Topics Sanitation

Dauphin and Sydenham car crash, Jan. 17, 1978

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

Gillette Schuylkill mud cartoon

‘Gillette, All By Himself, Gets Fine New Idea On Germ Slaying’

Pegg's Run

Pegg’s Run, Northern Liberties (Watson’s Annals)

Swimmers at Pier 126, Delaware River July 15, 1918

Swimmers at Pier 126, Delaware River, July 15, 1918

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

Allegheny Avenue Sewer at Pier 126, 1918

Devereaux Street Sewer on the cover of Philadelphia magazine, 1911

Devereaux Street Sewer, Philadelphia magazine, 1911

A list of rules governing the sanitary maintenance of privy vaults in Philadelphia in 1915

Privy Regulations

Black-and-white photo of privies, waterless wells used to collect human waste

Privies, Emerald Street, 1919