Prior to 1984, McDonogh’s water supply came from a set of underground springs in the north woods. It was hand-piped down to the pump house from the mill race and tail race of the Gwynns Falls. The red brick pump house included a waterwheel that powered the pumping system and provided water for the school. For years, the school relied on a tank in the tower of New House for the storage of water.
When Allan Building was complete, a water tower was built adjacent to Farm Road, and every building on campus was gravity-fed off the tower. According to former Director of Facilities Steve Simmers ’70, someone went to the pump house every day to make sure the waterwheel was doing 13 revolutions per minute in order for the right amount of water (30,000 to 40,000 gallons a day) to be pumped up to the top of the tower. In June of 1987, after the transition to city water, the landmark water tower—which stood in the vicinity of what is now the boarder parking lot—was taken down.
