Tales from the City, also, New Britain Water Department. / An engineering marvel. Tales from the City , Walter Camp “Father of American Football” , Walter Camp, known as the “Father of American Football”, was born in New Britain on April 7, 1859. Camp played football at Yale University between 1876 and 1882, and then served as Yale's head football coach from 1888 to 1892. His teams have been recognized for having won three national championships. The “Father of American Football” title can be attributed to Camp's contributions to the game itself as he created many modern football's rules that broke football away from its rugby origins. Camp created football's line of scrimmage, center snap, and introduced the “safety” as well as its system of downs and points system. He also developed the standard offensive arrangement of players that includes a seven-man offensive line and a four-man backfield, consisting of a quarterback, two halfbacks, and a fullback. Camp was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fam in 1951. , New Britain Agents of the Underground Railroad , Developed in the early 19th century, the Underground Railroad was a system of safe havens designed to help fugitive slaves escape to freedom. Traveling on foot, by wagon, on horseback and in boats, slaves moved from station to station along routes to free northern states, Canada, or other locations outside the country where the institution of slavery did not exist. In the 1840s and '50s, New Britain was an important center of anti-slavery activity, as one of the Underground Railroad's most vital New England routes went through New Britain. Of the 22 identified Underground Railroad agents in Hartford County, 9 were residents of New Britain. , Charlie Chan, the U.S. Chinese Detective , Best known for his onscreen portrayal of Charlie Chan beginning in 1926, Swedish actor Warner Oland lived in New Britain with his family prior to attending drama school in Boston. His family was drawn to New Britain by the city's large Swedish population. He starred in 15 Charlie Chan films for which he prepared by studying Chinese and was paid $40,000 per movie. , Harry Houdini's Escape Act at the Andrews Building , Harry Houdini's escape act came to downtown New Britain in the early 1920s. Houdini, who was born in Budapest, Hungary March 24, 1874, is still today considered one of the greatest illusionists and magicians in history. He toured the world performing escape acts freeing himself from jails, handcuffs, and ropes. One of Houdini's most popular publicity stunts was to have himself strapped into a regulation straitjacket and suspended by his ankles from a tall building or crane where he would then make his escape in full view of the assembled crowd. Legend has it Houdini performed this trick in front of a large audience while dangling from the roof of the Andrews building located at the corner of Main, Chestnut, and Arch Streets. , [Captions (top to bottom)] , . Albert W. Hampson's 1960 oil on canvas painting of New Britain native Walter Camp that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. , . Poster for the 1935 film “Charlie Chan in Shanghai”, starring Swedish actor Warner Oland. , . (Above) Harry Houdini performs his famed straitjacket escape for a crowd of onlookers in New York City. This is the same trick Houdini performed for spectators in New Britain. , New Britain Water Department , The ability to supply water is one of the most fundamental resources needed for a city's success and development. Going back to 312 BC when the Romans first began construction on their aqueducts civilizations have been performing amazing engineering feats related to supplying water. While the work performed by the New Britain Water Department may not be as impressive as that of the Romans, the work of the city's forefathers related to supplying New Britain's water is extremely impressive in its own right. , The New Britain Water Department was founded in 1857. At this time the city's population was 4,500; the city had only one reservoir to supply its water needs, with 57 fire hydrants in service. Not many years thereafter, as New Britain's population and industry grew, larger amounts of water were required. By 1868, the city began to experience its first water shortage, to the point where local fines were being issued for unnecessary water usage. , To assure water shortages wouldn't be a problem for the city again, the New Britain Water Department spent the next 150 years increasing capacity of its water supply by acquiring thousands of acres of watershed land well beyond the city's borders and built a water supply, treatment, and distribution system that is the envy of many. , The Water Department's watershed properties include over 6,000 acres of land in the surrounding communities of Berlin, Southington, Plumville, Bristol, and Burlington. Water that feeds the 1.3 billion gallon Shuttle Meadow Reservoir is piped from as far as 6 miles away from the Water Department's Whigville Reservoir in Burlington. What's very impressive is that most of the heavy construction involved in building the large reservoirs and water transmission lines that feed the 1.3 billion gallon capacity Shuttle Meadow Reservoir was performed in the late 1800s and early 1900s when heavy construction was more difficult than it is today. By the time the United States entered World War I in 1917, most of New Britain's water supply system as it exists today was already complete. , Even with this large water capacity, in the city's heyday as “The Hardware City”, George Wood, chief engineer of the Water Department, reported that at times New Britain's demand for water exceeded the department's capacity by as much as three million gallons per day. In 1936, Hartford and New Britain made a deal: Hartford agreed to sell New Britain excess water of up to 15 million gallons per day. , In the early 1900s, while many other cities were experiencing disease from contaminated water, New Britain was fortunate to not experience any epidemics due to its naturally clean water supply. In 1938, New Britain installed its first filtration system near Shuttle Meadow Reservoir, and in 2004 the city completed construction on a new $55 million water treatment plant. , Chronological History of the New Britain Water Department , . 1856-57 A group of prominent New Britain businessmen initiate discussion about the construction of a water supply system, and by 1857 the New Britain Water Department was established. , . 1857 The population of New Britain was approximately 4,500. , . 1868 New Britain experienced its first water shortage due to demands from the rapidly growing industry and population, and local fines for unnecessary waste of water were implemented for the first time. , . 1891 A new dam was constructed at Shuttle Meadow Reservoir that added 10 feet of height to the existing dam, and brought the total capacity of the reservoir to about 1 billion gallons. , . 1892 Several large projects were completed including the construction of the 1,750' West Canal and the installation of 11,000' of transmission piping from Shuttle Meadow Reservoir to downtown was completed. Despite this expansion the city faced another water shortage. , . 1900 The population of New Britain grew to 28,202. , . 1908 Construction begins on the Whigville Reservoir in Burlington. Approximately 8 miles of 24-inch cast iron pipe were installed to convey water from the reservoir to New Britain. , . 1908-10 The Shuttle Meadow Reservoir Dam was raised by another 4 feet. The capacity of the reservoir was increased to 1.3 billion gallons, which is its current capacity. , . 1910 The population of New Britain was 43,916. , . 1915-29 Agreements were reached between New Britain and Parkville and Bristol and Hartford to sell each of them water. New Britain Water Department customers were consuming an average of 4.7 million gallons of water per day. , . 1930 The population of New Britain grew to 68,128. , . 1937 Construction begins on the New Britain Water Department's first water filtration plant. The plant used a rapid sand filter (Morse Type) to filter water from its Shuttle Meadow Reservoir. , . 1950 New Britain becomes the first city in Connecticut to add fluoride to its water supply. , . 1960 A 4 million gallon storage tank was erected at Elam Street and an agreement with the MDC was reached providing New Britain up to 10 million gallons per day of additional water. , . 1960 An additional filtration plant, the B Plant, was put into operation. This brought the New Britain Water Department's total water production capacity to 25 million gallons per day. , . 1960 The population of New Britain grew to 81,201. , . 1971 35% of the water consumed by customers was used for industrial purposes. , . 1990 The city's water distribution system included 1,973 fire hydrants in service, 16,920 water meters in service, and 207 miles of distribution and transmission mains. , . 2000 Construction of the new $55 million Water Filtration Plant began. Customers consumed an average of 13 million gallons of water per day, and 5% of the water consumed was for industrial purposes. The population of the city was approximately 71,000. , . 2004 The new Water Filtration Plant is completed and placed in service on May 12, 2004. A public dedication of the new Water Filtration Plant took place on September 7, 2004. , [Captions (clockwise from left)] , . Shuttle Meadow Reservoir and Gate House (Local History, NBPL) , . Aerial picture showing Shuttle Meadow Reservoir (center) as well as a portion of Wasel Reservoir (upper left) and the New Britain Water Treatment plant in the foreground. , . Building of the Wolcott reservoir to supply additional water to New Britain, June 2, 1898. (Local History, NBPL)