Subjects City Life

Sewers, Pollution, and Public Health in 19th Century Philadelphia

CITIZENS’ BUSINESS: 1939-1946

Petition of manufacturers along the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia for a new upstream water supply, 1868

Dealing with the city’s wastes in the mid-19th century

Oak Lane Reservoir pipeline, 1904

The Water and Drainage History of Philadelphia: A seven-part course

Imagine a Day Without Water

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.

Half a Century of Clean Water

Philadelphia the Manufacturing and Industrial Capital map, 1906

Nine visiting nurses ready for work, ca. 1909

Nine visiting nurses ready for work, ca. 1909

Travel through the Philadelphia of a century ago, with a severely erudite guide

Black-and-white newspaper ad advertising "Delightfully Romantic Schuylkill Excursions"

Schuylkill steamship excursions ad, 1852

New Plan of Philadelphia, John A. Paxton, 1811