Items

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

Water History: Rebirth of the Rivers

Diagram showing the Philadelphia Water Department's water treatment process

PWD Drinking Water Treatment diagram

Cartoon depicting William Penn toasting the Devil with a glass of filtered water

“Speeding the Parting Guest,” Feb. 25, 1909

William Penn balks at drinking the "mixed drink" offered him: Schuylkill water, mixed with pollution from the upstream sources named. Editorial cartoon by Fred Morgan, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 6, 1899. One of a series of cartoons drawn by Morgan protesting the state of the city's drinking water and trying to encourage the passage of legislation authorizing the construction of a water filtration system.

“A Decidedly Mixed Drink,” April 6, 1899

Color drawing of an elevated water reservoir on the banks of a river with green land shown on either bank

Isometrical View of Fairmount Water Works, 1843

Black-and-white image of a table with numbers in columns

Bacteria in Delaware River, Torresdale Filters, 1913

PWD water tech at the Philly Home Show, 1960

PWD water tech at the Philly Home Show, 1960 (detail)

Lab tech at Philly Home Show, 1960

Lab tech, water cleaning demo, Philly Home Show, 1960

Gillette Schuylkill mud cartoon

‘Gillette, All By Himself, Gets Fine New Idea On Germ Slaying’

Torresdale Conduit work gang, 1906

Torresdale Conduit work gang, 12/18/1906

Belmont Filters construction 1903

Belmont Filters construction, 1903

Finished Upper Roxborough filters, 1903

Finished Upper Roxborough filters, 1903