Outdoor Water Faucet
Credit LineGift of Jessie Robins, 1980
Object number1980.044.004
Label TextIn 1878, Stevens, Turner, & Burns won the $194,000 contract to construct London’s waterworks, part of which is pictured here. The waterworks included a reservoir, pumphouse, piping, and network of hydrants. The company was still new at this time. In 1873, Thomas A. Stevens and William Turner had opened a plumbing store. Three years later, James Burns joined the operation. It ceased operations in 1894. In 1906, Stevens and his partners, J. R. Minhinnick and George Trudell, founded the Empire Manufacturing Company. It operated out of this building on Talbot Street. The company grew fast and by 1908 had moved to a larger building on Dundas Street in London’s industrial heart. The widespread adoption of modern indoor plumbing spurred the company’s growth. In 1920, the Empire Manufacturing Company became the Empire Brass Manufacturing Company, better known as EMCO. In addition to plumbing fittings, it produced brass nozzles of all sizes.
NameFaucet
