Evans Grist Mill

Long before the arrival of the first westward explorers, the cool waters of Crystal Spring flowed from an unknown source into that is now southwest Virginia’s Roanoke Valley. Scots-Irish immigrants settled in the region in the mid-1700s. The Evans family harnessed these waters to power a grist mill.

George Washington Noted the Spring in his Journal

Crystal Spring was first frequented by Indians. Many people passed by the spring during their travels in the western part of the state including George Washington who saw the spring in 1756 and noted it in his journals. His expense account lists 3 shillings paid to a “widow Evans” for supplies or perhaps a night’s lodging.

Crystal Spring Land Company

In 1795, prominent landowner and county Sheriff William McClanahan bought Evans Mill and changed the name to McClanahan’s Mill. Nearby Mill Mountain got its name from the presence of these mills. The family owned 1,800 acres in the area, and their holdings were known as the Crystal Spring Land Company, which became the Roanoke Land Improvement Company.

The Roanoke Land Improvement Company transferred its charter to the Roanoke Water Company in 1889, and later the water company merged with the Roanoke Gas Company – a public utility that had gas and water mains that reached every business and residence in town. By this time, the Spring was pumping out 5 million gallons of water a day.

The Historic Snow Steam Pump

In 1905, Roanoke Gas and Water decided to modernize operations and purchased a new pump from the Snow Steam Pump Works in Buffalo, NY. The 200-ton pump was delivered in sections by rail and then carted by horse-drawn wagon, assembled at the site of the spring and then a brick pump house was built around the pump. The pump was a mechanical marvel of the day, operated by steam powered by coal-fired boilers.

Pump House Restoration

The pump house remained intact but unused until the 1970s when the Roanoke Valley Bicentennial Commission and the Historical Society of Western Virginia (formerly the Roanoke Valley Historical Society) restored the pump house with the aid of many volunteers including Navy and Marine Corps reservists, as well as the financial support of local businesses. The grounds were landscaped and became part of Roanoke’s Crystal Spring Park.

The pump house stayed open as a historic site until the 1990s when the Historical Society, led by David Burrows, launched a second clean-up campaign. Today, Crystal Spring Pump Station is managed in partnership with the Historical Society of Western Virginia and the Western Virginia Water Authority.