ABSTRACT
In 1842 Mayor Robert H. Morris declaimed at the ceremonies opening the Croton Aqueduct that "pure and wholesome water will be our legacy to countless generations into the future.” The city's first public water supply system proved to be far more finite than his prediction, for the original Croton served the city for only fifty-one years from 1842 to 1893 when the New Croton Aqueduct was completed and brought into service. The Minutes of the Commission and its successor, the Croton Aqueduct Board, reveal only that the Major was thanked for his contributions and that a new Chief Engineer was appointed, John Bloomfield Jervis. Jervis began his duties on the Croton Aqueduct in 1837. His first problem was the design and construction of the dam on the Croton River, some six miles upstream from the Hudson River.
