About this collection

The Fitz Water Wheel Company specialized in the manufacture of water wheels and small power plants. John Fitz (1847-1914), who succeeded his father as head of the firm, developed the modern steel overshot water wheel. Fitz aimed its product at farmers, small millers, and small town hydroelectric and pumping stations in the United States and abroad.

The spread of rural electrification cut into Fitz's market, but John Samuel Fitz, who had succeeded his father in 1914, kept the firm in business by shifting to production for "show" rather than productive use. The firm made many model wheels and turbines for engineering schools and historic restorations of working mills. The Fitz Water Wheel Company photographs (Accession 1995.218) collection has been digitized nearly its entirety; duplicate and near-duplicate items have been omitted from scanning.

Image: Complete hydro-electric plant at Cornell University, date uncertain (ca. 1904-1971). Click here to view the item in the collection.