Bellflower-Somerset Mutual Water Company

History

Way back in 1911, two mutual water companies were born:  Somerset Mutual water Company in July and Bellflower Water Company in December.  The creation of the mutual water companies was a contribution made by Emil Firth, one of the founders of Bellflower.   He proposed setting up a mutual water company to be incorporated and owned by the property owners themselves, known today as stockholders.  He gave the wells and facilities to the company which was Somerset Mutual Water Company, with a stipulation that the shares could not be owned separately, but were to go with the land, one share to each acre.  (Today it is ten shares per each acre.)  Mr. Woodruff followed suit, creating Bellflower Water Company.  In linking ownership of land with ownership of shares in the company supplying water for the land.  Firth and Woodruff created a prime card for their subdivisions.  Most of the water was used to irrigate crops.   A small amount was needed for domestic purposes.  Water made a difference between garden and desert in communities throughout Southern California in 1911.

In June of 1988 a merger agreement between Somerset Mutual Water Company and Bellflower Mutual Water Company was endorsed and filed with the Secretary of State.  The name of the company became Bellflower-Somerset Mutual Water Company. In August of 1997 Bigby Townsite Water with approximately 109 services was acquisitioned.  In November of 2005 approximately 782 new services located within the City of Bellflower were purchased by Bellflower-Somerset Mutual Water Company from the City of Norwalk.  These services belonged to County Water Company.  Today 96 years later the company is still issuing stock to its customers.  As of August 2, 2007 the company has issued 20,497 shares of stock to 5,684 stockholders qualifying them for water service.   All stock is still pertinent to the land and cannot be transferred from the land.