The village of Bay View,then a Milwaukee Iron Co. town, began drilling the well as a public worksproject in October 1882. The well tapped into the underground water table toprovide artesian-pressured water to a planned network of satellite wells and firehydrants. Progress was slow due to the thick moraine, but the well wascompleted the following January at a final depth of 1,500 feet. The originalwellhead was nothing more than an exposed pipe with spigots for public use.According to the Milwaukee Water Works, the city of Milwaukee utility thatmaintains the well, the water is “higher in iron and sulfates than city water,”giving the water a distinct tasteand the well’s nickname: the Iron Well.
Over the years, variousadditions have been made to the town watering hole. During the 1920s, the wellwas given a 5-foot concrete monolith that directed the groundwater out of twopipes, one on each side, from which water constantly flows. During the 1980s,the underground water table supplying the pressure was drawn down, creating theneed for a pump to bring water to the tap. More recently, the Bay ViewGardening and Yard Society decorated the historic structuredeemed so by theMilwaukee Historic Preservation Commission in 1987with benches and pottedplants.
During the city’scryptosporidium outbreak in 1993, the Iron Well saw a surge in popularity as analternative to the water drawn from Lake Michigan. The water from the well isuntreated, but it is periodically tested by the Milwaukee Health Department. Freeand open to the public, the fresh, ice-cold water drawn from the Pryor AvenueIron Well continues to quench the thirst of those who gather around it.
