Topics Landscape Changes

The pipe beneath the rocky path

Sandy Run Watershed and the Holmesburg Water Works

Map Lover’s Monday: Fairmount Park, 1869

Plans and maps of the Pennypack Creek Watershed in Philadelphia

Mount Moriah Historic Cemetery and Arboretum

Early photographs of Fairmount and vicinity, 1848

Requiem for a stream: Adams Run in Oak Lane

Black-and-white image shows a trolley car emerging from a building with men standing alongside

Filling Low Land: A Story of Ash-Dumping in the Wingohocking Creek Watershed

Cobbs Creek: A Brief Historical Overview by Adam Levine

Visions of the Schuylkill, 1884 and Now

Birkinbine Schuylkill Hydrographical Survey 1861-66

Two reports on the state of the Schuylkill River, 1867

Fairmount Gardens, with the Schuylkill Bridge. This 1839 engraving, published in London, shows a view of the South Garden from the walkways that brought visitors up the cliffside to the overlooks at the height of the reservoirs. The fountain used the pressure of the reservoirs and was a a delightful refreshment in hot weather, and a wonder at all times. One anachronistic element of this engraving is the Upper Ferry Bridge, which burned the year before the print was published. Harding’s Hotel, a popular resort, is at the western end of the bridge.

Fairmount Gardens with the Schuylkill Bridge, 1839