Water plant served greater Washington
This is all that remains of the old water works on Franklin Farms Road in North Franklin Township.
Visible in this photo, circa 1915, are Reservoir No. 1 and Chartiers Creek, in the foreground.
Art Van Briggle shared this postcard of the Washington Water Works.
We asked: What is that formidable looking factory in the distance of the current Mystery Photo?
“That’s the old water plant on Franklin Farms Road,” John Yukevich told us. “I worked for the water company for 27 years, and I knew what that was right away.”
Yukevich, now retired and living near Hickory, was one of only two readers to respond to our call for assistance to identify the photo on the front page of last Monday’s Observer-Reporter. The other was Art Van Briggle Jr., of North Franklin Township, who supplied us with a postcard showing the old Washington Water Works.
The postcard was dated in 1919 and shows two large brick buildings, one of them with a tall chimney. The architecture of the building on the left is identical to the lone structure remaining on the Pennsylvania American Water Co. property. Visible on the far left in the postcard is an oil derrick – the same one visible in the foreground of the Mystery Photo.
It is reasonable to conclude the postcard was made in the early 1900s, before the large smokestack was added to the complex.
Mike Quinn, former North Franklin Township supervisor, recalls seeing the chimney and smokestack on his way to the Gabby grade school in the early 1950s. “But by the early 1960s, when I was in high school, those stacks were gone.” Quinn said he thinks the larger building was torn down by the early 1960s. Yukevich and Van Briggle believe at least some part of the water works was demolished more recently, perhaps in the last 10 or 15 years.
To clear this up, we contacted Gary Lobaugh, external affairs manager for Pennsylvania American’s Western Pennsylvania region. Lobaugh sought help from older employees and was able to determine the property along Franklin Farms Road was purchased for use by the water company in 1888. The buildings were erected in the early 1900s by what was then Citizens Water Co. Pennsylvania American discontinued use of the water treatment plant in 1991, and demolition of it occurred between 1996 and 1997.
Pennsylvania American now stores equipment in the remaining building.
Look for another Mystery Photo in next Monday’s Observer-Reporter.