Roman aqueduct
Rome's first aqueduct was built in 312 BC, and supplied a water fountain at the city's cattle market. By the 3rd century AD, the city had eleven aqueducts, sustaining a population of over a million in a water-extravagant economy; most of the water supplied the city's many public baths. Cities and towns throughout the Roman Empire emulated this model, and funded aqueducts as objects of public interest and civic pride, "an expensive yet necessary luxury to which all could, and did, aspire".
Cochituate Aqueduct
The aqueduct was built in 1846 to 1848 to convey water from Lake Cochituate to the Brookline Reservoir. Its route was long and passed through Natick, Wayland, Wellesley, Newton, and Brookline. From there, pipelines ran to small distribution reservoirs throughout Boston, including Beacon Hill Reservoir atop Beacon Hill. In 1848 Lake Cochituate's water first flowed into Frog Pond on Boston Common in a ceremony that drew 100,000 people.