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Preston Drainage Company records
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...
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| Contributors: | |
| Collection: | Preston Drainage Company Records |
| Collection Number: | 3891 |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects and Genres: | |
| Online Access: | Link to finding aid |
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| Physical Description: |
4.0 Linear feet ; 11 boxes, 6 volumes, 2 flat files |
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This collection is open for research. |
| Summary: |
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. 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. |