a safe, potable water supply remained. It was becoming clear that the city would have to look away from the Mississippi for its water supply. After much research, the board of trustees voted in 1904 to create a wellfield on Muscatine Island and build a new pumping station. After a bond measure passed overwhelmingly, work on the new wellfield and pumping station began almost immediately. Almost two years later, the board of trustees dedicated the new pumping station, ushering in a new era of municipal water service for Muscatine and creating a model for the future.
