Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 12.

In the early days not every household was provided with a well, and it was the custom for the people to depend upon the public well or some neighbor for water for household purposes. The nearness of the house lots in Medford to a tidal river was a good reason why many were without wells, as the water was unfit to drink.

The town pump furnished the only good water on Main street as far as the river. Two houses in this vicinity were supplied in a very ingenious and convenient way. August 2, 1802, the following vote was passed by the selectmen: ‘To allow Messrm Ebenr Hall & Samuel Beul to lay a Suction from the Town Pump Well to each of their houses, on condition that if the water fails or proves insufficient for the Towns use, then their pumps shall be rendered useless & regulated by the selectmen-And also the street shall not in any way be injured by laying said Suction.’

Ebenezer Hall's house was on the site of the Boston & Maine Railroad station, and Samuel Buell's lot is the site of our City Hall.

Was this the precursor of the present system of piping premises and houses, and is there then nothing new under the sun?

On the south side of the river on Main street, as far as South and Swan streets, were five wells, and here were several dwelling houses, stores, offices, three blacksmiths' shops, a lumber yard, a stone cutters' yard, and at one time a hotel.

These wells supplied all the families in this locality with water for housework, excepting laundry. The Salem pump said: ‘I shall say nothing of my all important aid on washing days; though, on that account alone, I might call myself the household god of a hundred families.’

Rainwater for this purpose was stored in hogsheads and cisterns, or brought from the Middlesex canal. Gilbert Parker, who carried on a jobbing business, was a familiar sight in the '40s as he went back and forth with