Subjects Infrastructure

Relative to Philadelphia's water and sewer systems, this includes pipes, pumps, plants, water works, reservoirs and other water storage facilities, and other aboveground and underground structures related to the city’s water supply, sewerage system, and drainage. In a larger sense, infrastructure includes many other human-made structures, including roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, canals, and other things of that nature.

Fairmount Water Works: The Surprising History of an American Landmark

Philadelphia from Belmont, West Park (Picturesque America)

Thomas Mill Covered Bridge on the Wissahickon

Thomas Mill Covered Bridge over Wissahickon Creek (Picturesque America)

Hand-drawn and colored map depicting a river with streams branching off of it

Map Lovers’ Monday: 1891 Water Supply Plan

Color image of a grassy field with trees and buildings surrounding it and white lines drawn on the grass mimicking the path of a creek.

Drawing Dock Creek

Black-and-white image of an ornately lettered document with a decorative border

Images from ‘The Water Supply of the City of Philadelphia by a proposed Aqueduct from Norristown Dam’

Fairmount Gardens, with the Schuylkill Bridge. This 1839 engraving, published in London, shows a view of the South Garden from the walkways that brought visitors up the cliffside to the overlooks at the height of the reservoirs. The fountain used the pressure of the reservoirs and was a a delightful refreshment in hot weather, and a wonder at all times. One anachronistic element of this engraving is the Upper Ferry Bridge, which burned the year before the print was published. Harding’s Hotel, a popular resort, is at the western end of the bridge.

Fairmount Gardens with the Schuylkill Bridge, 1839

Fairmount Water Works, by W. H. Bartlett, 1839. This engraving from an 1839 painting by William Bartlett shows the porch added to the Engine House about 1835 and the two gazebos built at the same time, all added to welcome visitors to the Water Works and a new saloon, or restaurant, in the Engine House. The powerful jet of water rising from the fountain in the South Garden, fed by a dedicated pipe under the full pressure of the reservoir, was depicted against the green foliage on the west slope of Faire Mount, near the east end of the Colossus. A barge is making its way downstream through the canal, headed under the Colossus to the busy port city of Philadelphia.

Fairmount Water Works, W.H. Bartlett, 1839

“Fairmount Waterworks. From the forebay.” (From nature & on stone G. Lehman; Published by C.G. Childs & G. Lehman, 1833. Free Library of Philadelphia, Print & Picture Collection)

Fairmount Water Works from the forebay, 1833

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

Fairmount and vicinity, 1839

Race Bridge, Fair Mount Water Works, 1834 (Graff05.63)

Race Bridge, Fairmount Water Works, 1834

View of Fairmount Water Works, ca. 1827