Items

Historic resources from our archives - images, maps, documents, and more.

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.

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.

Fairmount Water Works, W.H. Bartlett, 1839

Centre Square Engine House, location of one of two steam engines used in the city’s original water system. Engraving by Birch.

Centre Square Engine House, ca. 1807

Southeast Corner of Third and Market Streets, Philadelphia

Southeast Corner of Third and Market, Philadelphia

Black-and-white image shows several people talking in the foreground and figures on horses on a hill in the background

A Day in the Ma’sh – Bell Snicklin’

State House Garden, Philadelphia, 1800

Congress Hall and New Theatre in Chestnut Street, Philadelphia

Library and Surgeon’s Hall in Fifth Street, Philadelphia, 1800

New Market, in South Second Street, Philadelphia, 1800

High Street from Ninth Street, Philadelphia

High Street from the Country Marketplace, Philadelphia, with the procession in commemoration of the death of General George Washington, Dec. 26, 1799

High Street, with the First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, 1800