Beacon Hill Reservoir
former reservoir in Boston, Massachusetts
The Beacon Hill Reservoir (1849-c. 1880) in Boston, Massachusetts provided water to Beacon Hill from Lake Cochituate. It could hold 2.6 million US gallons (9,800 m3). By 1876, the reservoir no longer distributed water, but rather functioned as a storage facility; it was dismantled in the early 1880s.
History
The reservoir occupied a site on the top of Beacon Hill bounded by Derne Street, Hancock Street, Temple Street, and abutting residential lots along Mount Vernon Street. Construction began in 1847.
Planners scheduled a ceremony to lay the cornerstone at noon on November 13, 1847, "but at half past eleven, the ring at the head of the mast of the derrick to which the stone was suspended gave way, slightly injuring a little boy, and breaking the leg of a little girl, by the name of Frances Maria Hobbs, and doing considerable damage at the works. The laying of the stone was consequently postponed." One week later, the ceremony took place with presentations by Mayor Josiah Quincy, Rev. N. Adams, and a musical band; and government officials, contractors, and guests in attendance. "A copper box 12 inches square and 6 inches deep was deposited in the stone; it contained some of the publications of the day, the various reports on water, and 2 silver plates; on one was engraved the following inscription: 'The Water commissioners deposit this testimonial of respect for the memories of the late Loammi Baldwin, Martin Brimmer, Thomas A. Davis and Patrick T. Jackson, who severally rendered important assistance in promoting the adoption of the plans for a perpetual supply of pure water to the citizens of Boston.' On the other plate were engraved the names of the city government, water commissioners, water committee, engineers and contractors."
Two years later the building was complete.
The public source identifies “Beacon Hill Reservoir” as former reservoir in Boston, Massachusetts. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Beacon, Hill and Reservoir.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q4875959. VIAF identifies the subject as 315148704. The Library of Congress control number is sh2002000313. Authority coordinates are 42.359, -71.064. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1849, 1880, 1876 and 1847.
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This entry incorporates text from “Beacon Hill Reservoir” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.