Topics Water Supply

A Brief History of Water in Northwest Philadelphia

Two views on the water supply, 1939

Repurposing Old Infrastructure: Water History Video 5

Fairmount Park topographical map, showing East Park Reservoir, 1872

Pipe Aqueduct across Wissahickon Valley, 1868 (2004.057.0074.004)

Wissahickon Pipe Aqueduct, Roxborough to Mt. Airy, 1868

Queen Lane Reservoir pumping station

Queen Lane Pumping Station, proposed design

A man in glasses listening to the street through stethoscopes (2012.002.0043)

Listening for leaks

Centre Square Water Works, Frederick Graff, Sr. Plans, 1799

Black-and-white image of an ornately lettered document with a decorative border

Images from ‘The Water Supply of the City of Philadelphia by a proposed Aqueduct from Norristown Dam’

The 1815 Engine House (shown here in an 1819 print) housed two steam-powered pumps that drew water from the Schuylkill River and pumped it into the reservoirs above the building, on top of Faire Mount. The artist showed smoke pouring from the south chimney, indicating that the South Engine was operating. The bridge just downstream was the covered Upper Ferry Bridge, an incredible 340 feet long, also completed in 1815. Designed and constructed by Lewis Wernwag, a native of Germany who had studied engineering there, the bridge opened in 1813. Formally called the Upper Ferry Bridge, it was also known as the “Colossus of Philadelphia” because — like the mythical Colossus of Rhodes — the bridge was held up only by piers at its two ends, with no intermediate supports. Made entirely of wood, the bridge was destroyed by fire in 1838.

Fair Mount Water Works engine house, 1819

A section of wooden water pipe, long out of service, removed from a Philadelphia street in 1901. It had been installed about 1801.

Wooden Water Pipe, removed from Market Street, December 6, 1901

Pumping stations after Philadelphia's incorporation, 1854

Main Pumping Stations for Philadelphia Drinking Water