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 The Booster Pump,
Corner of Main Street/Moffatt Lane,
Sackville, N.B. |
THE BOOSTER PUMP
1919Still popularly known as “the Booster Pump” this site is a good example of how place names can continue to be used long after their original meaning is forgotten or outdated. In 1919 an electric pump was installed here which did “boost” the pressure of water coming from the reservoir into the town; this was done to ensure sufficient water pressure especially for fire-fighting. In the 1930s steps were taken to improve the town’s water supply and use of the pump was discontinued.Today there is no “pump” and nothing is “boosted.” There is however a small artesian well that supplies ground water through a narrow pipe. Many citizens still come and fill containers with this water preferring it to the town water which is treated with fluoride. |
| A project of the Tantramar Historic Sites committee, in co-operation with the Town of Sackville, with funding from Renaissance Sackville.
Plaque unveiled on Sunday 15 May 2005 by Mayor Jamie Smith and Ove Samuelsen, Past-President, Rotary Club of Sackville. |
1919
BOOSTER PUMPA pump-house was constructed on this site in the fall of 1919 to house a large water pump driven by a 40HP electric motor. The pump was installed to boost the water pressure in the Town’s hydrants during times when water was required for fire fighting. It became operational in 1920 and nearly doubled the water pressure available to firefighters. The pump was in use throughout the 1920s during which time an artesian well was drilled at the site to augment the water supply to the system. In 1931 a second reservoir was constructed at Beech Hill and new water mains installed while in 1933 three overflow wells were drilled at the reservoir site all contributing to the correction of the long-standing supply and pressure problems with the Town’s water system. The Booster Pump was decommissioned in 1933 and the pump taken to the Fire Station and sold in 1939. Only the artesian well remains today housed in a well shed installed in 1987 by the Rotary Club and Town of Sackville. |
| Smith, Al, “Sackville booster pump has rich history,” Sackville Tribune-Post, 25 May 2005, p. 5.
Smith, Al, “The Booster Pump”, The White Fence, #28, April 2005, pp.2-4. |
