Subjects Public Health

Includes activities to maintain the healthfulness of the city, and the animals (such as pigs) and diseases (such as cholera, yellow fever, and typhoid fever) that were the objects of public health efforts.

Fairmount Water Works: The Surprising History of an American Landmark

Laboratory Alkalinity test, ca. 1943

Making It Safe to Drink: Water History Video 2

Image shows three bottles of water, one clear, one dark and one with sediment floating in it.

Bottled vs. Tap in 1906

Oak Lane Reservoir pipeline, 1904

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

Diagram showing the Philadelphia Water Department's water treatment process

PWD Drinking Water Treatment diagram

Cartoon depicting William Penn toasting the Devil with a glass of filtered water

“Speeding the Parting Guest,” Feb. 25, 1909

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

Finished Upper Roxborough filters, 1903

Finished Upper Roxborough filters, 1903

McDonnell filter advertisement

McConnell Germ-Proof Filters ad

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

Water Before and After Roxborough

Black-and-white photograph showing the completed Upper Roxborough Filter system. Vaulted concrete ceiling with beds of filter sand.

Upper Roxborough Filter Beds Complete, 1903