History of Wanakah Waterworks

In 1896, John D. Roberts began the Wanakah Waterworks Company when he set a windmill-powered pump into Lake Erie and began selling water to his initial 12 customers in the summer resort community of Wanakah. This fledging water company was set up about 1,000 feet southwest of the present building. In the early years, water was pumped only in the summer months and, because the pump was powered by windmills, only when the wind was blowing hard enough to turn the windmill. Water was neither purified nor filtered.

In 1910, the Wanakah Water Company was incorporated. It was equipped with two windmills, an eight-horsepower gas engine, a small elevated wooden tank, and about one and a half miles of small distribution mains. The early windmills could pump about 10,000 gallons per hour when the wind was blowing.

In 1923, many lakeshore farms were cut up into individual lots during a real estate boom, and the expansion of water service became crucial as the population grew. The Wanakah Water Company issued a mortgage bond of $50,000 and used the funds to build a new pump house, a large pump, pressure filters, and more distribution mains. A 75,000-gallon standpipe provided water pressure, but this was not adequate for the growing number of homes or fire protection.
The individuals who first incorporated the Wanakah Water Company were Buffalo residents Edward H. Maytham, Lucius E. Bartlett, Eugene D. Thebaud, Marc W. Comstock, George D. Davidson Jr., Irving L. Fink, and John T. Roberts of Wanakah.

John T. Roberts built the family home on the corner of Roberts and Lake Shore Roads and is remembered for starting the Wanakah Water Company. His wife, Esther Roberts, donated a large lot on Lake Shore Road for the Wayside United Presbyterian Church, and John T. Roberts donated $500 to start the church's construction. 

Their son, Alfred or "Ted" Roberts, attended Cornell University and Columbia University graduate school and worked as an engineer in the company his father had started. Alfred had other business ventures, including the Wanakah Mine in Yuray, California, and the Hyler Restaurant and Soda Shop at 566 Main Street in Buffalo. Alfred is remembered also as " tons of fun, a regular guy" by his son-in-law, David Gow, who devoted a chapter to him in his book, Gow: a Father, a Son, a School. 

Alfred always had a chauffeur and loved the view of Lake Erie and the old family farm from his younger days. Many anecdotes are told about Alfred. Once, a customer called to complain about the taste of the water from Lake Erie. Alfred asked the person, "What do you expect it to taste like? Champagne?"

Another time, Alfred was seeing and a Hamburg police officer pulled him over. Alfred held up a wrench and told the officer he was on the way to fix a broken pipe. Naturally, the officer let him go. 

Although his parents had been instrumental in starting the Wayside Church, one of Alfred's favorite remarks was, "This is almost as fun as going to church!"

In the 1930s, the Wanakah Water Company provided water for residents of a seven-and-a-half-mile stretch along Lake Erie. Water was drawn from Lake Erie, filtered, chlorinated, and treated with activated carbon. In July 1933, a new 250,000-gallon elevated tank was built bout two and a half miles west of the pump house. At that time, 24,000 feet of 10-inch and 7,800 feet of 6-inch pipe were added to the twenty-seven miles of pipe. The then-new deLavaud Cast Iron Pipe used in this expansion was made by the United States Pipe and Foundry Company. Alfred described these improvements in detail in his article "Wanakah Water Company Uses deLavaud Centrifugal Pipe" in the December 1933 issue of the U.S. Piper.

Toward the end of his career, Alfred developed a special flocculator that would remove 98 percent of impurities from water before sending it through the filter. This invention was 28 feet in diameter, 16 feet deep, and could handle 1,500,000 gallons of water per day. Alfred Roberts received the "Water Man of the Year" award from the American Water Works Association at their 80th Annual Conference in Bal Harbor, Florida.  

The water demand was greatest during the summer months, when the lakeshore community came alive. At the height of summers during the 1930s, the Wanakah Water Company served 500 customers, including two golf clubs. 

When fifty-four fire hydrants were installed in the Lake Shore Fire District, residents got a seventy percent reduction in their insurance premiums. Many of the large lakeshore estates needed to install their fire hydrants if the homes were over 500 feet from the highway. 

In July 1959, the Wanakah Water Company was modernized, and a new filter was installed to process 1,500,000 gallons of water per day for the company's 2,650 customers. This filter had a triple-level basin that could aerate water to remove unwanted gaseous substances. 

In 1989, the Town of Hamburg purchased the Wanakah Water Company, and in 1990, the Erie County Water Authority started providing water to the Wanakah Water District.

Today, the Wanakah Water Company building is owned by the Town of Hamburg and has been rehabilitated for use as the Lake Erie Seaway Trail Center of Hamburg, New York. 

​

​

                                                                                                       From Jack Edson, May 2005