Watersheds Schuylkill River Watershed

High Water: An Informal History of Flooding in Philadelphia

Fairmount Park topographical map, showing East Park Reservoir, 1872

Appletons' Journal Schuylkill, 1869

Fairmount and Schuylkill, Appletons’ Journal, 1869

Black-and-white etching of the Wire Bridge at Fairmount, 1873

Wire Bridge at Fairmount, with canal lock and esplanade (Picturesque America)

Photo of four men standing on the banks of the Schuylkill River on the last day of the Schuylkill Interceptor, December 20, 1956

Last gasp of the Schuylkill Interceptor, December 20, 1956

Girard Avenue Bridge, Fairmount Park

Girard Avenue Bridge, Fairmount Park, 1895

Queen Lane Reservoir pumping station

Queen Lane Pumping Station, proposed design

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’

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

Mill Creek Sewer under construction, 1883

Fairmount Gardens, with the Schuylkill Bridge. This 1839 engraving, published in London, shows a view of the South Garden from the walkways that brought visitors up the cliffside to the overlooks at the height of the reservoirs. The fountain used the pressure of the reservoirs and was a a delightful refreshment in hot weather, and a wonder at all times. One anachronistic element of this engraving is the Upper Ferry Bridge, which burned the year before the print was published. Harding’s Hotel, a popular resort, is at the western end of the bridge.

Fairmount Gardens with the Schuylkill Bridge, 1839

Black-and-white image showing a factory, smokestacks and smoke, and streets

Dobson’s Mill, 1884, from History of Philadelphia by Scharf & Wescott

Map of the County of Philadelphia from Actual Survey, 1839 (la000784a)

Map of the County of Philadelphia from Actual Survey, 1843