{"id":13553,"date":"2018-10-06T19:10:58","date_gmt":"2018-10-07T02:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/?p=13553"},"modified":"2025-07-25T15:30:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T22:30:05","slug":"indianapolis-water-co-first-1870-water-pumphouse-in-white-river-state-parlk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2018\/10\/06\/indianapolis-water-co-first-1870-water-pumphouse-in-white-river-state-parlk\/","title":{"rendered":"Indianapolis Water Co First 1870 Water Pumphouse in White River State Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/strong><\/span>his one-story, brick structure with slate roof and copper finishings, sits in White River State Park next to the White River at the approach to the old\u00a0Washington Street Bridge that connects, as an esplanade, to the\u00a0Indianapolis Zoo. It\u00a0<\/span>was built\u00a0 in 1870.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 1908 the\u00a0Indianapolis Water Company, which bought it from the Water Works of Indianapolis in 1881, replaced the steam engines with enormous hydraulic turbines and pumps that then relied on\u00a0 water pressure from<\/span>\u00a0the nearby Indy Canal for power.\u00a0<\/span>It delivered both drinking water and pressured water for fire protection<\/span>\u00a0until it was retired and closed in 1969.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Of note, is the fact that it did not rely on the White River directly for water but shallow wells nearby. The wells, of which over 25,000 private ones were already in use by Indianapolis locals, served as a natural filtration buffer for the water.<\/span><\/p>\n

Btw: In its original form, this pumphouse was shaped in the form of a ‘T’. That changed in 1930 when a tornado took off part of the building.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This one-story, brick structure with slate roof and copper finishings, sits in White River State Park next to the White… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,132,128,149,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indianapolis","category-indianapolis-cultural-trail","category-indianapolis-history","category-indy-points-interest","category-uncategorized-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3VuuR-3wB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16503,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2022\/03\/04\/indianapolis-points-of-interest-index\/","url_meta":{"origin":13553,"position":0},"title":"Indianapolis Points of Interest Index","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"March 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"-\u00a0\u00a0Athenaeum (Das Deustsche Haus) Built 1893 - Belmont Beach - Central Canal -\u00a0Christ Church, an Episcopal church built in 1857 on Monument Circl - Circle City Industrial -\u00a0Louis Schwitzer, First IMS Winner and Builder of Circle City Industrial Complex -\u00a0City Market 1886 with Bicycle Garage Indy -\u00a0Columbia Club at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Indianapolis"","block_context":{"text":"Indianapolis","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/indianapolis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/TopOfMonumentLadyVictory.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17951,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2025\/07\/26\/nbg-indianapolis-history-index\/","url_meta":{"origin":13553,"position":1},"title":"NBG Indianapolis History Index","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"July 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Athenaeum (Das Deustsche Haus) Built 1893 Bicycle Stair Ramp at the Athenaeum Boston based Sasaki Associates Transformation of the Indianapolis Riverfront! Cadillac Co. of Indiana\/Automobile College Carl Fisher\u2019s original bike shop on Pennsylvania Ave Carl Fisher saturated Indianapolis with the Eagle HiWheel Indianapolis and the Nation, the Houses that Carl\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Indianapolis History"","block_context":{"text":"Indianapolis History","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/indianapolis-history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13309,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2018\/09\/07\/first-bridge-to-indianapolis-over-the-white-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":13553,"position":2},"title":"Washington St. Bridge from Downtown Indianapolis over the White River, 1870","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"September 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Below is the bridge I go over almost every day on my way from the zoo to downtown Indianapolis. Now an esplanade, in 1834 it was NOT the covered bridge you see in the first picture here. It was also NOT a part of the National Road Thomas Jefferson signed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Indianapolis"","block_context":{"text":"Indianapolis","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/indianapolis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/37078652_2102456676708700_3123482895495200768_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15216,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2020\/01\/17\/2020-mayors-ride-to-indianapolis-bicentennial-to-end-on-epic-bridge\/","url_meta":{"origin":13553,"position":3},"title":"2020 Mayors’ Ride to Indianapolis Bicentennial to End on Epic Bridge","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"January 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Our 2020 National Mayors' Ride from Washington DC, San Francisco and the 17 major cities in between will end here at\u00a0White River State Park\u00a0in Indianapolis for its Bicentennial on this much storied bridge\/esplanade.\u00a0 An 1870 construction, it was rebuilt in 1902 to replace the adjacent 1834 wood covered bridge that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Indianapolis"","block_context":{"text":"Indianapolis","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/indianapolis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-01-16-at-12.54.11-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-01-16-at-12.54.11-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-01-16-at-12.54.11-PM.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14169,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2019\/03\/13\/evolution-of-the-white-river-indianapolis-1863-to-present\/","url_meta":{"origin":13553,"position":4},"title":"Evolution of the White River, downtown Indianapolis, 1862 to present, w\/ Kingan Pork, Beveridge Paper, Perry W smokestack, Acme-Evans Flour mill, Brower & Love Cotton Mill and the Indiana Bleaching Company","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"March 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The Kingan Pork Packing plant in the first picture, a drawing, occupied 27 acres on both sides of the river where the Zoo, Victory Park (a baseball stadium) and the rest of\u00a0\u00a0White River State Park are located now. They employed 5,000 (mostly Irish) people and were one of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How Indy Built America"","block_context":{"text":"How Indy Built America","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/how-indy-built-america\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Screen-Shot-2019-03-13-at-10.07.58-PM.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Screen-Shot-2019-03-13-at-10.07.58-PM.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Screen-Shot-2019-03-13-at-10.07.58-PM.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15226,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2020\/01\/20\/2020-mayors-ride-to-indianapolis-bicentennial-to-end-on-epic-bridge-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":13553,"position":5},"title":"2020 Mayors\u2019 Ride to Indianapolis Bicentennial to End on Epic Bridge","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"January 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Our 2020 National Mayors\u2019 Ride from Washington DC, San Francisco and the 17 major cities in between will end here at\u00a0White River State Park\u00a0in Indianapolis for its Bicentennial on this much storied bridge\/esplanade.\u00a0 An 1870 construction, it was rebuilt in 1902 to replace the adjacent 1834 wood covered bridge that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Indianapolis Bicentennial"","block_context":{"text":"Indianapolis Bicentennial","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/indianapolis-bicentennial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-01-16-at-12.54.11-PM.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-01-16-at-12.54.11-PM.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-01-16-at-12.54.11-PM.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13553"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17977,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13553\/revisions\/17977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}