The Tower on Ryan’s Hill

Putting up the new water tower was comparatively easy. Taking down the old one was much harder, and clearly did not go exactly as planned. Needham had the whole world asking – Did he make it?

Yikes!  This picture got nationwide coverage.  But don’t worry – he wasn’t hurt! The standpipe fell harmlessly, and was dismantled and removed without further incident.

But I am getting ahead of myself. 

Until the late 1800s, Needham’s water sources were naturally occurring – a brook, a spring, a marsh, a river. Access to the water came with property ownership, but you could also make an agreement with your better-resourced neighbor to bring water to your property via a small pipeline or conduit, usually made out of a hollowed log. Or you dug a well. The town also provided roadside watering troughs and fountains for people and horses (and yes, the same ones were often used by both).

By the end of the 19th century, however, there was some desire in Needham to create a water system for the town to replace these uneven and haphazard arrangements. Although the reservoir pond on Dedham Avenue is now just used for recreation, it was the town’s original water works.  Needham had been trying for some years near to create a public water supply, but the Selectmen were unable to get the necessary two-thirds vote of approval from Town Meeting.  The plan was finally approved in 1889, and the town soon began pumping water from Colburn’s Spring near Bird’s Hill to the more densely-populated parts of town near the center.  

To distribute the water, the town built a water standpipe in 1890 at the town’s highest point – the hill east of the intersection of Webster Street and Hoover Road, then known as Ryan’s Hill. This hill and the surrounding land had belonged to Thomas Ryan and his descendants since at least 1840.  The standpipe was 25 feet in diameter and 85 feet high. It held 312,000 gallons of water.  The water was drawn from the Colburn Spring water lands, and distributed from the tower through a series of wooden water pipes made from hollowed logs.

In 1897 the town purchased the rest of the Colburn farm, about 15 acres between Great Plain and Dedham Avenues, and Green Street to the west, for the “Water Lands,” to control use and preserve the purity of the water supply (the Water Lands are roughly the DPW site and the land currently leased by the town to the Needham Golf Club).  In 1900 the town built a second well, and in 1902 purchased additional acreage for the water lands. 

The Reservoir Dam (as it was known) was built on Dedham Avenue in 1903 to surround and contain the basin dug for Needham’s public water supply.  The reservoir was filled (and still is) by the Bird’s Hill Brook.  When built, the basin averaged about seven feet deep and held about nine million gallons. The pumping station pumped more than 100 million gallons that year, and the amounts increased rapidly.  Within the next few years, the water mains were laid through most of the town.  In addition to providing drinking water, the reservoir served as an emergency water supply for the Fire Department.

The water system, and the demand for town water, grew rapidly. In 1891 when the standpipe was new, the town pumped just under 10 million gallons.  In 1910, they pumped more than 121 million gallons.  By the 1930s, the town had to build a second pumping station on Charles River Street to handle the volume, as well as a second water tower on Birds Hill.

By 1950, the old Ryan’s Hill standpipe was no longer sufficient – succumbing to age and the increased water demands of the post-War residential boom.  A new tank (which we now know as the Water Tower on Tower Hill – the Ryans being long gone) was built alongside the old one.  The distribution pipes were upgraded as well. This new water tower held more than one million gallons – three times as large as the old one.

Once the new tower went up, the old one had to come down.  It was well-built and apparently put up a bit of a fight as they tried to pull it down. Needham Times photographer Larry Welch was on the scene on November 18, 1950, and captured this startling image of a workman sprinting to get out of the way of the falling tower.  Associated Press picked up the image, and it went out to news services all over the country over the AP wire service. Everyone wanted to know – Did he make it?

He did – he got out of the way in plenty of time, and was just fine. OK, maybe a little breathless, but who wouldn’t be? And a routine day at work (for both the workman and Larry Welsh) was immortalized in a photo that we still view with amazement and some alarm, more than 70 years later.