Subjects Technology

Benjamin Henry Latrobe, portrait by Filippo Costaggini, 1880

Centre Square Water Works, Latrobe Plans, 1799

The Centre Square Works, 1801

The Water Works of the City of Philadelphia. The Story of their Development and Engineering Specifications.

men standing around a trench with pipes seen crossing through it. there is a steam engine on wheels behind them to the left, and a building in the background on the right with a sign they says Hotel Abbey, T G Schmidt & Sons, Pilsner & Puritan Beer.

Pipeline being laid in Wissahickon Avenue

Diagram showing the Philadelphia Water Department's water treatment process

PWD Drinking Water Treatment diagram

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

Fairmount and vicinity, 1839

Frederick Graff’s drawing of the 1815 steam engine, adapted from a design by Englishmen Matthew Boulton and James Watt, shows the engine from the north, with Faire Mount and the reservoirs to the left of the drawing and the river to the right. The 1815 engine sat on the south side of the Engine House and was thus called the South Engine. As Graff indicated in his drawing, the Engine House was essentially open from river level to the roof in order to accommodate the massive beam and fly wheel of the two engines. While Graff showed the crank attached to the axle of the fly wheel, he left the crank shaft and the pump out of the drawing. The North Engine, designed and built in 1816 by Philadelphian Oliver Evans, advanced steam engines’ operating pressures from 2 pounds per square inch (psi) to 200 psi, a significant technological achievement.

Steam engine drawing, Frederick Graff Sr., 1815

A section of wooden water pipe, long out of service, removed from a Philadelphia street in 1901. It had been installed about 1801.

Wooden Water Pipe, removed from Market Street, December 6, 1901

Centre Square Engine House, location of one of two steam engines used in the city’s original water system. Engraving by Birch.

Centre Square Engine House, ca. 1807

Bethlehem Water Works, 2011

Torresdale Conduit work gang, 1906

Torresdale Conduit work gang, 12/18/1906

Finished Upper Roxborough filters, 1903

Finished Upper Roxborough filters, 1903