Old Well an Interesting Discovery

The old well recently discovered near Boylston Hall by workmen who were building water pipes leading through the district, has proved a most interesting find. The men were constructing a long, deep trench to lay piping that should carry water from the street to Wadsworth House. As they were working, just beyond the path which leads through the Yard, opposite Boylston Hall, they came upon what they at first thought, to be a cavity where old piping foundations had been. Upon further investigation it proved to be a round well whose sides were carefully built of stone and had apparently lasted in perfect condition up to the present time. The hole is about 25 feet deep and contains a good five feet of water at the bottom.

The great age of the well is proven by the fact that the pipes connected with it are made of wood which has not been used for such a purpose since 1860. The water which has remained inside them, apparently since they were installed, seems to have had a distinct preservative effect in that they are still in perfect condition. The men at work carefully tested the strength of the structure to determine whether or not it was safe to leave it without filling in, and decided that it was still strong enough. The walls were just as they had been left, not showing the usual signs of age.

As the discovery is evidently of considerable historic interest and significance, many and extensive inquiries were made as to when it was put in and what people had made use of it. It is probable that the well was connected with the College itself and used by the students in the old days, affording the nearest and most convenient way of obtaining water. No one asked knew anything of it, indeed one man who has been about this vicinity of Cambridge for 50 years was questioned without avail. Thus far no mention of it has been found in any of the histories of the University, though doubtless there is information in some old account.