Why Is It Called a French Drain?

Name

French drains were invented in Concord, Massachusetts and named after their inventor, the judge, farmer and Harvard graduate Henry Flagg French, who wrote a book on farm drainage that was published in 1859.

The French drain is a trench filled with gravel, intended to keep water runoff from a sloping piece of land to be rerouted productively, explains the website Rainwater Harvesting Guide. The purpose of French's drain was to remove water from home basements and cellars, to prevent disease and sickness in people and livestock due. Poor water drainage created an environment favorable to organisms that were a prime source for disease at the time. The French drain is now considered the leading method of removing water and moisture caused by seepage into the basement that can cause mold and mildew to grow, according to Select Basement.com.

Surprisingly for a book on farm drainage, French's book is filled with poetry, humor and literary quotations and allusions, according to Concord Magazine. One of the authors frequently quoted in the book is Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Sage of Concord, whom French probably knew personally, the site suggests. Emerson, it seems, was enthusiastic about the contributions of agricultural drainage techniques to the development of American, calling drainage “a Concord under Concord, a Middlesex under Middlesex, and a basement-story of Massachusetts more valuable than all the superstructure,” as quoted by French. According to Emerson, drainage tiles are “political economists” and “so many Young-Americans announcing a better era, and a day of fat things.”

At the time French produced his book, much research and writing on agriculture was taking place in Concord. The Concord Farmer's Club (1852-83), made up of working farmers, encouraged experimentation, discussion and sharing of practical information, according to Concord Magazine. The organization was made up of committees such as Manures and Root Crops, and presented manuscript essays for discussion at regular meeting.

Henry Flagg French was the father of sculptor Daniel Chester French. French's famous sculpture the Minute Man, depicting a farmer becoming a soldier, honors the centennial of the Battle of Concord at North Bridge. French was commissioned to create the statue by a committee representing the town of Concord, which included Emerson. The statue, unveiled on April 19, 1875, stood on a base inscribed with a line from Emerson's “Concord Hymn,” also honoring the event celebrated as "Patriots Day" in Massachusetts.