A 30-inch raw water pipeline extends four miles from the Flegal Dam and Reservoir along Cobun Creek to the Morgantown Water Treatment Plant, and this gravity-fed pipeline is critical to maintaining a safe, clean water supply throughout the Monongalia County area. In the spring of 2024, it was dedicated in the name of John Edwards for initiating the first water service in the Morgantown area. Born a slave in 1839, Edwards gained his freedom by traveling from Virginia with the Union Army to Beverly, West Virginia. After reaching Morgantown, he married Sarah Elizabeth Evans of neighboring Preston County in 1865, and they raised five sons and three daughters. In the mid-1860s, Edwards began Morgantown's first water service, using a mule-drawn cart to haul barrels of water from the Monongahela River and Deckers Creek. Businesses and residents bought the water for 10 cents a barrel from the Monongahela River and 15 cents a barrel from Deckers Creek. Members of the Edwards family from Virginia joined the operation until 1889, when Morgantown's first water works system began operation. After purchasing property stretching from White Avenue to Deckers Creek in 1887, Edwards built a house at what was 79 White Avenue, and his cousins also settled on White Avenue, establishing one of Morgantown's first African American communities. John Edwards died in 1904 and Sarah died in 1926, and both are buried in Mount Union Cemetery near Morgantown.