1848 Dauguerreotype View of the
Fairmount Water Works and Vicinity

This series of seven dauguerreotypes of the Fairmount Water Works and vicinity, created on May 22, 1848 by W. S. Porter, is probably the most detailed and the earliest photographic view of this area. Of most interest to me is the stretch of shoreline between Lemon Hill on the left and the Water Works on the right. Now home to the picturesque boathouses of the various Schuylkill River rowing clubs, this area was then the site of a comglomeration of institutional and industrial buildings. All the buildings were demolished after this area became part of Fairmount Park.

Thanks to the George Eastman House in Rochester New York, for providing the PWD Archives with 8 x 10 prints of each daugerreotype, and for gratning me permission to post a scaled-down composite of these prints on this site. The composite was created by scanning each print and combining them in Adobe Photoshop. Even in this reduced-quality version, the detail of the originals is apparent.

Thanks also to Walter Hajduk III, who is researching this area north of the Water Works (which was once called "the Flatiron," perhaps because of its traingular shape) for his masters thesis at Rutgers University-Camden. My hope is that Walter can identify some of the buildings pictured in this view, and will perhaps grant permission for me to post his completed thesis on Philly H2O.

Click the thumbnail below to view the composite image (250 kb)

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Page last modified August 22, 2005