PumpBlogs 
Discovering a Historic Pump House
A few weeks ago, P&S Account Executive Charli Matthews and I were visiting clients in the Midwestern United States and found ourselves in the charming town of Beloit, which sits directly on the state line that divides Illinois and Wisconsin.
A beautiful historic house with a white picket fence sitting on the corner of the heart of downtown caught our attention. Shadowing the house was a huge stone water tower. The sign in front . . . “The Pump House.” We immediately went inside to check it out.
We discovered a local treasure. The house has been completely restored and now serves as the office for the City of Beloit Parks and Leisure Services and Friends of Riverfront. In the center of the house (perhaps where the living room should be) is the essence of its character and charm – a huge green pump that in 1935 pumped an average of 1.6 million gallons of water for the community.
The citizens of Beloit are proud of this little piece of history. Walking into The Pump House is like walking through a time machine. The pump is roped off and on display. On the walls surrounding it are original artist renderings of the house and tower, antique photographs and framed newspaper clippings that chronicle the progression of Beloit’s history and commitment to clean water.
Today, there are more than 67 miles of water mains in the distribution system serving Beloit and the city claims to have the purest water in North America (thanks to testing samples every two weeks at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene).
The stone water tower, built in 1885 to serve as the pedestal for a cypress-board water tank of the Beloit Water Works, is a visible community landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historical Places.
Pump Houses are everywhere, and many are considered historic landmarks. Because this one is so important to the community of Beloit and its history, it is worth visiting.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:40 am
Very informative article
September 4th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Michelle,
I read your blog and found it diverse and interesting. Your article written on Beloit’s historic pump station starts one thinking about the essential requirement to transport water to our communities…clean water, that is
With your continuing contributions, you not only inform… you inspire! Thank you, Michelle, for your superlative work!
September 5th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Michelle,
I just read your great article about Beloit, Wisconsin. My husband David grew up in nearby Racine, Wisconsin and has friends who grew up in Beloit. We’ll definitely visit the Beloit Pump House the next time we go back to WI.
I have become the resident historian for Cla-Val after having done a retrospective piece on our company for our 70th anniversary a couple of years ago. It’s really amazing how much the waterworks industry has changed! The AWWA did a historical overview of the industry last year for their 125th anniversary. Really interesting!