Outlay System Photograph

This image shows Columbus contractor B. F. Patterson laying the sewer system in Worthington, Ohio ca. 1920. This view is looking north on High Street from the intersection of Dublin Granville Road. A sewer system for the Village was first proposed in City Council in 1903, accompanied by a plan for a waterworks. Worthington, like many rural towns in Ohio on the outskirts of a growing metropolis, was struggling with the issues of growth and change. The interurban railroad had brought new homeowners to the town, and the population was growing. The sewer and water works would signal a fundamental change that would alter the nature of the town. Taxpayers would pay for the systems with increased property taxes. There was resistance to the plans. The water works were not installed until 1908, while the plans for the sewer system were presented to the public in 1919. Worthington was on the way to become a modern suburb.