Chapter 8 of The Water Works of the City of Philadelphia: The Story of their Development and Engineering Specifications
Compiled in 1931 by Walter A. Graf (Staff Engineer, The Budd Company, Philadelphia), with the assistance of Sidney H. Vought and Clarence E. Robson. This online version was created from an original volume at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Catalog No. WZ 23591 (4th Fl. Folio).
Walter Graf History Home Page
(With Notes on the Text, Preface, and Acknowledgements)
Reading the Preface will give a quick overview of the beginnings and expansion of the Philadelphia water system.
WHEN THE BOARD of commissioners appointed by the districts of Spring Garden, Northern Liberties and Kensington, met July 31, 1843, for the purpose of organizing an independent water works system for the supply of these districts, the representatives of the District of Kensington at the meeting refused to participate in the construction of the works known as the Spring Garden or Schuylkill works and withdrew from the board. However they subsequently entered into a contract for a supply of water from these works at the same price charged the consumers of the other two districts. During 1845, Kensington paid to these districts for water rents the amount of $4,261.61 and in 1846, $6,008,50.
With the rapid increase in the population and a large number of new manufacturing plants erected in the Kensington district, the Schuylkill station soon found itself unable to meet the Kensington demands, and it became necessary for Kensington to consider arranging for some other source.
On December 20, 1847, a resolution was adopted by the commissioners of the Kensington district to construct a water works of its own, and a start was made by the appointing of a committee consisting of one representative from each ward of the district to plan for such work and propose sites and equipment. However no positive action was taken, except to examine possible sites for the works, until the latter part of 1848, when the President of the board was authorized to advertise for plans and specifications for a water works.
Following this, the committee adopted a plan prepared by someone with no previous experience in the construction of water works or pumping machinery. This was a startling situation in view of the successful experiences of other districts, and bears testimony to the intense rivalry which existed between the various districts of old Philadelphia. The result was that the works and machinery failed to perform. It became necessary to considerably alter and reconstruct the machinery before it could be made useable. During the progress of the work, political changes occurred and the entire board was changed, and contracts for the alterations and reconstruction were entered into with yet other parties who like the first were entirely unacquainted with the kind of work involved. These proceedings naturally led to litigation. After expending an enormous sum of money and wasting much valuable time, early in 1851 the works were finally made useable and the district commenced to supply itself with water.
The first pumping engine worked so unsatisfactorily, even after it had been rebuilt to a great extent, that steps were immediately taken to procure another engine, pump and boilers. As a result full success was not attained until the middle of the summer of 1851. On account of the frequent changes in the administration, and the various alterations and repairs, it is probably impossible to ascertain accurately the cost of the entire works, but it was estimated that $200,000 would not be far from the cost of these works up to 1859.
These Delaware works were situated on the Delaware River at the foot of what was then called Wood Street (later Otis Street and now Susquehanna Avenue) in the 18th Ward. The water was taken from the river at the end of a wharf which projected some distance into the river, and then passed through a sluice way to the front of the boiler house, and from there by separate pipes to the pumps.
The engine and boiler house were substantial brick buildings. The machinery is described as follows. Engine No. 1 (shown in side elevation and plan in FIGURE 32) was a double acting high pressure engine whose cylinder was 30 inches in diameter, and whose stroke was 72 inches. It gave motion to a double acting horizontal pump 18 inches in diameter having a 72 inch stroke. The pump piston was operated by means of a vertical lever beam 18 feet long to the upper and lower ends of which the piston rods of the engine and pump were respectively attached by suitable connecting rods. From the upper end of the beam, a connecting rod also extended to a crank on the end of the flywheel shaft.
The valves of the pump were metallic flap or hinged valves now commonly known as swing check valves working on seats placed at an angle of 45 degrees. The pump was provided with an air chamber, on both the receiving and discharge pipes; that on the latter being one of unusually large dimensions. The valves of the steam cylinder were of the single poppet variety operated by revolving cams, fixed on a shaft that received its motion from the flywheel shaft of the engine through a pair of bevel gears.
Engine No. 2 (shown in side elevation and plan in FIGURE 33) was a condensing engine, built by Reanie & Neafie in 1851. It had a vertical cylinder 42 inches in diameter, and a stroke of 72 inches. An overhead lever beam supported by two columns and an entablature, was connected at one end by a connecting rod with a crank on the end of the flywheel shaft, and at the other by two short links to the piston rod of the engine. A prolongation of the piston rod passed through a stuffing box in the bottom of the cylinder and connected by links to a horizontal arm of a right angle bell-crank lever, while a rod from the vertical arm gave motion to the piston of a pump of 19½ inch diameter and 72 inch stroke. The pump was similar in other respects to the pump of engine No. 1.
The pumps of engines Nos. 1 and 2 were at a level several feet below the surface of the river from which they received their supply. They were both connected to a single main, 18 inches in diameter, through which they forced the water into the two original Fairhill reservoirs, located on the plot of ground bounded by Lehigh Avenue, Eighth Street, Somerset Street and Sixth Street as will be seen by reference to FIGURE 34. They were formed by earth embankments puddled with clay and lined with brick. Their combined capacity was 9,384,000 gallons. Leading from each of these reservoirs, there was originally a distributing main 18 inches in diameter.
On October 25, 1871, a third engine (No. 3) was installed. It was of the duplex type and of 6 million gallons daily capacity, built by H. A. Worthington Company. This engine started operating at a disadvantage, pumping through the old inadequate mains to the reservoirs on Sixth and Lehigh until a 36 inch pumping main was laid from a standpipe which had been erected in front of the engine house to a new reservoir, which was located to the west of and adjoining the two original reservoirs. Building of the new reservoir was started in 1870 and it received its first water on December 20, 1871. It covered an area of 4.83 acres at the foot of its embankment, and an area of 3.29 acres at the water surface, while its contents, with a depth of 17 feet 9 inches, were 16,373,720 gallons.
In 1872 five plain tubular boilers were constructed and installed in these works by the Southwark Foundry Company. Each boiler was 70 inches in diameter by 15 feet long, with 75 four-inch tubes. In order to make room for these the marine boiler built by Reanie & Neafie to supply steam for the No. 2 engine, was moved to the Fairmount works to run a Worthington engine which had been set up there for auxiliary purposes in 1869.
The quality of the water pumped at this station was very poor, and contamination of it was blamed for the contagious diseases which occasionally afflicted the districts that the station served, yet notwithstanding the urgent representation of its evil quality, water continued to be supplied the people from the end of the same wharf as late as 1884. The contamination came both from the general sewers of the river, and from the contents of Gunnar’s Run (otherwise known as the Aramingo Canal, or Gunner’s Run) which came down on the ebb tide. An early attempt to alleviate the trouble was made by pumping only during high tide. Later a wooden trunk four feet square was laid to mid-channel of the Delaware River. The water taken from this point through the trunk was much improved in quality and appearance, but still not up to the standard desired or even to the quality furnished to other sections of the city. To avoid the heightened danger from the impurity of water pumped at these works during the summer months or other low stage periods of the river, connections were made in 1879 with the general reservoirs and distribution system of the city, so as to enable a pumping engine placed at the Spring Garden works to feed the Kensington district with water pumped from the Schuylkill River. This arrangement, when finally consummated and given a thorough tryout, practically placed the Delaware and Kensington water works in the discard.
In 1883 all but 24 feet of the standpipe in front of the engine house was taken down, and the remaining portion was used as an air chamber to lessen the shocks to both main and engine while water was being pumped. This arrangement did not continue in service very long, for in 1885 even this remainder of the standpipe was removed. During 1884, engines Nos. 1 and 2 which were old and practically unserviceable, were condemned and sold, leaving only No. 3, the Worthington 6 million gallon engine, at this works. It became increasingly evident that the Kensington station must ultimately be abandoned. No repairs, alterations or improvements were made beyond those necessary for the temporary use of the station. Despite this the station continued in fair condition, for it had been put in complete order during 1883. In 1886 the standpipe which had been erected at the Fairhill reservoir end of the pumping main was taken down.
In 1887, a 30-inch diameter main was laid from the Wentz Farm reservoir (Frankford water works system) to the Fairhill reservoir. This main, completed in the spring of 1888, was nearly five miles long and cost $142,272.77. It was planned to abandon the Kensington station when this main was completed, but the station continued to operate spasmodically for another two years. During 1888, the average daily pumpage at this station dwindled from 6,349,317 gallons in January to merely 125,284 gallons in October. The engine was shut down entirely from November 1888 to February of 1889, when it was started once again and used sparingly until December 1889, when it was again shut down. In 1889, a 48-inch diameter main was laid from the East Park reservoir to the Fairhill reservoir, which together with the main laid from Wentz Farm reservoir in 1887 gave the district supplied by this station two very substantial sources of supply. Preparations were then made to move the Worthington 6 million gallons per day engine remaining at this station to the old engine house of the Schuylkill water works station. Foundations for it were constructed there. During January of 1890, the Kensington or Delaware water works pumped its last water. Shortly afterward the engine was moved to the Schuylkill works and the Kensington station was formally abandoned. The engine and boiler house of this station is still in existence (1931) although all water works machinery has long since been taken out of it. Two sections of the reservoirs have been razed. On their sites now stand the Northeast High School, the Lehigh Avenue Branch of the Philadelphia Public Library, the No. 2 pumping station of the high pressure fire service, and the fire house for pipeline company No. 2 and water tower company No. 2. The remaining section of the reservoir with a capacity of nearly 5 million gallons is now used by the high pressure fire service.