Items

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

Joe Cerrone, Inspector, Industrial Waste Unit, PWD, enters storm drain to search for source of oil spill, 1989

Sewer worker Anthony Holston enters sewer, 1990

Black and white photo of a worker with darker skin, wearing protective clothing, gloves, and a hard hat with the number 25 on the front, reaching up out of a sewer manhole, only head, shoulders, and left arm visible.

Manholes like this give access to city’s sewer system, 1961

Black and white photo of a worker with darker skin, wearing protective clothing, gloves, and a hard hat with the number 25 on the front, reaching up out of a sewer manhole, only head, shoulders, and left arm visible.

Sewer Inspections: Vintage Images

Black-and-white image of a brick sewer outlet that drains into a creek with trees and a hill behind it

Thomas Run sewer outlet at Cobbs Creek

Black-and-white image showing a man standing in a large concrete half-pipe

Thomas Run sewer outlet during construction

Philadelphia Underground, Jan. 29, 1961

“Philadelphia Underground,” Jan. 29, 1961

69th St. Sewer and Culvert across Lansdowne

69th St. Sewer and Culvert across Lansdowne AVe.

Sewage collection and disposal plan

Plan for the Collection, Purification and Disposal of the Sewage of the City of Philadelphia, 1912

1914 map showing the plan for the collection and treatment of sewage in Philadelphia.

Plan for the Collection, Treatment and Disposal of Sewage, 1914

Devereaux Street Sewer on the cover of Philadelphia magazine, 1911

Devereaux Street Sewer, Philadelphia magazine, 1911

Man standing in front of Bingham Street Sewer, 1921

Bingham Street Sewer, East of Tacony Creek, 1921