Subjects Pollution

Includes pollution caused by the direct dumping of factory or industrial wastes into rivers and streams, the dumping of industrial wastes and sewage through the city's sewer system, combined sewer overflows during wet weather, and polluted stormwater carried into streams by the city's stormwater drainage pipes.

Black-and-white image of workers in a pit with a sewer opening behind them and text

Frankford Creek: Sad History of an Urban Stream title page

Outhouse over Schuylkill near Pottstown

Outhouse over the Schuylkill near Pottstown

Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1884

Baldwin Locomotive Works

Pegg's Run

Pegg’s Run, Northern Liberties (Watson’s Annals)

Swimmers at Pier 126, Delaware River July 15, 1918

Swimmers at Pier 126, Delaware River, July 15, 1918

Two bottles of water from a river, one dark with pollution and one clear after filtration

Water Before and After Roxborough

Henry Disston's Keystone Saw Works was located along the Delaware riverfront in Tacony. The black-and-white lithograph shows the factory's many smokestacks emitting smoke into the atmosphere.

Keystone Saw Works