Note: ACIPCO Fifty Years Ago takes a quick look at the company's proud past as a leading manufacturer in the water/wastewater industry. It seems that American Cast Iron Pipe Company is delivering pipe everywhere as the second half of 1947 winds down. As noted in an issue of Pipe Progress, the Municipal Water & Light Department in Columbia, Missouri, is using AMERICAN pipe for a badly needed expansion of the city's water distribution system. Columbia, home of the University of Missouri, is experiencing growing pains as the university's enrollment has jumped from a pre-war average of 5,000 to its then current level of 11,000 as returning veterans take advantage of the GI Bill. The superintendent of the utility notes that, "We use Cast Iron pipe for its everlasting qualities and because it's easy to install and maintain." Meanwhile, the City of Russell, Kansas, is installing more than seven miles of 12-inch AMERICAN piping as part of a new system. In the fourth quarter, Pipe Progress reports that six miles of AMERICAN pipe is being "laid over hills, valleys and five creeks" to serve a textile plant in Pell City, Alabama. The Central Power & Light Company's La Palma Power Station in San Benito, Texas, is installing 36-, 42- and 16-inch AMERICAN in an upgrade project there. In Guayaquil, Ecuador, a new 16-inch subaqueous line is added to shore up the city's water system. Because of a break in an older 14-inch main, this city of 200,000 must depend on a single 14-inch line for its entire water supply until improvements are made and a new 16-inch line is installed. The broken main is to be repaired but the work won't be easy; the main lies under nine feet of mud at the bottom of a river that is 41 feet deep. Another article refers to a report printed by the "Watering Committee" in Philadelphia in 1823. Among other things, the report concludes: "Philadelphia rates Iron pipe over wood pipe. There can be no hesitation in adopting Iron over the latter."

Fifty years ago, the Municipal Water & Light Department in Columbia, Missouri, was expanding the city's water distribution in the face of rapid enrollment increases at the University of Missouri. AMERICAN Cast Iron pipe, like that shown here, was a staple item for the department.