This water supply for the village of Chester is one of the best in the State. The source is Walton Lake, formerly known as Little Long Pond, a beautiful sheet of spring water, covering an area of 127 acres, with a storage capacity of 3-1/2 feet, each foot of water giving a supply of over 40,000,000 gallons. This supply is a gravity system. From this lake, at an elevation of 250 feet above the level of Main street, at Chester Station, giving a working pressure of 80 to 90 pounds, there was laid for water-mains, 8,197 feet of 12-in. pipe, 6,978 feet of 19-in. pipe, 14,820 feet of 8-in. pipe, 5,748 feet of 6-in. pipe, 6,312 feet of 4-in. pipe.
Since the introduction of Walton Lake water, both the Walton Hose Company and Hook and Ladder Company have been organized.
After the incorporation the present municipal brick building was erected at a cost of $5,000. In this building rooms for village officers and parlors used by the fire department are located. In connection with our fire department, there is an annual inspection at which time the Chester military band of twenty-five members, under the leadership of George W. Ball, adds greatly to the village life.
In the year 1905, the Orange and Rockland Electric Company was organized, with R. W. Smith as president, and G. M. Roe as vice-president; Zael Paddleford, secretary; Frank Durland, treasurer. This company was organized and stock subscribed for by the citizens of Chester and Monroe.
The streets of the village, which were formerly lighted by kerosene, are now illuminated by electric current, generated by this company. Our Telford streets were laid in the year 1901, at a cost of $17,000. A distance of two and one-quarter miles were constructed through the main streets of the village.
CHURCHES.
The Presbyterian Church of Chester, while it had been ministering to the spiritual needs of the community for more than a quarter of a century, effected its legal organization December 26, 1826, with David Roe, Henry Seely, James Holbert, Elnathan Satterly, Joseph Sherwood and Townsend Seely as trustees.
The present house of worship, being the third erected by this congregation, was dedicated January 4, 1854. The present chapel was added in the year 1884. The church was remodeled and memorial windows added in the year 1898. In the year 1898 the church celebrated the centennial of its existence with impressive services and the publication of an interesting history of its century of church life.
The commodious parsonage adjoining the church was erected in 1895 at a cost of about $8,000.
Methodist Episcopal Church, Sugar Loaf.—Rev. Isaac Condee was the first Methodist preacher to visit Sugar Loaf, which he did in the year 1803 or 1804, and first preached in the home of John D. Conklin.