Color postcard (13.5 x 9 cm) with a view of a pumping station at the Florence Waterworks, Florence, Nebraska. The view shows the front of the building with an arched doorway under a tower and red roof. There are trees in front. The card is captioned Minne-Lusa Station Water Works -Omaha, Neb. in the lower right.
The Minne Lusa Pumping Station and settling basins occupied a narrow strip of land along the eastern extent of Florence known as the Metropolitan Utilities District. Here the muddy water of the Missouri River was filtered and made pure for human consumption. The main pumping station was a massive building of Warrensburg sandstone with a central tower rising four stories over the arched entrance. It was designed by Mendelssohn, Fisher, & Lawrie, Omaha architects, and erected in 1888-1889. From this building, which contained the high service pump and huge boilers, the filtered water flowed to the city mains. By 1970 the building was taken down and replaced. Source: Federal Writer's Project. Omaha: A Guide to the City and Environs. Omaha: Omaha Public Library, 1981, p. 149.
