These Are The Keys To The Old Reservoir That Used To Be In Midtown

Before providing the foundations for The New York Public Library, the land at 40th Street and Fifth Avenue served another crucial civic purpose, as the site of a reservoir and a key point in the city’s water distribution system. During the early 19th century, New York City’s existing water supply was not clean, reliable, or large enough for the drinking and firefighting needs of a rapidly growing city.

What emerged was an engineering feat: from a newly-constructed dam on the Croton River in Westchester County, water traveled along 40 miles of aqueducts. Once in the city, water first visited a receiving reservoir—located at what is now the Central Park Great Lawn—before arriving at the Croton Distributing Reservoir, also known as the Murray Hill Reservoir, where it was distributed to city residents through a 170-mile network of pipes.

Read More: Midtown Was Once Home To A Reservoir, "With Moonlight Dancing On The Water"

Construction of the Croton water system began in 1837, and the first drops of water entered the Croton Distributing Reservoir on July 4th, 1842. The city celebrated the completion of the public works project on October 14th of that year, when Croton River water spouted from the fountain in City Hall Park. The occasion was feted with fireworks, a parade, a hundred-gun salute, and a city-wide holiday, allowing the public to gather and sing the newly-penned “Croton Ode.”

The Croton Distributing Reservoir itself was constructed of granite walls over 44 feet in height that could hold 20 million gallons of water. A notable member of the engineering team was architect James Renwick, who would go on to design New York’s Grace Church and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Its monumental, imposing facade was decorated in the Egyptian Revival style popular at the time, and topped with a public promenade that afforded sweeping views of the city. During the 1850s, this included an unbeatable glimpse of the Crystal Palace, constructed next door in modern-day Bryant Park for the 1853 World’s Fair. In 1899, the reservoir was no longer in use, and demolition began to make way for the construction of the Library.

Read More: Here's How To Get To The Old 1800s Reservoir From Inside The NYPL

This set of keys to the Croton Distributing Reservoir’s door is part of the Library’s archives, and one of the over 250 items that will be on display as part of the Library’s permanent Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures. They were a gift from Carrère and Hastings, the firm responsible for the design and construction of the Library’s 42nd Street building. From the Library’s South Court, adjacent to Astor Hall and the exhibition, visitors can still see the rough stone foundations of the reservoir. And so almost 200 years later, this parcel of land retains its purpose: as a site that collects and distributes a vital public resource to all New Yorkers.

For a fun look at their history, check out the Library’s new TikTok, which is sharing more on the institution’s treasures, including the keys.

This story is part of our partnership with the NYPL around the exhibition, which showcases items spanning 4,000 years from the Library's research collections—we'll be publishing one NYC-related object a day throughout September, and you can see everything at gothamist.com/treasures. The Treasures exhibition opens Friday, September 24th, 2021 at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Free timed tickets are now available here.