Bethlehem Waterworks

In colonial America, gravity-fed water systems and wells were common ways for communities to get the water they needed. This changed in 1754 when Johann Christopher Christensen devised the Bethlehem Waterworks—also known as Old Waterworks and 1762 Waterworks—located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It is believed to be the first municipal water pumping system in America.

Christensen was assisted by missionary John Böhner, who had built a model pump that was made of Caribbean hardwood and had two cylinders. In June 1754, the two tested the pump using power supplied by a waterwheel at a nearby oil mill and proved it was able to force water up the bluff to town. By May 1755, a one-story building had been built to house the system’s machinery, and water from the Monocacy Creek started being pumped through wooden pipes to the community.

The system was initially successful but soon faced problems like the wooden pipes bursting under pressure and the waterwheel being positioned incorrectly in the wheelpit. Talks to rebuild the system began in 1759, and by 1762, with the help of an assistant, Christensen had a new pumping system up and running. The new system had an 18-foot undershot waterwheel that powered three single acting cast-iron pumps that still carried water through wood pipes to a collecting tower. From there, the water flowed by gravity to cisterns placed throughout the community. The new 24-square-foot, 2 ½-story high limestone rubble pumphouse that held the equipment, however, was not completed until 1764 due to damage from a nearby fire.

Alterations were made when necessary over the years to maintain the system’s ability to service the community. In 1786, the wooden pipes were replaced with lead pipes, and in 1813, they were replaced again with iron pipes. By the 1790s, the number of mills competing for water along the creek drastically reduced the power available to turn the waterworks wheel. An adjustment of the wheel in its pit was made in 1799, but it failed to correct the problem. As a result, the wheel and pit were rebuilt in 1810 and the raceway was realigned so that the waterworks and neighboring oil mill shared the same flume, allowing water to enter at an angle with less friction and greater velocity. Bethlehem Waterworks served the community until 1832, when a new pump powered by steam was built and placed in the neighboring oil mill.

In the early 1960s, interest in restoring the original waterworks began after the city rescued the old Monocacy Creek flood plain industrial area from a car junkyard. Preliminary archeological examinations of the waterworks were conducted in 1964, and by 1972, it was being prepared for restoration. The pumphouse was restored by the end of 1973, and by the end of 1976, the waterwheel and pumps were rebuilt based on 1767 mechanical drawings of the original machinery.

Since then, the waterworks has been recognized as a National Historic Landmark, a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and an American Water Landmark. It is owned by the city of Bethlehem and is currently closed to the public. However, Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites does offer walking tours that allow visitors to go inside the waterworks building and see the machinery up close