Topics Streams & Rivers

Benjamin Henry Latrobe, portrait by Filippo Costaggini, 1880

Centre Square Water Works, Latrobe Plans, 1799

The Water Supply Problem of Philadelphia, 1899

State of the Schuylkill River in 1876: Sewage pollution and possible remedies

Birkinbine Schuylkill Hydrographical Survey 1861-66

Two reports on the state of the Schuylkill River, 1867

Black-and-white photograph depicts a large brick sewer tube lying on a barren landscape

Streams, islands, and ferries of early Philadelphia

Schuylkill Navigation Company Scrapbook

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

Birkinbine Schuylkill Hydrographical Survey 1861-66

Schuylkill River Hydrographical Survey 1861-66 by H. P. M. Birkinbine

View from the Inclined Plane, near Philadelphia, 1838

View from the Inclined Plane near Philadelphia, 1838

Fairmount

Fairmount Water Works, about 1860

Showing method of sinking the pipe on the bed of the River (2004.057.0074.006)

Showing the method of sinking the pipe on the bed of the river

Ornate black-and-white title page to the 1836 sheet music for The Fairmount Quadrilles

The Fairmount Quadrilles, 1836