Pump Houses of the Ashley Reservoir System
The West Holyoke Pump Station (LOCATION) was built to transfer water from the McLean Reservoir to the West Holyoke Water District. This area includes Jarvis Avenue, Cherry Street, and Homestead Avenue. The McLean Transfer Pump Station was built to transfer water from Ashley Reservoir to McLean Reservoir. The State forced Holyoke to built this in 1994 in order to mix water from Ashley with that of McLean. The water from Ashley was slightly short of being clean enough.
These pump stations are located over the land of the Drew family. When their land was bought, the HWW also obtained their barn and that barn was turned into a storage area. This Drew barn at the foot of Rock Valley Road burned to the ground on November 28 1914.
There has been one murder in the Ashley area through its history. Stephen F Lombard was murdered May 3 1874 near his home. He was born in 1795 in Farmington Maine to Peter and Lucy. His burial location in Holyoke is not know at this time. By trade he was a carpenter. Read the STORY at the link.