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.

Finished Upper Roxborough filters, 1903

Finished Upper Roxborough filters, 1903

Outhouse over Schuylkill near Pottstown

Outhouse over the Schuylkill near Pottstown

McDonnell filter advertisement

McConnell Germ-Proof Filters ad

Spring Garden water testing lab, 1901

Bureau of Water Spring Garden Testing Station, 1901

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

Jar of raw sewage before treatment, 2000

Black and white image of Philadelphia civic and business leaders watching the start of operations at the new Northeast Sewage Treatment Plant, April 6, 1951

Northeast Sewage Plant opening, 1951

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

Allegheny Avenue Sewer at Pier 126, 1918

Spring Garden Sewage Experiment Station, used to test water filtration methods

Outside Sprinkling Filters, Spring Garden Sewage Experiment Station, 1911

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

Water Before and After Roxborough

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

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

1902 photo of Upper Roxborough Filter beds under construction

Upper Roxborough Filter Bed Construction, 1902