The Waterworks Building...

The Homestead Waterworks building has been restored and sits facing east on the east end of Homestead behind the post office building. This houses a water well.  The Amana Society had a well about 223 feet deep there drilled by J.P. Miller and Co. of Chicago. Usually, water was diverted from the Iowa River and led through a handmade  canal. That water was used in factory boilers and also supplied small gravity systems of waterworks as this one in Homestead.  This water  was  softer than ground water, used generally for washing clothes. The water from the shallower wells was used for drinking and baking. In Amana, similar water was used to scour only the wool at the Woolen Mill. That well was dug entirely with skill and labor of Amana Society workers.