{"nrhp_refnum":"11000290","name":"Gilbertsville Water Works","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Reservoir Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gilbertsville","county":"Otsego County","state":"NY","lat":42.48550481250004,"lon":-75.34452268049816,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-05-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Engineering"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A discontiguous district of municipal water supply structures on Dunderberg Creek northwest of the village of Gilbertsville, Otsego County, New York, built in 1896 and greatly enlarged in 1914-1918.","why_significant":"The water works is tied to the incorporation of Gilbertsville village and to its fire protection and sanitary drinking water systems. The first system answered a series of destructive fires, and the village was incorporated in 1896 specifically to build it. The 1914-18 expansion greatly increased supply and purification, and the works retains a high level of integrity.","narrative":"Water for the village of Gilbertsville comes from a chain of dams, channels, reservoirs and small buildings along Dunderberg Creek, in a wooded rural area northwest of the village. The district has two separate parts, one of about 56 acres and one of about 8 acres, and includes a diversion dam, silting dam, storage reservoir, brick gatehouse, filter beds, a distribution reservoir and a water treatment building. The first system was built in 1896 after repeated fires, many of them arson, destroyed much of the village center. The village was incorporated that year specifically to create a water supply. By 1914-18 the original system was inadequate and hardly sanitary, so engineers Vrooman and Perry designed a $45,000 expansion. The village paid $10,000 and Joseph T. Gilbert paid the rest. The new works added a 5,000,000-gallon storage reservoir and filtration, and reused the 1896 distribution reservoir. It has served the village for nearly a century and keeps a high level of integrity.","period_of_significance":"1896-1918","architect_builder":"1896 works: E.F. Musson, engineer; L.J. Richardson, builder. 1914-18 works: Vrooman and Perry, Engineers","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The system is still in use, including the original 1896 distribution reservoir; portions of the filter bed walls are being restored.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:48.194551-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/11000290.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320942","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbertsville_Water_Works","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22022617"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/otsego-county/gilbertsville-water-works-11000290/"}