Though abundant and accessible water certainly benefited the population of Minneapolis, it also set up some fundamental problems. An interconnected infrastructure drawing from a mixed-use water source inadvertently created a new vector of disease…

The first municipal water pump opened in 1867 primarily for the fire department’s use. This pump was located along a canal that fed mills on the west bank of the Mississippi River just north of the city limits. As Minneapolis’ population quadrupled…

Over the next several decades, the exact cause of typhoid remained elusive and contested. As late as 1910, the Minnesota Board of Health insisted that drinking water was not the primary cause of typhoid. Instead, Minneapolis officials attributed the…

In the 1860s, the city of Minneapolis bore little semblance to its modern day metropolitan nature. In comparing the historical map to a present-day map of Minneapolis, the minuscule size of the city becomes evident. The mid-19th century city was…