Topics Technology & Engineering

Philadelphia drinking water 90+ years ago

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

Philadelphia Underground, Jan. 29, 1961

“Philadelphia Underground,” Jan. 29, 1961

State Street pipeline construction

State Street pipeline construction, 1904

Stand Pipe of Philadelphia Water Works

Water Works Standpipe, 1853

Two black-and-white photographs of pipeline construction on State Road. Depicted are a group of people, trees, buildings, a fire hydrant and a grid of boards over the pipes.

State Road triple pipeline construction, 1904

Eleven men in a work gang plug leaks in a tunnel, the Torresdale Conduit

Torresdale Conduit work gang, 1906