National Register Listing

Willow Street Pump Station

a.k.a. City Street Cleaning and Sewage Pumping Station

811 N. San Jacinto, Houston, TX

The Willow Street Pump Station, located near the founding site of the city of Houston, represents an engineering response to address bayou pollution and waste disposal in the growing city. The bayou was the lifeblood of the city in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and reliance upon it as a river of commerce led to the construction of the city's first sewage treatment facility and pumping station at Willow Street. Completion of the pump station was a prerequisite for substantial federal funding directed at improving the ship channel and led to the establishment of Houston as a major inland port. The district, containing two contributing buildings and three contributing structures is nominated in the areas of Engineering and Community Planning and Development, at the local level of significance.

<h6>Founding of the city</h6>Houston was founded in 1836 by the New York developers, brothers Augustus Chapman and John Kirby Allen, at the confluence of Buffalo and White Oak Bayous, just downstream from the Willow Street Pump Station. Claims were made that "the town would become the "great interior commercial emporium of Texas," that ships from New York and New Orleans could sail Buffalo Bayou to its door, and that the site enjoyed a healthy, cool sea breeze." The city did develop into the commercial trading center envisioned by the Allen brothers, yet claims to be a "healthy, cool sea breeze" exaggerated-Houston is famous for hot temperatures and high humidity from May through October. The persuasive Allen's were successful in having Houston named the capital of the newly created Republic of Texas in 1837 but the legislature left for Austin two years later. Despite its beginnings as a political boomtown, the city's livelihood depended upon commerce, and the bayou system served as the backbone of trade.'

The growing city depended upon the bayou not only for the transportation of goods to and from the interior of the state but also for recreation, drinking water, and the disposal of waste. Recreational use of the bayou included pleasure steamers bound for Galveston, honeymoon cruises to the Gulf of Mexico, and bayou baptisms. The bayou is an inextricable link to the growth and development of Houston from an early nineteenth-century paper-city to the nation's fourth-largest city by 1989. The Willow Street Pump Station is a chapter in the history of Houston's desire for a deep inland port and the federal support necessary to bring this about.

<h6>Early Houston bayous</h6>Houston's bayous, most notably Buffalo Bayou and its tributaries, are the city's natural drainage system. Several written accounts discuss early bayou navigation in Houston, including one written by Dr. John Washington Lockhart in 1839 that describes the importance of the bayou as a water source and how animal teams with water carts were driven down the gradual bayou banks to fill up barrels and would then go house-to-house selling water by the bucketful. In 1878 "the city authorized James M. Loweree of New York to build a waterworks to supply the town [with water] from Buffalo Bayou. The twenty-five-year contract required provision of 3,000,000 gallons per day, a 150,000-gallon reservoir, free water for three fountains, and pressure that could throw six streams one hundred feet high through fifty feet of hose, using one and one-eighth to two and one-half inch nozzles." Lowered constructed the system and sold out to the city shortly after beginning operation. In addition to the bayou, rainwater was collected in cisterns and barrels. Artesian wells were another source of water and a private citizen, Gus Warnecke, drilling a private well in the late 1880s, struck the nation's third largest artesian reservoir at Franklin and LaBranch Streets and the city was quick to drill and capture well water for its citizens. "The Water Works Company began to drill in February 1888, and by 1891 it operated fourteen wells to supply a seven-square-mile area through forty miles of pipe."

<h6>Early Bayou Navigation and Commerce</h6>Bayou activity was greatest during harvest and marketing times, while the rest of the year was spent in sending supplies to farmers. Ships arrived in Galveston with cargoes of cloth, flour, whiskey, gunpowder, iron castings, lead, coffee, sugar, nails, books, and hundreds of small items. Small river steamships then took the goods from Galveston to Houston. The merchants then sent them by ox wagon to the farmers in the hinterland. In the reverse direction came cotton, corn, and hides through Houston to Galveston and on to New Orleans, New York, and Europe. Railroads were also a vital link in the transport of goods and by 1860 Houston also had five railroad lines and over 350 miles of track leading into the city. Naturally shallow, tidal, and winding, Buffalo Bayou was always difficult to navigate, and tree trunks, brambles, and sunken vessels added to the challenge. Galveston, fifty miles to the south, had a natural deepwater harbor sheltered from the Gulf of Mexico by the sand barrier island. Houston was constantly dredging its winding bayous to encourage ships to navigate inland to the foot of Main Street. After the Civil War concentrated efforts to maintain and improve Houston's waterway were successful due to the increased competition with Galveston. In 1842, the Texas legislature passed a bill to permit the city to clear sunken vessels obstructing navigation. In 1865, the City of Houston passed an ordinance authorizing the mayor to accept private loans for Buffalo Bayou ship channel improvements, thus increasing the likelihood of expansion."

Expenditures for the continued improvement of the bayou were regularly received from municipal, state, and federal sources. In 1853 the legislature appropriated $4,000 for improvements, and a year later an additional $22,725. In 1865 a local ordinance was passed giving the Houston mayor the authority to accept private loans for channel improvement. In 1869 city residents supported the expenditure of $100,000 for a nine-foot channel. In 1872, a federal survey was conducted for a possible deepwater ship channel and the United States Congress appropriated $10,000 for channel improvements. Congress continued appropriations of $35,000 in 1875; $75,000 in 1876; $80,000 in 1878; $50,000 in 1878; $50,000 in 1880; $50,000 in 1881 and $94,500 in 1882-all for channel improvements.?

<h6>Other bayou concerns</h6>As Houston was focused on building a significant inland port, city services and infrastructure were virtually ignored." As early Houstonians yearned for the business success the bayou provided, they neglected the fact that the bayou also provided drinking water and recreation for its citizens and at the same time served as a disposal system for sewage. Like all nineteenth-century cities, Houston has its history of fires. Fires reinforced the need for adequate water and water pressure as an important and necessary city service. By 1861 the city had two fire engines and no paid firemen. The city's first major fire swept through the center of town in 1869 and caused $300,000 in damage. Subsequent fires the next year destroyed $350,000 worth of property. In 1876 the City Market house fire caused $400,000 in damages, and the 1876 fire on Congress Ave. caused $1,000,000 in damages. Artesian wells could not supply the necessary water for fire fighting and so the city resorted to Loweree's 1878 water work system drawing on water from the bayou, yet this proved inadequate and there simply never was enough pressure in the fire hydrants. In 1891 a fire burned 20 acres of urban property; in 1894 another fire caused $500,000 in property damage and killed two people. In 1876 the City Market house fire caused $400,000 in damages, and the 1876 fire on Congress Ave. caused $1,000,000 in damages."

As early as 1893, Houstonians' complaints of pollution in Buffalo Bayou were aired in the local press, but the city government took no action.10 A 1895 report issued by federal channel inspector Major A. A. Miller in May of 1895, validated public concerns. Major Miller warned that the federal government would not clean the sewage from Buffalo Bayou and that continued federal aid for channel improvements depended on city action to clean up the bayou. The following month, the Houston District Medical Association surveyed the area and found a dozen privies, a smallpox graveyard, a dead cow, a cotton-oil mill, and cattle yards contributing to the pollution of the city's emergency water supply. When water was needed to fight fires, bayou water was pumped into the water mains to increase water pressure, contaminating the city's drinking water."

In January 1897, a group of U.S. Congressmen from the Rivers and Harbors Committee visited Houston to assess the possibility of creating a deepwater channel. That following July, a board of government engineers estimated that a channel from Houston to Bolivar Roads would cost $4,000,000 with annual maintenance costs of $100,000. In March 1899, Congress approved the plan for a deepwater channel, with the first $1,000,000 appropriated in 1902.

Houston City Council responded to Major Miller's warnings that funds for channel improvements would be withheld until attempts to clean up pollution in Buffalo Bayou took place; at their May 15, 1899 meeting, Council members voted to call an election for the purpose of proceeding with a sewage system project. Council minutes reflect the concern for the progress of the deepwater channel project:

We have studied closely the results of the Engineer's examination of the existing condition of the Bayou and they amply emphasize our own ideas and those of most of the citizens that the condition of the Bayou is deplorable and should be speedily corrected. We further believe, that until the sewage is taken out of the bayou, action of the federal government on the deepwater project will not be taken. (Minutes of the city council of Houston, January 1, 1896-June 19, 1899, p. 685-686.)"

<h6>Design of City Sewer and Pump Station</h6>In the 1880s, Houston looked to other cities as it embarked on the design of its own sewer system. At the time, two different types of sewer systems were commonly used throughout the country: the "separate system" and the "combined system." Norfolk, Virginia, and Memphis, Tennessee used a "separate system" where sewage is transported through smaller clay pipes and stormwater is separated from commercial and household wastes in separate and larger pipes. Combined system sewers collected household wastes, rainwater, and street run-off in large brick sewers that then emptied into the nearest watercourse. In June of 1887, W. M. Harkness proposed a "separate system" for Houston based on the designs from Norfolk and Memphis, and C.W. Jarvis, city engineer, and Wynkeep Kierstad, continued this proposal for the city. Houston's new system of sewers now separated stormwater from commercial and domestic wastes.

In 1899, Houston enlisted the assistance of Alexander Potter, an expert who had written extensively and believed firmly that sewage had to be treated. At this time, only half of Houston employed sewer lines, and merely 15% enjoyed sewer connections. Potter did not hold the widely proposed theory that streams naturally cleaned themselves. Therefore, Potter saw the need to not only remove the waste from homes but from the bayou as well.' As a consulting engineer, Potter designed an innovative filtration system to be constructed as the Willow Street Pump Station. Potter also designed the associated waste treatment plant 11⁄2 miles downstream in the Fifth Ward.

According to Potter, as effluent left the sewers and reached the bayou, little odor or solid matter remained, yet the challenge remained on how to prevent the disintegration of sewage into the city's water supply. Potter recommended that sewage be as near the center of the city as possible. This goal required more land than was available, making it necessary to build a pumping station to transfer the sewage to a treatment plant where it could be treated. Pumped through 24-inch cast iron pipes, the sewage ended its journey at filter beds on a site near Clinton and McCarty streets east of the Willow Street pump station site. At the completion of the Willow Street Pump Station, only two other cities utilized similar methods in treating sewage: Plainfield, New Jersey, and Berlin, Germany. Houston's low topography necessitated the use of pumping stations as an integral part of the sewage system. Completed on March 13, 1902, Potter's design for the Willow Street Pump Station was the city's first sewage pump or lift station. By 1968, Houston had 168 pump stations."

The initial facilities within the pump station were comprised of one ten-inch centrifugal pump, with a capacity of three million gallons of water per day, and one twelve-inch centrifugal pump, with double the pumping capacity. F.W. Heltman & Co. supplied and installed the machinery at the station, Morris Machine Works constructed the pumps, and the American Engine Company produced the engines. The boilers were of the "water tube type" made by Babcock and Wilson Company. Each boiler contained 100 horsepower and supplied all the steam required to run the plant. These boilers worked off of fuel oil or coal. The filter beds at the conclusion of the force-driven pipes consisted of three layers of filtering material. Four inches of gravel made up the lower layer, six inches of broken stone covered this layer, and the third layer of the filter beds involved coke."

The new sewage treatment station satisfied the demands of the federal government, and federal funds once again continued to Houston for channel improvements. The ship channel's turning point moved four miles east to Long Reach in 1908, and approval and necessary funds were secured to fulfill the Allen Brothers' dream that Houston become a major inland port. The Willow Street Pump Station, however, did not fully address the extent of the city's bayou pollution. In a December 1903 test, a sampling of Buffalo Bayou water was found to contain 161,606 bacteria per cubic centimeter (500 bacteria/cc was considered to be safe)." In July of 1905, the system was found to be able to process only about one-half of the intended sewage. In 1906, live catfish were found in water mains, disputing the city's claim that drinking water came exclusively from artesian wells and not from the bayou.

While the Willow Street Pump Station alone could not address the full scope of Houston's water problems, it was certainly an important step in the right direction. In 1909, the Willow Street Pump Station collected all the sewage from the Third and Fourth Wards, along with the handling of sewage from the First, Sixth, and Fifth Wards. This year, the city appropriated $85,000 for the construction of more sanitary sewers in the Fifth Ward. Also, improvements were made to the Willow Street site to increase the station's pumping capacity and added a "turbine centrifugal pump" driven by a rope, along with a heavy-duty Corliss engine and one water tube boiler of 195 horsepower.

<h6>Willow Street Pump Station, early documentation</h6>The Willow Street Pump Station, located on the banks of White Oak Bayou, is comprised of two buildings and three structures. Early Houston maps show the existence of a "steam sawmill" (Girard, 1839), the use of the site as "railroad ground" (Wood, 1866) and on the 1882 Morrison map the site is labeled as "Houston Cotton Compress." A Sanborn map from 1885 shows the footprint of the Houston Press Company's Compress with a platform to the bayous and a small bridge to the west bank where the company had additional facilities. The 1891 Wood bird's eye view of the city shows a large warehouse structure on the corner of Willow and Steam Mill Streets. The 1896 Sanborn notes that the warehouse structure is "dilapidated & falling down."

A footprint of the storage building first appears in the 1907 Sanborn map and shows a one-story masonry structure with a concrete tile roof and ceiling. The map shows a one-story, full-width iron porch on the north side of the building. Inside is a horizontal steam boiler. The site is noted on the map as "Street Cleaning Dep't and Sewage Pumping Station." To the west towards the bayou is the pump house, another masonry structure with two engines: one 100-horse power and the second 80-horse power. There is an L-shaped building noted as "Trash Burnery" that is open on the north, west, and south facades. There are three sheds: one designated as "Street Sweeper Shed" and two miscellaneous sheds. The incinerator and the sheds were removed by the 1920s when the current incinerator appeared on the 1924 Sanborn. On this map, the boiler from the Storage Building has been removed and the building is noted as "General Storage." The pump house is extant and a new "Trash Burning Department" building, the current incinerator, is located just south of the Storage Building and the two square-shaped smoke stacks are present on this map. There is an adjacent two-story addition to the east with a metal roof. On this 1924 map, the site is called, "City Street Cleaning Dep't. & Sewage Pumping Station." On this and the earlier Sanborns, the legal block number is noted as Block 54, yet on current tax maps the block number is 64.

It is possible a replat renumbered the blocks in the area. The staircase that leads from the storage building to the pump house appears on the 1942 Sanborn map along with the grit chamber, called "sewage basin" on the map, below the pump house. There is also an additional smokestack in front of the grit chamber noted as "Master Burner." On the south side complex are two one-story auto repair structures. The 1942 map shows Willow Street renamed as North San Jacinto.

<h6>Storage Building, 1902, building</h6>Part of the original pump house complex design of Alexander Potter, the storage building is a red brick, load-bearing masonry structure with arched window and door openings. The building first appears on the 1907 Sanborn map that shows a horizontal steam boiler inside. On this first map, the site is known as the "Street Cleaning Department and Sewage Pumping Station." Subsequent Sanborn maps from 1924 and 1942 designate the building as "General Storage" and the boiler removed. The building has had few alterations and was recently rehabilitated in 2003 for use by the University of Houston-Downtown for reception and gallery space.

<h6>Pump House, 1902, structure</h6>The pump house is also part of Alexander Potter's original design for the complex. It is sited into the banks of White Oak Bayou, faces west, and contains three of the original water pumps and a fourth replacement pump that is also considered historic. The building is noted on the 1907 Sanborn map where two of the extant four pumps are noted: one with an engine of 100 horsepower and the second engine with 80 horsepower. The pump house is closest to the bayou and the grit chamber below.

<h6>Grit Chamber, 1930s, structure</h6>Added as part of the remodeling efforts of the 1930s to increase the capacity of the pump house, the grit chamber is located at the level of the current bayou embankment. From the Pump House, a narrow concrete staircase with low sidewalls leads down to the grit chamber. The staircase doglegs to the south and then steps up five steps. The grit chamber was the front line of allowing or preventing water from entering the pump house and filtering out large pieces of debris. Presently, the structure consists of the staircase, a diagonally shaped concrete embankment wall against the bayou bank, the grit chamber, and a square concrete platform with a large metal valve on top. The grit chamber is a horizontal-shaped trough with concrete columns and beams on the north and south ends. Concrete columns support a concrete beam that has two large screws on top. These screws are connected to the extant solid cast iron gates below. The gates are attached on one end to a central concrete column and on the other end to the concrete beam upon which the two screws are mounted. The iron gates are presently fixed in an open position. The screws have the name of the manufacturer stamped on them - C. D. Butch of Denver, Colorado. The central "pit" part of the grit chamber is filled with sand. The structure is in fair condition and contributes to the district.

<h6>Incinerator, 1914 (alt. 1920, addition 2003), building</h6>The incinerator is not part of the original Alexander Potter design for the Willow Street complex. It appears first on the 1924 Sanborn map and appears from visual inspection to have been constructed in two phases. In 2003, a new concrete structural floor slab was built, covering the open space above the furnaces that remain in place at the basement level below. A new corrugated metal roof was installed and a new concrete masonry addition with intersecting gable roof was added to the east side of the building.

<h6>Summary of preservation efforts of past and future plans</h6>The Willow Street Pump Station district was in a severe state of disrepair with major structural cracks in the storage and incinerator buildings. Roofs were leaking and the site was open to vandals and mischief seekers. The University of Houston-Downtown negotiated a 30-year lease with the City of Houston and began work on rehabilitation of the site in 2002. The University has recently rehabilitated the buildings and structures on the site for use as a reception hall and gallery space. Future plans include a second addition to the east of and connecting to the incinerator building for a two-story classroom building. The university plans to incorporate this property into its master plan that embraces both sides of the bayou and establishes a Department of Urban Ecology and Bayou Studies to be located at the Willow Street Pump Station.

<h6>Summary</h6>The Willow Street Pump Station was constructed to combat bayou pollution so that the flow of federal funds for the expansion and maintenance of Buffalo Bayou, the city's economic lifeline, would continue. The city's new "separate system" sewer and pump station, designed by Alexander Potter, was completed in 1902 and the Willow Street Pump Station was the city's first sewage pumping or lift station that sent wastewater to a water treatment center a mile and a half downstream. The original pump house and storage building are extant, and modernization of the facility occurred through 1930 with the addition of the grit chamber and conversion of the pumps to electricity from steam. Although the pump station failed to fully address the severity of bayou pollution, the project is a testament to Houston's early response to waste disposal in a growing city, and its completion triggered federal funding which greatly improved the Houston Ship Channel and thus the city's viability as an inland port.

Local significance of the district:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2004.