![](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)
![Appletons' Journal Schuylkill, 1869](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/2008.001.0021-AppletonSchuylkill1869_edit.jpg?w=300)
Fairmount and Schuylkill, Appletons’ Journal, 1869
![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
![PWD's Jason Cruz holds a striped bass](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/striper_jay.jpg?w=300)
PWD’s Jay Cruz with a striped bass
![Photo of four men standing on the banks of the Schuylkill River on the last day of the Schuylkill Interceptor, December 20, 1956](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/Interceptor-Last-Gasp-1956-2004.092.0262.jpg?w=300)
Last gasp of the Schuylkill Interceptor, December 20, 1956
![Plan of Philadelphia, John Hills, May 30, 1796](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/graff02.04_Hills-map-1794.jpg?w=300)
Plan of Philadelphia, John Hills, 1796
![Fairmount Gardens, with the Schuylkill Bridge. This 1839 engraving, published in London, shows a view of the South Garden from the walkways that brought visitors up the cliffside to the overlooks at the height of the reservoirs. The fountain used the pressure of the reservoirs and was a a delightful refreshment in hot weather, and a wonder at all times. One anachronistic element of this engraving is the Upper Ferry Bridge, which burned the year before the print was published. Harding’s Hotel, a popular resort, is at the western end of the bridge.](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/05_southgarden_750w.jpg?w=300)
Fairmount Gardens with the Schuylkill Bridge, 1839
![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
![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
![The 1815 Engine House (shown here in an 1819 print) housed two steam-powered pumps that drew water from the Schuylkill River and pumped it into the reservoirs above the building, on top of Faire Mount. The artist showed smoke pouring from the south chimney, indicating that the South Engine was operating. The bridge just downstream was the covered Upper Ferry Bridge, an incredible 340 feet long, also completed in 1815. Designed and constructed by Lewis Wernwag, a native of Germany who had studied engineering there, the bridge opened in 1813. Formally called the Upper Ferry Bridge, it was also known as the “Colossus of Philadelphia” because — like the mythical Colossus of Rhodes — the bridge was held up only by piers at its two ends, with no intermediate supports. Made entirely of wood, the bridge was destroyed by fire in 1838.](https://waterhistoryphl.org/wp-content/uploads/fair-mount-WW-1819.jpg?w=300)