Maryland Firsts: An article series exploring our state’s contributions to American industry
Lake Montebello in Baltimore officially opened as a source of public drinking water in 1881. Today, the lake holds up to 606 million gallons and features recreational opportunities, including a walking trail. Photo by James G. Howes.
Abel Wolman (1892–1989) was Baltimore’s Director of Public Works and revolutionized public water system sanitization.
Baltimore’s forefathers set the national precedent for safe drinking water and the needed infrastructure to quench a region’s thirst
The year was 1854 and Baltimoreans were getting thirsty. Surrounded by water, community cups dangled from every spring source and buckets lifted water through wells and private yards. But it wasn’t enough. In the 50 years prior, the village of Baltimore had grown into the second largest city in the new nation and its 169,000 residents needed more water.
To supply the demand, the local Water Board identified Herring Run as a source for drinking water that could be captured in a reservoir just north of the core city. It would be 27 years, however, before Lake Montebello waters—an Italian name meaning “beautiful mountain”—would cover the non-mountainous estate of General Sam Smith (1752–1839). On September 29, 1881, Montebello, holding 410 million gallons of water, opened as a source of drinking water for Baltimoreans. By this time, it was planned to join another reservoir by tunnel, that was under construction in Baltimore County, created from the running waters of the Gunpowder River.
Another 35 years later, in 1915, when the president of the Water Board, Robert Clements, cut the ribbon for the nation’s second largest fast filtration plant using chlorine to provide safe drinking water for citizens, he said “today is the biggest and most important undertaking in the history of this city.” Progressive Baltimore would go on to set nationwide standards that everyone should have safe drinking water.
Baltimore’s Public Works Director Abel Wolman (1892–1989), a graduate of City and Johns Hopkins Universities, would become a world-famous engineer and expert in the science of public water systems safety and sewage treatment. The Clean Water Act of 1972 and Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 embodied Baltimore’s standards and established the principle that everyone has the right to safe water—an idea first expressed 150 years earlier.
The Dutch biologist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) was the first to observe microorganisms in water and water pipes, but it was the 1854 epidemic of cholera, during which water was discovered as a source of spreading widespread disease. Seeing that sewage water contaminated drinking water, British doctor John Snow used chorine and sand to filter water and destroy harmful bacteria.
By 1920, Baltimore’s population had grown to more than 730,000. Lake Montebello needed help to continue supplying safe drinking water. And that help came from northern Baltimore County and a new, larger reservoir. Called Loch Raven and fueled by the Gunpowder Falls, the reservoir was (and is) 10.7 miles long by 3.75 miles wide. It holds 23 billion gallons of water, which completely sunk a town to quench the thirst of Baltimore.
East of Cockeysville, Maryland, the company mill town Warren had served the region for 100 years. On the Gunpowder River, it produced cotton and silk from the mulberry trees on hillsides surrounding it. In the 1820s, Warren held the distinction of being the only place in America that could take cotton from bolt to bolt of printed calico. And then there were all the ships in Baltimore harbor that needed cotton duck for their sails. After a workers strike in 1854 to reduce working hours, Warren was seen as an industrial Camelot, a model city. It had no taverns, three churches, a library, hospital, school with sports team and band, and one of the area’s first Boy Scout troops. It celebrated Christmas with a huge, decorated tree and a visit from Santa with candy for everyone. Nine hundred people lived in Warren and life was good. It seemed like the mill would go on forever. But in February 1922, the five-story mill spun its last thread. The company town had been sold for $350,000 to Baltimore City. Its demise was swift.
To prevent wood from clogging drains, the town was stripped. Beams from the mill were salvaged and used in new retail buildings along York Road. Machinery was cut apart and used for scrap. Within nine months, everything was gone except the flagpole that stood in front of the school. Once there was a thriving model town and then there wasn’t. The flagpole lasted for 25 years before it crumbled under water. Only Warren Road, built in 1923, is a reminder of the now-forgotten town.
Loch Raven Dam impounds the Loch Raven Reservoir and provides drinking water for the City of Baltimore and most of Baltimore County, Maryland. Photo by James G. Howes.
Today, Loch Raven is also a premier recreation site, one of the most pristine outdoor locations in the metropolitan region. It is a haven for wildlife and features 20 miles of trails for hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers. Largemouth bass and, even, brown trout thrive in its waters. The road that winds its way through this outdoor paradise passes rock ledges millions of years old, and over historic bridges. On October 26, 1958, two men crossing one of the bridges saw a large, flat, oval shaped object “hovering” over the bridge. They felt a burning sensation on their skin. Fearful, they went to a local hospital proclaiming they had seen a UFO. The case was investigated by Project Blue Book. And it remains unexplained.
In 1933, a third reservoir named Pretty Boy opened, named for a horse that lost its life in a nearby creek. It covers 79.7 square miles. Owned by Baltimore City, it, too, is a forested drinking-water watershed. Under the long-range plan for drinking water, these reservoirs are protected open space eschewing development.
With foresight, Baltimore’s leadership led the way in securing safe drinking water for its residents. Standards for filtering and treating water were established (that are nationally recognized) and miles of open space for wildlife and recreation were created.
