St. Albans Water Plant, WV
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Water Plant Construction, 1919 Photo and newspaper by Dart Ellis
Water Plant Construction, 1921. Ice Plant to the right (Courtesy St. Albans Historical Society}
Water Plant 1980 (Courtesy St. Albans Historical Society}
Water Plant and American Legion (background), 1920s (Courtesy St. Albans Historical Society}
Water Plant Construction, 1919-1921.(Courtesy St. Albans Historical Society}
Water Plant Construction, 1919-1921 (Courtesy St. Albans Municipal Utility Commission)
Mohler House with the elevated water tank on the left of photo
Water Plant 2015
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The original St. Albans water plant was put in operation by W. E. Mohler and associates in 1907 with water coming directly fro th Coal River to an elevated wooden water tank, behind the Mohler House on Pennsylvania Ave.. Later, water was pumped direct from Coal River to a reservoir on College Hill, and the condition of the river was reflected in the quality of water served the customer. If the river was muddy, you got muddy water. The electric plant only ran to 10:00 pm at night. In 1913 the water plant was purchased by businessman Myron Campbell, who added a 20 ton ice plant in 1913 and in 1921 built a modern masonry water filtration plant for $30,000, which is still in operation today (2018).
In April, 1927, Mr. Campbell sold the water, electric and nearby ice plant to the St. Albans Public Service Company, which today is the St. Albans Municipal Utility Commission. The water plant of today looks the exact same on the exterior, but many modern improvements have been done inside to make it one of the finest water filtration plants in West Virginia. 1921 is stamped in the concrete door lentil.
Sources
2.Ellis, Dart. ""St. Albans Water Plant Nears Completion-1919." St. Albans Advertiser, (St. Albans). .
3.“St. Albans Will Have Up-to-Date Filtration”. St. Albans Herald (St. Albans) March 20, 1919. , 1 ed.