703 W Trail Street – Dodge City, Kansas
We take for granted that water in towns and cities comes from municipal plants but that wasn’t always the case. Dodge City gained a private waterworks operation in 1886 but the City didn’t get into the water business until after the turn of the twentieth century.
Dodge City Electric Light Company, which later became Midland Water, Light & Ice Company, operated both the electric and water utilities from their facility at the west end of what was then Locust Street as well as a couple different buildings downtown.
After years of debate, the City bought the waterworks part of the operation from Midland in December of 1909. This $29,000 purchase included three lots directly east of the Midland plant on newly renamed Santa Fe Trail Street, the existing standpipe, and water mains. The transaction did not include the pumping operation, however, so the City made plans to construct a pumping station and drill additional wells.
In February of 1910, the City made an agreement to sell bonds totaling $65,000 to a bank in Toledo for the bulk of the funding. Engineer J. S. Worley from Kansas City was hired to design the expanded waterworks system which included a one-story dark red brick Italian Renaissance pumphouse measuring approximately 40 x 12 feet with a clay tile roof and beautiful windows. Plans were accepted the same month and bids were due by March 22.
Unfortunately, the Ohio bankers thought they were financing the purchase of a fully functional waterworks operation rather than the construction of a new one and the deal was cancelled before the end of March. This meant the bonds would go up for public purchase, which meant a bond election was required. On April 19, 1910, voters were asked to decide on a $29,000 issue for the Midland purchase plus another $51,000 to construct the new pumping station and extend the waterworks system with the appropriate materials and machinery. Voters approved and the project continued.
The Roby Bros. company was hired to drill the first test well and the first samples sent to Dr. Samuel Crumbine in May of 1910 indicated the water was soft and pure.
The building and mains installation contract was awarded to Freeborn Engineering and Construction Co. of Kansas City. Local contractor William Foley oversaw the bulk of the building construction. Steam boilers and engines were ordered from Platt Iron Works of Dayton, Ohio.
Excavation for the pumphouse began in July of 1910. By August 26, the boilers were being installed. Dodge City’s approximately 600 customers were without water on November 12 while the new connections were attached to the pumphouse. The first system test was completed the following week and the new facility began pumping water for the entire city in December. The plant was finished in January of 1911.
The building is shown here prior to Santa Fe Trail Street being paved.
I remember being obsessed with the building’s windows as a child. My aunt worked there in the late 1970s or early ’80s and I would call and bother her at work because I thought it was so cool that she got to work in such a beautiful place.
Many more wells were drilled all over town as Dodge grew and although the building was still used, it was less important to the operation of the public works system. Those enormous windows were eventually replaced with tiny utilitarian inserts and the openings were filled in with wood paneling.
Katrina Ringler with the Kansas Historical Society photographed the building in June of 2015 for the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory.
Photos: Kansas Historic Resources Inventory, https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=057-1405. Used with permission.
The building was destroyed by fire in the early morning hours of April 15, 2021. Globe veteran Ed O’Neal was on the scene and posted a brief video on his personal social media accounts but I was unable to find any mention in the newspaper.
Dodge City Fire Department posted a dramatic image of the completely engulfed shop area and noted there were no injuries.
The City issued a brief press release advising the Kansas State Fire Marshal was investigating the cause but I was unable to find any later updates. It took quite a while for the structure’s remains to be demolished due to the investigation and the lengthy insurance claims process. The Google Street View image below is from September of 2021.
The City Commission voted to sell the property to Winans Oil, Inc. in September of 2022.
This is how the former site of the Dodge City Waterworks looks today:
I suppose in the context of the horrific wildfires which plagued Southwest Kansas in the Spring of 2021, the loss of this historic utility building was relatively insignificant. However, a little follow-up would have been nice.
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