PWD Celebrates Black History Month
The Philadelphia Water Department celebrates Black History Month with a display of curated images. These pictures span almost seven decades, from the 1900s through the 1960s, and serve as a tribute to the Black Philadelphians who helped lay the foundation for the water infrastructure that sustains us today. Depicted in the gallery are the faces of men and women - laborers, engineers, scientists, and other personnel - who played a critical role in the City’s health and safety of the environment. Today, those faces have changed, but PWD’s mission remains the same: keeping our waterways clean, and delivering quality drinking water to all Philadelphians.
About the Photographs: All the photos included in this gallery are from the Philadelphia Water Department Historical Collection. Even though they are reduced in size and quality from the original digital images, you can see many details if you zoom in. Don't just click the "+" button once: keep clicking and watch the picture grow. You'll see an array of hats and clothing and tools, interesting construction methods and materials - and, most interesting to me, the serious faces of people who stopped for a second in their work while the photographer did his work and captured their images for the ages. --Adam Levine