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“…[T]he movement of a celestial system than a human invention:” Abram Blanding and bringing water to Columbia

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Abstract

Abram [sometimes referred to as Abraham] Blanding (1776–1839) constructed a waterworks that captivated the citizens of the planned city of Columbia, South Carolina, bringing a wondrous scene of mechanistic intervention in nature. He was able to integrate the steam engine with original innovations regarding piping to transport fresh water into the new frontier city. The establishment of the waterworks also fulfilled Columbia’s political desires to bring water to its citizens. Columbia became a more progressive city based on the standards of the nineteenth century. But while building the waterworks in Columbia would become an asset to the city, it would also be an eventual irritation to Blanding. Overall, this paper is a case study in how ambitious engineers, like Abram Blanding, used technology to provide a reliable source of drinking water at the turn of the nineteenth century

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Notes

  1. This point has been reflected by historians such as Hammond and Kohn. Columbia was defined and planned before the establishment of Washington D.C. However, one could argue that New York, Boston, or Williamsburg could predate the planning of Columbia.

  2. The general website is located at: http://www.waterworkshistory.us/index.htm. Also see the entries for Columbia, South Carolina: http://www.waterworkshistory.us/SC/Columbia/, New York, New York: http://www.waterworkshistory.us/NY/New_York_City/, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: http://www.waterworkshistory.us/PA/Philadelphia/, Saint Louis, Missouri: http://www.waterworkshistory.us/MO/Saint_Louis/, New Orleans: http://www.waterworkshistory.us/LA/New_Orleans/, and Albany, New York: http://www.waterworkshistory.us/NY/Albany/.

  3. After building and profiting from tax revenue from the waterworks, Blanding edited the Carolina Law Journal with D.J. McCord in 1831, “Abram Blanding” in Kohn et al., Internal Improvements in South Carolina.

  4. Water historian Dr. Morris Pierce notes in his history of waterworks that the town expanded the reservoir and also owned the engineering house (http://www.waterworkshistory.us/SC/Columbia/)

  5. Other historians such as Lynn Sims Salsi estimate that Blanding sold his share for $ 25,000. See Columbia: the Story of a Southern Capital (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing 2003), 36. However, the case description from “Blanding v. Columbia” notes $ 24,000.

  6. “[Abram Blanding] Petition Asking Compensation for Putting Down Service Pipe and Conducting Water to the State House and Goal [Jail]” Series S165015, No Date, Item 017131, and “[Town of Columbia] Petition Asking for Aid to Expand the Town Waterworks to Meet the Needs of the Lunatic Asylum, the College, School Students and the General Increase of Population” Series S165015, No Date, Item 05680, and “[City Council of Columbia] Petition Giving A History of the Water Supply to Public Buildings and Asking for An Additional Appropriation Equal to the Increased Demand from New Buildings” Series S165015, No Date, Item 05840. All documents listed above came from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, viewed on Microfilm.

  7. Also see biography on page 599.

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  1. History Department, Tennessee Technological University, 5 William L. Jones Drive, Box 5064, 38505, Cookeville, Cookeville Tennessee, TN, USA

    E. A. Driggers

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Driggers, E.A. “…[T]he movement of a celestial system than a human invention:” Abram Blanding and bringing water to Columbia. Water Hist 14, 21–40 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12685-021-00294-4

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