Promoting clean water in nineteenth-century public policy: Professors, preachers, and polliwogs in Kingston, Ontario

Histoire Sociale

Volumn 32, Issue 63, 1999, Pages 49-60

  MacNaughton, Colleen ^a  

^a MacLachlan Woodworking Museum   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

WATER;

ARTICLE; CANADA; ECONOMICS; ETHICS; HISTORY; LEGAL ASPECT; MANPOWER; METHODOLOGY; POLICY; PUBLIC HEALTH; RELIGION; SANITATION; STANDARD;

HISTORY, 19TH CENTURY; ONTARIO; PUBLIC HEALTH; PUBLIC POLICY; RELIGION; SANITARY ENGINEERING; WATER;

EID: 0033130477     PISSN: 00182257     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (75)

1. See, for example, Paul Rutherford, Saving the Canadian City (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974).
2. John Hagopian, "The Political Geography of Water Provisions in Paris, Ontario, 1882-1924", Urban History Review, vol. 23, no. 1 (November 1994), pp. 32-51.
3. For example, Gene Desfor, "Planning Urban Waterfront Industrial Districts: Toronto's Ashbridge's Bay, 1889-1910", Urban History Review, vol. 17, no. 2 (1988), pp. 77-91; Catherine Brace, "Public Works in the Canadian City: The Provision of Sewers in Toronto, 1870-1913", Urban History Review, vol. 23, no. 2 (March 1995), pp. 33-43; Heather MacDougall, "The Genesis of Public Health Reform in Toronto, 1869-1890", Urban History Review, vol. 11, no. 1 (February 1982), pp. 1-9.
4. For example, Gene Desfor, "Planning Urban Waterfront Industrial Districts: Toronto's Ashbridge's Bay, 1889-1910", Urban History Review, vol. 17, no. 2 (1988), pp. 77-91; Catherine Brace, "Public Works in the Canadian City: The Provision of Sewers in Toronto, 1870-1913", Urban History Review, vol. 23, no. 2 (March 1995), pp. 33-43; Heather MacDougall, "The Genesis of Public Health Reform in Toronto, 1869-1890", Urban History Review, vol. 11, no. 1 (February 1982), pp. 1-9.
5. For example, Gene Desfor, "Planning Urban Waterfront Industrial Districts: Toronto's Ashbridge's Bay, 1889-1910", Urban History Review, vol. 17, no. 2 (1988), pp. 77-91; Catherine Brace, "Public Works in the Canadian City: The Provision of Sewers in Toronto, 1870-1913", Urban History Review, vol. 23, no. 2 (March 1995), pp. 33-43; Heather MacDougall, "The Genesis of Public Health Reform in Toronto, 1869-1890", Urban History Review, vol. 11, no. 1 (February 1982), pp. 1-9.
6. Elwood Jones and Douglas McCalla, "Toronto Waterworks 1840-1877: Continuity and Change in Nineteenth-Century Toronto Politics", Canadian Historical Review, vol. 60, no. 3 (1979), pp. 300-323.
7. Chris Warfe, "The Search for Pure Water in Ottawa: 1910-1915", Urban History Review, vol. 8, no. 1 (June 1979), pp. 90-112.
8. "Crows Wanted", Kingston Daily News, March 15, 1866.
9. "The Nuisance on the Ice", Kingston Daily News, April 13, 1866, p. 3, col. 3.
10. After 1850 the city was served by a private water works, with which the city contracted for water to City Hall and the public fountain. "City Council", Kingston British Whig, November 21, 1849, p. 2, col. 1.
11. Residents had to petition the City Council to have the drain built, and then property owners along the drain's course were assessed proportionally according to the frontage of each lot. The city usually paid only for culverts, street drainage fixtures, and frontage at intersections or along exempt property. Queen's University Archives, City of Kingston Papers (hereafter CKP), vol. 105, Bylaw Book, chap. 8, and vol. 106, Bylaw Book, chap. 183.
12. Jones and McCalla, "Toronto Waterworks", p. 306.
13. This response was based on lesson learned in the 1832 epidemic, which devastated Kingston and other Upper and Lower Canadian towns. See Geoffry Bilson, A Darkened House: Cholera in Nineteenth Century Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989).
14. "Meeting of the Board of Health", Kingston Daily News, April 19, 1866, p. 2, col. 3-4.
15. Christopher Hamlin, Science of Impurity: Water Analysis in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Bristol: Adam Hilger/ Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. 130-134; Margaret Pelling, Cholera, Fever and English Medicine, 1825-1865 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978), p. 295.
16. Christopher Hamlin, Science of Impurity: Water Analysis in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Bristol: Adam Hilger/ Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. 130-134; Margaret Pelling, Cholera, Fever and English Medicine, 1825-1865 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978), p. 295.
17. "The Sanitary Condition", Kingston Daily News, April 7, 1866, p. 2, col. 1.
18. Drains were extended so that they emptied underwater instead of at the shore.
19. William Coleman emphasizes how early hygienists in France sought to analyse the state of society through the collection of medical statistics, particularly on the causes of death. See Death is a Social Disease: Public Health and Political Economy in Early Industrial France (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982). Margaret Pelling similarly emphasizes in Cholera, Fever and English Medicine how it was hoped that the collection of broad and varied data would permit the identification of the cause of cholera.
20. William Coleman emphasizes how early hygienists in France sought to analyse the state of society through the collection of medical statistics, particularly on the causes of death. See Death is a Social Disease: Public Health and Political Economy in Early Industrial France (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982). Margaret Pelling similarly emphasizes in Cholera, Fever and English Medicine how it was hoped that the collection of broad and varied data would permit the identification of the cause of cholera.
21. George Emery, Facts of Life: The Social Construction of Vital Statistics, Ontario 1869-1952 (Montreal and Kingston. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993).
22. See Brad Rudachyk, "Tempest in a Teapot? The City of Kingston and the City of Kingston Water Works Company" (unpublished manuscript, Audrey Rushhrook Library, Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, Kingston, 1979); Colleen MacNaughton, "Defining Pure Water, Defending Pure Space: Sanitary Boundaries in Nineteenth-Century Kingston, Ontario" (MA thesis, Queen's University, 1996).
23. See Brad Rudachyk, "Tempest in a Teapot? The City of Kingston and the City of Kingston Water Works Company" (unpublished manuscript, Audrey Rushhrook Library, Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, Kingston, 1979); Colleen MacNaughton, "Defining Pure Water, Defending Pure Space: Sanitary Boundaries in Nineteenth-Century Kingston, Ontario" (MA thesis, Queen's University, 1996).
24. "Our Water Not Pure", Kingston Daily British Whig, January 18, 1884, p. 3, col. 2.
25. Ibid.
26. "Correspondence on the Question", Kingston Daily British Whig, January 22, 1884, p. 2, col. 2; "Character of our Water", Kingston Daily British Whig, January 25, 1884, p. 1, col. 3-4.
27. "Correspondence on the Question", Kingston Daily British Whig, January 22, 1884, p. 2, col. 2; "Character of our Water", Kingston Daily British Whig, January 25, 1884, p. 1, col. 3-4.
28. Brian Osborne and Donald Swainson, Kingston: Building on the Past (Westport, Ont.: Butternut Press, 1988), p. 130.
29. "Character of our Water", Kingston Daily British Whig, January 25, 1884, p. 1, col. 3-4.
30. "Kingston Water", Kingston Daily British Whig, February 26, 1884, p. 3, col. 4; "Kingston Water", Kingston Daily British Whig, March 11, 1884, p. 1, col. 4-5.
31. "Kingston Water", Kingston Daily British Whig, February 26, 1884, p. 3, col. 4; "Kingston Water", Kingston Daily British Whig, March 11, 1884, p. 1, col. 4-5.
32. Bayne tested samples from 500 feet into the harbour, just outside the filter (a gravel crib attached to the end of the intake pipe), from the filter, and from his own tap. Goodwin tested samples from two miles into the harbour, above the Lunatic Asylum (up the lake from the harbour), outside the filter, and in the pump room.
33. Both tested levels of total solids, free ammonia, albumanoid ammonia, chlorine, and hardness. Only Bayne measured alkalinity, while only Goodwin anaysed colour and microscopic particles.
34. "No Water to be Had", Kingston Daily British Whig, February 2, 1886, p. 2, col. 3; "The Facts Brought Out", Kingston Daily British Whig, February 2, 1886, p. 3, col. 3.
35. "No Water to be Had", Kingston Daily British Whig, February 2, 1886, p. 2, col. 3; "The Facts Brought Out", Kingston Daily British Whig, February 2, 1886, p. 3, col. 3.
36. "Be Generous", Kingston Daily News, July 20, 1887, p. 2, col. 3.
37. This purchase was supported by the majority of ratepayers, who passed the bylaw authorizing debentures to finance the sale. Freeholders, both men and women, were eligible to vote. Although 1,900 were eligible, only 998 cast ballots. "A Vote of Seven to One", Kingston Daily News, August 11, 1887, p. 2, col. 4.
38. "The Waterworks", Kingston Daily News, July 9, 1887, p. 2, col. 2; "About Waterworks", Kingston Daily News, July 11, 1887, p. 2, col. 2; "The Feelings of the People...", Kingston Daly News, July 16, 1887. p. 4, col. 2.
39. "The Waterworks", Kingston Daily News, July 9, 1887, p. 2, col. 2; "About Waterworks", Kingston Daily News, July 11, 1887, p. 2, col. 2; "The Feelings of the People...", Kingston Daly News, July 16, 1887. p. 4, col. 2.
40. "The Waterworks", Kingston Daily News, July 9, 1887, p. 2, col. 2; "About Waterworks", Kingston Daily News, July 11, 1887, p. 2, col. 2; "The Feelings of the People...", Kingston Daly News, July 16, 1887. p. 4, col. 2.
41. MacDougall, "Genesis of Public Health Reform in Toronto"; Mary Powell, "Provincial-Local Relations in Ontario: The Case of Public Health, 1882-1984" (PhD dissertation, University of Toronto), pp. 46ff.
42. MacDougall, "Genesis of Public Health Reform in Toronto"; Mary Powell, "Provincial-Local Relations in Ontario: The Case of Public Health, 1882-1984" (PhD dissertation, University of Toronto), pp. 46ff.
43. Powell, "Provincial-Local Relations in Ontario", p. 22.
44. See, for example, Jacinta Prunty, Dublin Slums, 1800-1925: A Study in Urban Geography (Dublin and Portland Ore.: Irish Academic Press, 1998); Judith Walzer Leavitt, The Healthiest City: Milwaukee and the Politics of Health Reform (Princeton: University of Princeton Press, 1992).
45. See, for example, Jacinta Prunty, Dublin Slums, 1800-1925: A Study in Urban Geography (Dublin and Portland Ore.: Irish Academic Press, 1998); Judith Walzer Leavitt, The Healthiest City: Milwaukee and the Politics of Health Reform (Princeton: University of Princeton Press, 1992).
46. See "A Bylaw", Kingston Daily British Whig, March 18, 1885, p. 1, col. 6-7.
47. The city thus constructed 2,000 yards of sewers in 1886 and an additional 2,680 yards in 1887. Ontario Sessional Papers (hereafter OSP) no. 14, 1887, "Report of the Provincial Board of Health", p. 137 OSP no. 41, 1888, "Report of the Provincial Board of Health", p. 13.
48. The city thus constructed 2,000 yards of sewers in 1886 and an additional 2,680 yards in 1887. Ontario Sessional Papers (hereafter OSP) no. 14, 1887, "Report of the Provincial Board of Health", p. 137 OSP no. 41, 1888, "Report of the Provincial Board of Health", p. 13.
49. The city thus constructed 2,000 yards of sewers in 1886 and an additional 2,680 yards in 1887. Ontario Sessional Papers (hereafter OSP) no. 14, 1887, "Report of the Provincial Board of Health", p. 137 OSP no. 41, 1888, "Report of the Provincial Board of Health", p. 13.
50. "Board of Health", Kingston Daily British Whig, November 22, 1884; CKP, vol. 237, Minutes of the Board of Health, May 6, 1889.
51. "Board of Health", Kingston Daily British Whig, November 22, 1884; CKP, vol. 237, Minutes of the Board of Health, May 6, 1889.
52. OSP no. 26, 1892, "Annual Report of the Provincial Board of Health" (Kingston), p. 91.
53. KCP, vol. 239, Minutes of the Board of Health, August 9, 1909.
54. KCP, Board of Health Correspondence, box 242, file 1903, "Report of the Board of Health for 1903"; vol. 239, Minutes of the Board of Health, August 9, 1909.
55. "A Disposal Works", Kingston Daily British Whig, February 24, 1903, p. 4, col. 2; "Two Meetings of Civic Committees Were Held", Daily British Whig, April 11, 1903, p. 2, col. 1-2; "Pipe All Right", Daily British Whig, April 23, 1903, p. 6, col. 2.
56. "A Disposal Works", Kingston Daily British Whig, February 24, 1903, p. 4, col. 2; "Two Meetings of Civic Committees Were Held", Daily British Whig, April 11, 1903, p. 2, col. 1-2; "Pipe All Right", Daily British Whig, April 23, 1903, p. 6, col. 2.
57. "A Disposal Works", Kingston Daily British Whig, February 24, 1903, p. 4, col. 2; "Two Meetings of Civic Committees Were Held", Daily British Whig, April 11, 1903, p. 2, col. 1-2; "Pipe All Right", Daily British Whig, April 23, 1903, p. 6, col. 2.
58. An International Joint Commission concluded that the recent "massive explosive epidemics" of typhoid were caused by the "use of sewage polluted water without purification of any kind". "Progress Report of the International Joint Commission on the Pollution of Boundary Waters", January 16, 1914, p. 15.
59. OSP no. 20, 1911, "Annual Report", p. 12; "Water is Clean", Daily British Whig, November 24, 1910, p. 2, col. 4.
60. OSP no. 20, 1911, "Annual Report", p. 12; "Water is Clean", Daily British Whig, November 24, 1910, p. 2, col. 4.
61. Ramsay Cook, The Regenerators: Social Criticism in Late Victorian English Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985); Michael Gauvreau, College and Creed in English Canada from the Great Revival to the Great Depression (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1994).
62. Ramsay Cook, The Regenerators: Social Criticism in Late Victorian English Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985); Michael Gauvreau, College and Creed in English Canada from the Great Revival to the Great Depression (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1994).
63. Mariana Valverde, The Age of Light, Soap and Water: Moral Reform in English Canada, 1885-1925 (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1991), pp. 34-35.
64. Nancy Christie and Michael Gauvreau, A Full-Orbed Christianity: The Protestant Churches and Social Welfare in Canada, 1900-1940 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995), pp. 40-41.
65. "Talking About Water", Daily British Whig, August 8, 1891, p. 1, col. 8.
66. "Please Use City Water", Daily British Whig, July 23, 1891, p. 1, col. 6.
67. Not only is "the light" a common metaphor for Christ, but also, particularly in the Hebrew scriptures, the disobedient are described as having "closed hearts". John 1:4-5; Exodus 7-11; II Chronicles 36:13; Zachariah 7:12.
68. Daily British Whig, "Valuable Information", April 10, 1897, p. 1, col. 7; "How We May Avoid the Catching of Disease", October 26, 1910, p. 8, col. 2-3; "Getting Dangerous to Drink Water from Lakes or Rivers", October 27, 1910, p. 6, col. 3; "What is Required in the Way of Sanitary House Conditions", November 28, 1910, p. 8, col. 2. Of these lectures, two were specifically to Queen's theological alumni while one was held in a local Methodist church.
69. Daily British Whig, "Valuable Information", April 10, 1897, p. 1, col. 7; "How We May Avoid the Catching of Disease", October 26, 1910, p. 8, col. 2-3; "Getting Dangerous to Drink Water from Lakes or Rivers", October 27, 1910, p. 6, col. 3; "What is Required in the Way of Sanitary House Conditions", November 28, 1910, p. 8, col. 2. Of these lectures, two were specifically to Queen's theological alumni while one was held in a local Methodist church.
70. Daily British Whig, "Valuable Information", April 10, 1897, p. 1, col. 7; "How We May Avoid the Catching of Disease", October 26, 1910, p. 8, col. 2-3; "Getting Dangerous to Drink Water from Lakes or Rivers", October 27, 1910, p. 6, col. 3; "What is Required in the Way of Sanitary House Conditions", November 28, 1910, p. 8, col. 2. Of these lectures, two were specifically to Queen's theological alumni while one was held in a local Methodist church.
71. Daily British Whig, "Valuable Information", April 10, 1897, p. 1, col. 7; "How We May Avoid the Catching of Disease", October 26, 1910, p. 8, col. 2-3; "Getting Dangerous to Drink Water from Lakes or Rivers", October 27, 1910, p. 6, col. 3; "What is Required in the Way of Sanitary House Conditions", November 28, 1910, p. 8, col. 2. Of these lectures, two were specifically to Queen's theological alumni while one was held in a local Methodist church.
72. "What is Required in the Way of Sanitary House Conditions", Daily British Whig, November 28, 1910, p. 8, col. 2.
73. Ibid.
74. OSP no. 26, 1892, "Annual Report", p. 91.
75. Valverde, The Age of Light, Soap and Water, p. 129.