Coes Zone

Brief History of Coes Pond

By Dan Dick 

Coes Reservoir (or Pond) is a man-made body of water located in the valley of the Tatnuck Brook that flows along the western edge of Worcester. It was created when the Coes brothers built an earthen dam across the brook over 150 years ago to provide the waterpower needed by their knife and wrench-manufacturing factory at the site.   

The dam is 160 feet long and holds back about 90 acres of water supplied by the Tatnuck Brook that flows down the 4 mile length of the Tatnuck valley and watershed.  There are three other smaller ponds in the valley to the north of Coes, whose waters are held in place by smaller oak crib, earthen or stone dams. Those dams were built to turn water wheels for the band saws, drop hammers and grain grinding wheels of the early settlers or, along with Coes Reservoir, to provide ice for several ice companies operating in the years before refrigeration.   

Coes “Reservoir” gets its name from the failure of the Lynde Brook dam of Worcester’s main reservoir in 1876. Pumps were placed in Coes Reservoir to replace the water loss until the city’s reservoir dam could be rebuilt.

Coes Wrench and Knife Company

Loring and Aury Coes began their tool making and machinery business Worcester in 1836 when they bought out several other machinery businesses. They brought with them their invention of the adjustable or “Monkey” wrench and their resolve to manufacture this mostly timely tool that Loring patented in 1841.  By 1895, one industry source stated that there were more “Coes’ Knife Handle Wrenches” than all competitors’ wrenches combined.

The business started and operated by the two brothers also produced flat and curved knives. As the nuts and bolts of industry became standardized and there was less call for the adjustable square Monkey wrench, the knife business replaced the former in the company’s manufacturing and sales.   

The founders were replaced by their sons and then by outside management and the business continued to prosper until at least the early 1980’s. Or so we thought.  

However, the residents of the Coes Reservoir part of the Tatnuck watershed began to become concerned over the condition of the Coes dam and the related environmental contamination, as well as to the real danger of the dam’s failing in a 100 year storm. Inspection by the state’s dam safety people showed that the dam was leaking and in disrepair, and the spillway was not adequate to handle the flow of such heavy storms. A resultant overtopping of the dam would have caused incalculable damage to the largely commercial properties below the dam in the Webster Square area, as well to life and limb of the people living and working there.   

Representations to Coes Knife of these conditions failed to elicit the desired response. By the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, matters were at a loggerhead.

These concerns of the residents led to the formation of the Coes Pond Watershed Association, later to join with the resident associations of the ponds to the north to become the Tatnuck Brook Watershed Association.

The Closing of Coes Knife and the Effort to Place the Dam in Public Hands

Coes Knife had borrowed $750,000 from the Bank of New England and the Coes CEO said at the time that they were not in arrears as to their regular payment obligations. However, the FDIC was closing down the Bank of New England and all of its loans were being taken over and called in by an arm of the FDIC called RECOLL Management. Since Coes Knife was in no position to come up with the full amount of the principal remaining, the company was forced to close.

We made an effort to have the company remain in business by being bought by another knife company in Illinois because we had had heard that said company was interested in a curved knife machine that Coes had developed, but such effort came to naught.   

The city took the old Coes Knife property by eminent domain.  While the city was reluctant to do this since it insures itself, it really had no choice, given the threat posed below the dam in a 100-year storm.

City of Worcester ownership was going to be an expensive proposition since the old dam was loaded with PCBs from the waste lubricants dumped on it that Coes Knife used in its machinery and manufacturing processes. Many, many truckloads of the PCB soaked earth in the dam would have to be trucked out of state to a receiving facility.   

First, though, the engineering design of the new dam had to be funded. Thanks especially for the line item insertion, by our then State Senator Matthew Amorello, in the state budget, the city received the sum of $440, 000 on top of an earlier $60,000 for the same purpose. This design assignment was given to Weston & Sampson.   

The project was then placed in the hands of our Dept. of Public Works who removed the old dam and its PCBs and had the new dam built on the same site.  To fund this PCB removal and build the new dam, the city council authorized a final total of about $4,000,000. This came as somewhat of a very pleasant surprise to us in the watershed. It indicated the significance of this dam in the minds of our city government.

All proceeded on budget and on time and the new dam was dedicated in 2006.   

There is a footbridge connecting both sections of the dam, funded separately, thanks to the sleuthing of the money by the director of our Greater Worcester Land Trust. This bridge creates a North-South link around Coes Pond.  

For several years, the city provided beach access by providing rides for children and parents to a six-week summer swimming program at the public beach.

From start to finish, from the early studies of the condition of the Reservoir and the dam to its completion, the involvement required at least a quarter of a century of effort. Now, the same sort of effort to implement the public park below the dam and the recreational areas in Columbus Park adjacent to the public housing on the east end of the dam will need another long period of time and effort.

The conceptual plans exist; the question now asks if this local community has the passion to execute them.

Source: Originally appeared in Massachusetts Congress of Lakes and Ponds Newsletter, Summer 2009

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