Topics Water Supply

Philadelphia drinking water 90+ years ago

Map Lovers’ Monday: Water for City Hall

Pipe Aqueduct across Wissahickon Valley, 1868 (2004.057.0074.004)

Wissahickon Pipe Aqueduct, Roxborough to Mt. Airy, 1868

Hand-drawn and colored map depicting a river with streams branching off of it

Map Lovers’ Monday: 1891 Water Supply Plan

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

Listening for leaks

Wooden Pipes in Philadelphia

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

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

International Exhibition situation plan, 1876

Centennial Exhibition situation plan, 1876

Cumberland Street pipeline, 1907

Bureau of Water, Cumberland, west of 13th Street, pipe line, 1907

Oak Lane Reservoir pipeline, 1904

Oak Lane Reservoir pipeline, 1904

State Street pipeline construction

State Street pipeline construction, 1904