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 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

Outhouse over Schuylkill near Pottstown

Outhouse over the Schuylkill near Pottstown

McDonnell filter advertisement

McConnell Germ-Proof Filters ad

Apparatus for testing Model Turbine Engines used at Fairmount, 1859-60

Apparatus for testing model turbine wheels used at Fairmount, 1859-60

Duplex Pumping Engine, Belmont Works

Duplex Pumping Engine, Belmont Works

Belmont Works Engine House

Engine House of the Belmont Works