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.

Mill Creek Sewer under construction. Several men standing beside a giant partially constructed sewer pipe.

Mill Creek Sewer under construction, 1883

Bridge Street Draw, Cofferdam, ca. 1896

PWD water tech at the Philly Home Show, 1960

PWD water tech at the Philly Home Show, 1960 (detail)

Lab tech at Philly Home Show, 1960

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

Torresdale Conduit work gang, 1906

Torresdale Conduit work gang, 12/18/1906

Nine visiting nurses ready for work, ca. 1909

Nine visiting nurses ready for work, ca. 1909

Immigrant family, ca. 1900

Immigrant family, ca. 1900, nurse in black

Photo of a woman looking at a jar of raw, untreated sewage

Jar of raw sewage before treatment, 2000

City officials tour new interceptor sewer, 1953

Photo of Allegheny Avenue Sewer, Pier 126, Delaware River, July 15, 1918

Allegheny Avenue Sewer at Pier 126, 1918

Two black-and-white photographs of pipeline construction on State Road. Depicted are a group of people, trees, buildings, a fire hydrant and a grid of boards over the pipes.

State Road triple pipeline construction, 1904