Topics Sanitation

Black-and-white aerial photo of a creek bend with industrial buildings surrounding it

The Sad History of Frankford Creek

Dauphin and Sydenham car crash, Jan. 17, 1978

Pen and ink drawing of the proposed Delaware Seventh Street Sewer

Plan and profile of proposed Delaware Seventh St. Sewer, 1850

1830 plan for the Pine Street Sewer

Plan of Pine Street Sewer, 1830

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

Mill Creek Sewer under construction, 1883

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.

Half a Century of Clean Water

Gillette Schuylkill mud cartoon

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

Outhouse over Schuylkill near Pottstown

Outhouse over the Schuylkill near Pottstown

Sewage collection and disposal plan

Plan for the Collection, Purification and Disposal of the Sewage of the City of Philadelphia, 1912

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