Plan and profiles of surveys from Farm Pond in Framingham and Long Pond in Natick, for supplying water to the City of Boston

Beneath Our Feet: From the colonial settlement of Boston in 1630 until 1796, the City’s water supply came from underground wells and cisterns that collected rainwater. To alleviate the effects of using unhealthy and dirty water, the City installed the first underground water pipes in the late 1790s, drawing water from Jamaica Pond. An updated water supply plan, illustrated in this map, was conceived by civil engineer Loammi Baldwin in 1834. Baldwin’s plan called for water to be transported from Long Pond (now Lake Cochituate) in Natick via an above and below ground gravity aqueduct that would deposit good-quality water into a reservoir. From there, lead and cast iron pipes transported the water throughout the city.
Courtesy of Boston Public Library