masonry supplies

The Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842. Before the aqueduct was constructed, New Yorkers got water from cisterns, wells, natural springs, and other bodies of water. But rapid population growth in the Nineteenth Century led to the pollution of many water sources. The unsanitary conditions were causing an increase in disease and epidemics like cholera and yellow fever ravaged the city. The rapid expansion in largely wooden buildings also led to many fires destroying large parts of the city.

A new supply of fresh water was needed. I-XL Masonry Supplies Inc. Accordingly, a vast engineering project was begun to supply this need. Iron pipe encased in brick masonry was laid from the Croton Dam in northern Westchester County to the Harlem River, where it travelled over the High Bridge at 173rd Street down the west side of Manhattan to a Receiving Reservoir between 79th and 86th streets and Sixth and Seventh Avenues in an area then known as Yorkville. The Receiving Reservoir was a fortress-like building 1,826 feet long and 836 feet wide, and held up to 180 million gallons of water. Thirty-five million gallons flowed into it daily from northern Westchester. Samuel Farwell was one of the major contractors on the project.