![](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/FairmountWW_PictAm_AEL-scaled.jpg?w=300)
![](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/FairmountWW_PictAm_AEL-scaled.jpg?w=300)
![Overhead image of the Fairmount Dam Fishway and the surrounding area, including the Art Museum, Boathouse Row and the Fairmount Water Works](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/fishwaydiagram.jpg?w=300)
Fairmount Dam Fish Ladder diagram
![Black-and-white etching of the Wire Bridge at Fairmount, 1873](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/2004.007.0007-scaled.jpg?w=300)
Wire Bridge at Fairmount, with canal lock and esplanade, 1873
![Wire Bridge at Fairmount](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/WireBridge_FairmountWW_Schuylkill_PictAm_AEL-scaled.jpg?w=300)
Schuylkill Navigation lock at Fairmount, 1873
![Fairmount Water Works, by W. H. Bartlett, 1839. This engraving from an 1839 painting by William Bartlett shows the porch added to the Engine House about 1835 and the two gazebos built at the same time, all added to welcome visitors to the Water Works and a new saloon, or restaurant, in the Engine House. The powerful jet of water rising from the fountain in the South Garden, fed by a dedicated pipe under the full pressure of the reservoir, was depicted against the green foliage on the west slope of Faire Mount, near the east end of the Colossus. A barge is making its way downstream through the canal, headed under the Colossus to the busy port city of Philadelphia.](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/05_Bartlett_FWW_1839_crop_750w.jpg?w=300)
Fairmount Water Works, W.H. Bartlett, 1839
![“Fairmount Waterworks. From the forebay.” (From nature & on stone G. Lehman; Published by C.G. Childs & G. Lehman, 1833. Free Library of Philadelphia, Print & Picture Collection)](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/05_FWW_castner-21_7_Crop_750w.jpg?w=300)
Fairmount Water Works from the forebay, 1833
![This 1838 view of the Fairmount Water Works with the Schuylkill River in the distance, by John T. Bowen, “captures the pleasures of Fairmount in its heyday,” writes historian Jane Mork Gibson. “The neat beauty of the works set into a gentle landscape, steep paths and steps that offered an exhilirating contrast to the general flatness of Philadelphia, as well as the excitement of boat races on the river and refreshments offered in the former Engine House, all prompted the admiring comments of visitors.”](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/05_Bowen_0072_0019_001.jpg?w=300)
Fairmount Water Works and the Schuylkill River, 1838
![Bird's eye color view of reservoirs, green areas of foliage, pink roads and blue water, with a dam prominent](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/05_I6-2_1839_GRV17_750w.jpg?w=300)
Fairmount and vicinity, 1839
![Color drawing of an elevated water reservoir on the banks of a river with green land shown on either bank](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/Course05_Graff0557.jpg?w=300)
Isometrical View of Fairmount Water Works, 1843
![Frederick Graff’s drawing of the 1815 steam engine, adapted from a design by Englishmen Matthew Boulton and James Watt, shows the engine from the north, with Faire Mount and the reservoirs to the left of the drawing and the river to the right. The 1815 engine sat on the south side of the Engine House and was thus called the South Engine. As Graff indicated in his drawing, the Engine House was essentially open from river level to the roof in order to accommodate the massive beam and fly wheel of the two engines. While Graff showed the crank attached to the axle of the fly wheel, he left the crank shaft and the pump out of the drawing. The North Engine, designed and built in 1816 by Philadelphian Oliver Evans, advanced steam engines’ operating pressures from 2 pounds per square inch (psi) to 200 psi, a significant technological achievement.](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/Course05_Graff0419.jpg?w=300)
Steam engine drawing, Frederick Graff Sr., 1815
![Fairmount](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/2016.002.0037-scaled.jpg?w=300)
Fairmount Water Works, about 1860
![New Mill House at Fairmount (2008.001.0046)](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/2008.001.0046-scaled.jpg?w=300)