Do you ever look at your tap and wonder where water comes from? Do you love the sound and smells of steam engines? Wonder how they work?
Metropolitan Waterworks Museum will answer all those questions for you! They will tell you and your family the story of the country’s first metropolitan water systems through fascinating exhibitions and educational programs. You will learn about engineering, architecture, public health and social history.
There museum has three really cool, and huge retired steam powered pumping engines in the Great Engine Hall. Each pump is different – see if you can see why!
There are some touch screen monitors and stands with animations to show you how all the gadgets work, like pistons and gears – can you imagine how they would have all kept things working back in its day?
There is also an interesting video you can watch where you can see what 19th century water engineering would have been like.
So get started using your imagination on what life would have been like in the 19th Century, and how all those people managed to supply Boston with the water you know and love today!
I went to the Waterworks Museum one Saturday. I didn’t know what to expect going in but was pleasantly surprised by what I found. The staff were very friendly and knowledgeable about the history of Boston’s water supply. One of the volunteers, Damian, gave us an hour long tour of the huge water-pumping machinery. His enthusiasm really added a lot to the experience. Inside, there are some very impressive video displays and posters. It’s obvious that a lot of work went into turning the old pumping station into a museum. 10-year-old me would been blown away by the three-story pumps and cranks. Kids with an interest in machines would definitely like this place. It isn’t very large, so you only need about an hour to see everything. I think the museum would get more visitors if they highlighted the huge pumps on their signs. If I had known how interesting it would be, I would have gone sooner.
This free museum is located next to the Chesnut Hill Reservoir in Boston, near the Cleveland Circle T stop. There are massive old steam pumps preserved in a beautiful old building. The museum recently opened, and the displays are very modern. If you liked the clockworks in “Hugo”, here three are real-life three story high machines here. This is real 3-D. The only unfortunate thing is that they are no longer running.