Places Pennsylvania

Water Bureau Newspaper Scrapbook, 1942-1952

Birch’s Views of Philadelphia, 1800

Centre Square Water Works, Frederick Graff, Sr. Plans, 1799

Diagram showing the Philadelphia Water Department's water treatment process

PWD Drinking Water Treatment diagram

Bird's eye color view of reservoirs, green areas of foliage, pink roads and blue water, with a dam prominent

Fairmount and vicinity, 1839

Frederick Graff’s drawing of the 1815 steam engine, adapted from a design by Englishmen Matthew Boulton and James Watt, shows the engine from the north, with Faire Mount and the reservoirs to the left of the drawing and the river to the right. The 1815 engine sat on the south side of the Engine House and was thus called the South Engine. As Graff indicated in his drawing, the Engine House was essentially open from river level to the roof in order to accommodate the massive beam and fly wheel of the two engines. While Graff showed the crank attached to the axle of the fly wheel, he left the crank shaft and the pump out of the drawing. The North Engine, designed and built in 1816 by Philadelphian Oliver Evans, advanced steam engines’ operating pressures from 2 pounds per square inch (psi) to 200 psi, a significant technological achievement.

Steam engine drawing, Frederick Graff Sr., 1815

A section of wooden water pipe, long out of service, removed from a Philadelphia street in 1901. It had been installed about 1801.

Wooden Water Pipe, removed from Market Street, December 6, 1901

Centre Square Engine House, location of one of two steam engines used in the city’s original water system. Engraving by Birch.

Centre Square Engine House, ca. 1807

Bethlehem Water Works, 2011

Lab tech at Philly Home Show, 1960

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

DeLaval Beauty Shots 6

Electric Pump Installations at Lardner’s Point Pumping Station

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

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