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From the Gowanda PennySaver News "Reflections" series compiled by Mary Pankow. issue date - October 20, 2002

Village Square - c. 1899      A large group of men are shown installing water lines in Gowanda in 1899. Historical accounts note that in 1835, Amasa Chaffee and Porter Welch complete a water system, the first in Gowanda. Water is conveyed by hollow pump logs, laid end to end in trenches below the frost line, from outlying springs to the village. Chaffee and Welch's company has 57 customers making semi-annual payments ranging from $1 for a private residence to $7.50 for the Mansion House.      In 1899, "Jamestown Street has been in bad shape for some time as the street was dug open for the addition of water, which has been brought from the old Welch Farm up the Dayton Valley Road from lands owned by Mrs. Eliza Jolls and Mrs. Alzora Erdle. These springs are large and afford a fine amount of pure water and their being from the high hills give them a good gravity."      By 1915, water pipes and hydrants are installed in Hidi and, in 1972, the fluoridation of village water is approved. (Photo courtesy of Gowanda Area Historical Society.)