Helping history to sink in

These household oddities and others, the faded detritus of domestic life, are but a small cross-section of the artifacts on display at Watertown's newest attraction - the Plumbing Museum.

The items were assembled over decades by Russell Manoog, who ran a Worcester plumbing supply company started by his father, Charles, in the 1920s. The grandly named American Sanitary Plumbing Museum opened in Worcester in 1979, but was always known to local residents simply as the "toilet museum."

After Manoog decided to retire in 2007, he found a willing and enthusiastic caretaker for his unique assemblage of artifacts in Watertown plumbing executive John Cannistraro Jr.

He runs J.C. Cannistraro LLC, a family-owned plumbing and HVAC business started in 1963 by his father, John Sr., in Newton. The elder Cannistraro then moved the company to Watertown, first to Pleasant Street and later around the corner to its current quarters on Rosedale Road.

"The collection chronicles 200 years of American ingenuity," said Cannistraro, one of six of John Sr.'s eight children who work for the company, which specializes in large-scale commercial construction projects. "We wanted to display the artifacts in a fitting environment, honoring both the tradesman and the industry."

The new Plumbing Museum, in a Cannistraro-owned building at 80 Rosedale Road, hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening party recently that was attended by Manoog and his family, about 70 members of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors of Greater Boston, an area trade group involved in the project, and artists and designers who worked on the museum.

From the "earth closet," a glorified cat litter box used by people in the mid-1800s, to the Neorest, a futuristic Japanese toilet that has more comfort features than a luxury car, the museum features old and new curiosities and pays tribute to the grimy and once-dangerous work of plumbing. A model 1930s-era workshop is filled with heavy pipe-cutting and other tools fashioned and repaired by plumbers using hot lead applied by hand. Early 20th-century plumbing trade journals filled with advertisements for hot-water heaters and indoor commodes are a jolting reminder that such modern conveniences most take for granted today are less than 100 years old.

The shared trajectories between the two plumbing families and Watertown's blue-collar industrial past made the move a natural fit, museum officials say.

"Because the company has roots in Watertown, it's great that we can bring this here," said Tom Palange, the museum's marketing director.

Last year, Cannistraro gutted and renovated the 150-year-old former ice house next to the company's complex to showcase the collection. Architects from Cambridge Seven Associates designed the museum and display areas, while students from Artists for Humanity in South Boston painted murals and graphic enhancements "to make it more than some tools and pieces of pipe on boards," said Palange.

"It tells the story of industry over time, something that gets forgotten," he said.

Run in partnership with the contractors association, the museum has already scheduled some school and senior groups for tours. Palange said they also plan to open the museum as a quirky, full-service space for social events. At least until staffers are brought in, the museum will be open only by appointment, with tours Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Watertown officials are excited about the museum's opening.

"With all the thoughts about the revitalization of Pleasant Street and zoning improvements, that's the kind of business we'd like to see coming to town," said Christopher Hayward , the town Historical Commission's preservation agent. If the museum attracts visitors who then shop and eat in local establishments, he said, "then the town just gained a valuable asset."

More details are available at the museum's website, www.theplumbingmuseum.org.