In 1919, just as the announcement of a new two-story factory for cedar chests (Roos) was to be erected at Circle Avenue and Harrison Street, the village was busy solving the need for a larger storage space for water. Since use of steam power had been discontinued for light and pump purposes, the vacant space from an unused boiler room was utilized, under the direction of Commissioner Hana, to create a reservoir holding 75,000 gallons of water. But this solution was inadequate and by March 1924 construction started for a million-gallon water reservoir west of the Water Works building.
Jill Wagner
Forest Park Water Works in 1919, located at 7649 Jackson Blvd., shown here looking south from the bend at Jackson.