Preston Drainage Company records

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Background note

Scope and content note

Administrative Information

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Summary Information

Repository

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Creator

Preston Drainage Company.

Title

Preston Drainage Company records

ID

3891

Date [inclusive]

1904-2002

Extent

4.0 Linear feet ; 11 boxes, 6 volumes, 2 flat files

Author

Finding aid prepared by Annie Halliday.

Sponsor

Processing made possible by a generous donation from the Young Friends of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Language

English

Abstract

The Preston Drainage Company was a private sewage disposal company that served the residents of Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, from 1905 to 1999. In 1905 Preston Drainage entered an agreement with neighboring Lower Merion Township and the City of Philadelphia to construct a small section of sewers that connected with Lower Merion’s system and then Philadelphia, where the sewage was ultimately treated. When the Preston Drainage company was originally formed it was considered a community project. There were no public sewer facilities available in the community, and everyone had to rely on septic pits. The owners of the properties in the community were the owners of the company and were essentially providing their own household sewer facilities. On September 30, 1999, after realizing the company was costing the township too much money, Preston Drainage Company was officially dissolved. Its customers were absorbed into Haverford’s sewage system, and its stocks were liquidated.

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Background note

The Preston Drainage Company was a private sewage disposal company that served the residents of Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, from 1905 to 1999. Preston Drainage was organized in 1902. The original sewer system was built the same year and comprised of terra cotta pipes and cost $6,000. This cost was split equally among the residents who became the first stockholders in Preston Drainage. The pipes were updated to cast iron in 1941. In 1905 Preston Drainage entered an agreement with neighboring Lower Merion Township and the City of Philadelphia to construct a small section of sewers that connected with Lower Merion’s system and then Philadelphia, where the sewage was ultimately treated. When the Preston Drainage company was originally formed it was considered a community project. There were no public sewer facilities available in the community and everyone had to rely on septic pits. The owners of the properties in the community were the owners of the company and were essentially providing their own household sewer facilities. The officers and directors of Preston Drainage served without compensation.

The sewer connected to Lower Merion’s line along Lancaster Avenue. Preston Drainage’s territory included Railroad Avenue from Preston Avenue to the county line of Haverford, county line Haverford, from Railroad Avenue to Buck Lane, and the entirety of Walnut Lane, Oakley Road, and Panmure Road. Preston Drainage charged customers based on the number and type of fixtures they had, not the volume of waste they produced. For example bath tubs were $3 each, washstands $1.50 each, laundry $1.50 each, and water closets $4 each. The minimum yearly charge for any property was $10. The rates remained unchanged from 1905 to 1995. In 1995 Preston Drainage had a total of 72 properties on the sewer line. During a routine audit in the 1990s Lower Merion Township discovered that there were major discrepancies between what Preston Drainage Company customers paid versus citizens who used public sewers. In actuality it cost the township $150 to $250 per household, but it only received $5 to $20 from Preston. For the township to clean the sewer line, which was part of the original agreement, it cost between $1,000 and $1,500 but Preston was only required to pay Haverford Township $100. In total the accountant estimated that the service was costing the township $16,000 while Preston Drainage was paying only about $2,000. The 1905 agreement was no longer financially sustainable for Haverford Township and in 1995 conversations started about integrating the two systems and dissolving Preston. Stockholders of Preston Drainage Company voted that Haverford Township take over their company. On September 30, 1999 Preston Drainage Company was officially dissolved. Its customers were absorbed into Haverford’s sewage system, its stocks were liquidated, and its customers agreed to pay a higher sewer rate. They also contributed to the replacing and updating of the sewage system

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Scope and content note

The Preston Drainage records are housed in eleven boxes, six volumes, and two flat files, and they span the bulk of the 20th century. There is a gap in the records between the 1920s and 1930s. The 1980s through the 1990s are well represented especially concerning the liquidation of the company. Included in the records are the original articles of incorporation, and agreements between them and Haverford Township. There are many financial documents including billing, receipts, payments received from customers, stock certificates, estimated taxes, and balance sheets. The records also include administrative items such as annual reports, responses to a questionnaire, minutes from annual meetings, and a 1965 survey of properties that lists each property and the number of fixtures it contains. There is some correspondence between Preston and their stockholders, customers, or other corporate entities. A few copies of a 1914 blueprint of the Preston Drainage Company sewer system are also included in oversize 1.

There are six volumes contained in the Preston Drainage Company papers, three of which relate to stock certificates and stockholders. Volume one contains names and numbers of shares allotted to stockholders, volume four contains stock certificates with some annotations, and volume six is also stock certificates but only six have been used with the rest struck through. Volume two contains the original ordinance agreements and annual meeting minutes from 1905 to 1980. The pages are numbered with the last entry on 383 and the rest of the book is empty. This volume has many additional items pasted into its pages. Volume five picks up where volume two ends with meeting minutes and ends in 1999 when the company is dissolved. Volume three is a ledger and is completely filled. It also contains inserted items such as balance sheets.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 2018.

Access restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Provenance

Gift of Fred C. Aldridge, Jr., 2011.

Accession number 2011.052.

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Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

• Friends School (Haverford, Pa.).

Genre(s)

• Blueprints.
• Minutes.

Personal Name(s)

• Aldridge, Fred C., Jr.

Subject(s)

• Drainage.
• Public service commissions.
• Sewer design.
• Sewerage.
• Stock certificates.
• Tax records--20th century.

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Collection Inventory