As early as 1800, Water Square was the central commercial district in Falmouth. Located close to the wharves and warehouses that housed merchandise and supplies from England, the Square was surrounded by shops and businesses. As early as 1800, the town constructed a frame market building dedicated primarily for use by slaves and free blacks dedicated first to the sale of fish, then both fish and beef. Water Square also featured a substantial stone building called the Cage built in 1803 to detain “all sailors found in Grog shops or loitering about the streets of Falmouth” after their 6 pm curfew. Both the “Negro” market and the Cage were demolished in 1894 to make way for the Albert George Arcade. The food markets abutted the Square on its southeastern edge, close to the present day Albert George Market.¹

The parish seat of Trelawny moved from Martha Brae, its original location, to Falmouth c. 1795, in large part due to Falmouth’s position as a port town and center of commerce. At this time, every resident who could afford one had a well on their private property. Given the proximity of the sea, these wells were very shallow and provided less than pristine water. The water requirements of the town greatly surpassed the amount that could be drawn from private wells. Growing rapidly, Falmouth was a location for ships to resupply food and water stores, and the constant threat of fire made the complete reliance on private water sources untenable.²

The Falmouth Water Company, an organization composed of wealthy Falmouth residents and Trelawny plantation owners, formed in 1799 to address water issues for the bustling town. Under its charter, the Falmouth Water Company could raise capital, purchase land, and build aqueducts to bring potable water from the Martha Brae River into the heart of Falmouth. The sale of shares in the Company and the water usage duty levied against every ship that entered Falmouth Harbour financed the program. The Company bought land at Martha Brae, about a mile from Falmouth, and built a diversion canal, rubble dam, water wheel, and sluice gate, which fed water from the river into Falmouth through a series of aqueducts and mains. In Falmouth, water was stored at a masonry tank in the middle of Water Square. The Company purchased land in the square over the span of the water system’s development between 1799 and 1805, built the reservoir, then sold the extra land back to the Parish Vestry for commercial development.³

Water Square received its name by being the terminus of the famed Falmouth water system; the tank filled with available water for the citizens of Falmouth and visiting ships was located in the square. Even though Falmouth had a municipal water source earlier than New York City did, the system was not without problems. Only a few residences were allowed to have a “service pipe” to connect to the main supply and the water levels and quality were directly affected by the condition of the Martha Brae River; during a dry season, the river did not have enough volume to force water through the system to Falmouth. Later in the nineteenth century, a steam engine and pump were installed to provide a reliable flow of water to town. In the 1950s, the old reservoir was demolished and replaced with the garden and fountain that now sits in the middle of Water Square.⁴