Time Periods 1850-1900

Fairmount Water Works and the Lemon Hill Observatory

Photograph of Roberts Mill on Wingohocking Creek in Germantown, built in the late 17th century. (Photograph by J. C. Browne, 1871. Castner Collection/Free Library of Philadelphia)

Roberts Mill, Wingohocking Creek, 1871

Fairmount Park topographical map, showing East Park Reservoir, 1872

Fairmount Water Works (Picturesque America)

Wire Bridge at Fairmount

Schuylkill Navigation lock at Fairmount (Picturesque America)

Queen Lane Reservoir pumping station

Queen Lane Pumping Station, proposed design

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

Pumping stations after Philadelphia's incorporation, 1854

Main Pumping Stations for Philadelphia Drinking Water

Black-and-white image of the title page of a government report

Perkiomen Water Supply Surveys, 1866

Birkinbine Schuylkill Hydrographical Survey 1861-66

Schuylkill River Hydrographical Survey 1861-66 by H. P. M. Birkinbine

International Exhibition situation plan, 1876

Centennial Exhibition situation plan, 1876

Outhouse over Schuylkill near Pottstown

Outhouse over the Schuylkill near Pottstown