Watersheds Schuylkill River Watershed

Black-and-white image of an ornate white building on a riverbank with trees behind it

A new book, more than 40 years in the making, about an iconic Philadelphia building

Fairmount Water Works: The Surprising History of an American Landmark

Ghosts of Water in Fairmount Park, Part 1, with Adam Levine

Annual reports and other documents relating to Philadelphia’s water supply system, 1796-1992

Fairmount Water Works (Picturesque America)

Queen Lane Reservoir pumping station

Queen Lane Pumping Station, proposed design

Early photographs of Fairmount and vicinity, 1848

Newspaper Clipping Scrapbooks of Frederick Graff Jr., Chief Engineer of the Philadelphia Water Department. Part 2: 1858-1871

Visions of the Schuylkill, 1884 and Now

Centre Square Water System

This 1838 view of the Fairmount Water Works with the Schuylkill River in the distance, by John T. Bowen, “captures the pleasures of Fairmount in its heyday,” writes historian Jane Mork Gibson. “The neat beauty of the works set into a gentle landscape, steep paths and steps that offered an exhilirating contrast to the general flatness of Philadelphia, as well as the excitement of boat races on the river and refreshments offered in the former Engine House, all prompted the admiring comments of visitors.”

Fairmount Water Works and the Schuylkill River, 1838

Centre Square Engine House, location of one of two steam engines used in the city’s original water system. Engraving by Birch.

Centre Square Engine House, ca. 1807