This historic photo of the Mystic Avenue storm drain provides a glimpse of what was once a source of town pride. In the decades leading up to World War I, Somerville's sewer and water systems were considered models for other cities. In 1906 City Engineer Ernest Bailey took a group of aldermen and other city officials on a guided tour of the sewers, culminating in a lunch of lobster salad, rolls and crullers served by lantern light in a storm drain near the Mystic River-quite possibly the one pictured here. In 1911 Mayor Charles Burns received a letter from Tokyo Mayor Yuko Ozaki (the same mayor who made the famous gift of 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, DC), asking for the plans of Somerville's sewer system. "Somerville's reputation for excellent sewers has reached the Orient" the Somerville Journal crowed.