Primary Resources Archive

Building Holyoke Reservoir
Hundreds of local workers were employed from 1899-1904 to build this high-service reservoir outside of Holyoke. These images show the backbreaking labor and effort that went in to constructing the Holyoke Reservoir.

When exploring these images consider the following questions: What information about these workers lives can you understand by the way they dress? What was the workers probable social and economic standing within the community? Do you think these are recent immigrants or native born American workers? What leads you to this decision?

Building Holyoke Reservoir 1 [PDF]
Hundreds of local workers work employed from 1899-1904 to build this high-service reservoir outside of Holyoke. Workers cleared and excavated sixty acres of land to build the reservoir.

Building Holyoke Reservoir 2 [PDF]
Local workers removed twenty-acre peat bog from the bottom of the what would become Holyoke's high service reservoir.

Building Holyoke Reservoir 3 [PDF]
Workers constructed a large earth and concrete dam to contain the water in the reservoir.

Building Holyoke Reservoir 4 [PDF]
Most of the workers employed to build the high-service reservoir outside of Holyoke probably walked the 4 1/2 miles from Holyoke to reservoir construction site.

 

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