Pioneers seeking grazing land in arid Sutton County needed a reliable source of water. In 1887 Sonora's closest well, one of five in the county, was three miles away. Using a horse-driven drill, Charlie Adams sank the town's first well in 1889 at this site, which became the courthouse square. A windmill pumped the water to a storage tank on the surface. In 1893 another well was drilled nearby, and in 1895 T.D. Newell bought and removed the original waterworks. This large live oak tree stood at the southwest corner of the waterworks lot.