This page provides links
to the newest material on Philly H2O.
If you have any suggestions regarding material I might want to add to
the site, please contact me.
For those users with
slow Internet connections, files larger than 100 kb have been noted. See
note on the Home page for more information.
March 4, 2008
Army Corps of Engineers and US Geological Service (USGS)
Sinking Homes Studies
Fascinating surveys of several Philadelphia neighborhoods that grew
up around two buried streams, Wingohocking Creek and Wissinoming Creek.
This report, which included many photographs of the neighborhoods in
question, is no longer available on the Web, so I have posted two PDF
files related to the study.
Mapping Buried Stream Valleys
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [PDF, 0.7 mb]
USGS Fact Sheet FS–117–00. 2000
Geographic Information System
Analysis of Topographic Change in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, During the
Last Century [PDF, 21 mb]
By Peter G. Chirico and Jack B. Epstein. USGS Open File Report 00-224.
2000
December 10, 2007
Railroad
Scenery of Pennsylvania, 1875
A section of the volume Philadelphia
and Its Environs, and the Railroad Scenery of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia:
J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1875). The
text and accompanying illustrations provide a fascinating tour, via various
Pennsylvania railroads, of the state's coal mining regions, as well as
other sites to be seen along the way. In
my talks about the Schuylkill River as it flows through Philadelphia,
I often mention the so-called "culm" (small pieces of waste
coal) that accumulated around the many coal mines, washed into the river
with every rainfall, and eventually clogged the river upstream from the
Fairmount Dam.
August 28, 2007
Maps relating to 1886 Report
on a New Water Supply for Philadelphia
This collection of large-scale images includes a fascinating collection
of detailed topographic maps (dated 1887) that cover portions of Bucks
and Montgomery counties, including the watersheds of Perkiomen Creek and
Neshaminy Creek. Other documents include maps and aqueduct profiles that
summarize, in visual form, this never-implemented plan for a new upstate
water source. See the "Water Supply" section of the Philly H2O
Archives for more information on this proposal.
August 13, 2007
1848 Dauguerreotype View of Fairmount Water
Works and Vicinity
Including Lemon Hill, Schuylkill Navigation Company locks and canal, and
various buildings in the area north of the Water Works once called "the
Flatiron." Images reproduced with permission of the George Eastman
House, Rochester, New York.
August 6, 2007
Philadelphia
Water Department Library Catalogue
A PDF (265 kb; 151 pages) listing more than 1,500 publications in the
collection of the Philadelphia Water Department. Thanks to volunteer Joe
Shapiro for inputting these volumes.
February 6, 2007
Memories
of Belfield Avenue
An article by Lou Brownholtz about growing up
on this Germantown street, which was built over Wingohocking Creek, a
Frankford Creek tributary. Lou did some of his research in the PWD Archives,
and is now an archives volunteer. The article was originally published
in the Germantown Crier, publication of the Germantown Historical
Society. (Clicking link will open a new page in another website.)
January 24, 2007
Filling
Low Land: A story of ash-dumping in the Wingohocking Creek watershed
An excerpt from Utility Cars of Philadelphia
(1971) by Dr. Harold E. Cox, discussing one of the reasons the once-thriving
Logan neighborhood has become an abandoned wasteland.
Funeral receipts
from a Philadelphia family: 1849, 1891 and 1934
and an 1897 advertisement for Laurel Hill Cemetery
Profile
of Queen Village in Philadelphia
and real estate advertisements from the
Philadelphia Bulletin, June 19, 1966.
Abington,
Cheltenham, Darby, Horsham, Moreland and Upper Darby Townships
Plates from early 1870s atlases published by G. M. Hopkins, Philadelphia
surveyor and cartographer.
April 14, 2006
1882
Report from the Army Corps of Engineers on Navigation in Frankford Creek
Report, by future PWD Chief William Ludlow, indicates the need for
dredging and other work to restore the navigation channel in Frankford
Creek. Includes details of employment and materials used for several manufactories
along the creek.
Two bridges
across Frankford Creek: 19th century photos from City Archives
Photographs showing reconstructed bridges at
Bridge and Orthodox streets. Photos also show area in vicinity of Bridge
Street, including Tacony or Lennig Chemical Works (now Rohm & Haas)
the Frankford Arsenal, and other business.
March 23, 2006
History
of Belfield, by Sarah Logan Wistar Starr [PDF, 3100 kb]
1934 booklet about this estate, now part of
the LaSalle University campus, in Phildelphia's Olney section. Belfield
and Little Wakefield still exist, as do remnants of the Belfield's gardens,
which are on a steep hillside in the Wingohocking Creek valley, overlooking
a section of Belfield Avenue (beneath which the creek now flows in a large
sewer). In the early 19th century Philadelphia artist Charles Willson
Peale lived on the estate.
2,000
turn out for 'Be-In' to promote 'Flower Power'
Article and photograph from the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin,
April 17, 1967. The event, held in Fairmount Park, was organized by Ira
Einhorn and attended by "hippies, teenie-boppers, mods, psychedelics
and pretenders." Thanks to Rob Armstrong of the Fairmount Park Archives
for sharing this historic gem.
The Fairmount Water Works, by Jane Mork Gibson. From Bulletin, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Volume 84, Numbers 360, 361 Summer 1988. Published for the exhibition The Fairmount Water Works, 1812-1911 (July 23-September 25, 1988). The original publication contains many illustrations and informative captions, a checklist of the exhibition, and a preface by Anne d'Harnoncourt, none of which is included here, But even without the illustrations, the following text stands as the best and most complete history of Fairmount, from Jane Mork Gibson, the site's most knowledgeable historian.
Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, as shown on Noll's New Official Guide Map of Philadelphia, 1890. Shows many creeks that other maps of the period omit, and includes elevation contour lines and a more realistic street grid.
Leverington
Street Stormwater Outfall, in the context of the development of
stormwater and wastewater disposal systems in Manayunk and Philadelphia.
A paper written for the Fairmount Park Commission that is, essentially,
a history of drainage in Philadelphia through the 19th century.
When
it rains, it pours: Understanding the importance of stormwater runoff
(PDF, 1400 kb). An article originally written for Green Scene, and
reprinted as a fact sheet by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, on
the problems of uncontrolled stormwater runoff, and some of the steps
that PHS and PWD are taking to alleviate it.
1883 Report of William Ludlow, Chief Engineer of the Philadelphia Water Department. Ludlow is particularly astute in his discussion of the need for water conservation and the sewage pollution of the city's river-based water supply. Other related PWD reports from the mid-1880s can be found under the "Water Supply History" and "Sewer History" headings of the Philly H2O Archives.
Philadelphia's Water and Sewer History. Two virtual exhibits, based on "Clean Water For Life: Philadelphia Water Department 1801-2001," have been posted here: Drainage for the City, which replaces a previously-posted version that did not include all the exhibit images; and Water for the City, a comprehensive visual history of the Philadelphia water supply, based on a quarter-century of research by historian Jane Mork Gibson.
Pennypack Watershed in Philadelphia: Four Plans and Maps. A 1916 plan and report on Pennypack Park, a modern map created by Roland Williams that is a must for any visitor to the park, a composite map from 1927 showing Sandy Run, a mostly-obliterated Pennypack tributary, and a 1930 road map of the area.
March 9, 2006
Regulations for Sewer Inspectors, 1908. This vintage document include this caveat: "No manhole or sewer is safe to enter in which a lighted candle will not burn brightly."
Seven new maps on a new maps page, covering the Delaware River, Philadelphia's port in 1912, Mill Creek in 1852, Tacony and Frankford creeks, and an interesting Center City elevation diagram from the early 18th century.
Images from the Castner Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
These are divided into the following pages:
Delaware River: General
Delaware River: Smith and Windmill Islands
Augustus Kollner: Watercolors and Lithographs,
and
Frank H. Taylor: Watercolors of West Philadelphia.
From various collections, these are divided
into the folowing pages:
General Views
Aerial Views from the PNI Library
Views of Smith and Windmill Islands
February 23, 2006
History of Philadelphia
1609-1884.
The preface and two chapters from this three-volume comprehensive
history of early Philadelphia: Chapter 1
(Topography) and Chapter 11 (Manners
and Customs of the Primitive Settlers).
Historical Society
of Frankford: Photographs from the Cartledge Collection
56 photographs, mostly of Pennypack Creek, taken by photograph Lincoln
Cartledge between 1890 and 1915.
Nine new maps on a new page, ranging from 1777 to 1925, including several of the Schuylkill River.
Hydrographical
Survey of the Schuylkill River, 1866.
Map and accompanying text give a detailed description of the state of
the river in Philadelphia, above the Fairmount Dam.
Purity
of Water: The Schuylkill in 1866.
An excerpt from the 1866 PWD Annual Report on the condition of the Schuylkill
River, then as now the source of much of the City's water.
Views of
the Schuylkill River.
A selection of engravings and drawings from various collections.
Historical
Overview of the Schuylkill River as a Water Supply.
A brief history with links to a number of illustrations.
City
Job Annoucement for Sewer Crawler, 1968. [PDF, 150 kb]
Thanks for Joe and Milton Shapiro for this piece of sewer trivia, which
is linked at the top of the "Down
Under" page.
Upcoming
Lectures.
A new page will list future lectures by Adam Levine on various topics
related to sewers and watershed history.
Research Hints.
A few ideas on how to do your own hidden stream research.
November 23, 2005
Dock Creek
Sewer Investigation, 1849.
A report to City Councils regarding this sewer, which was then inadequate
to the growing drainage needs of the city.
Philadelphia's
Waterfront, 1876.
A description from a Centennial guidebook, with illustrations, of the
bustling life along the the Delaware and Schuylkill.
Delaware
River Steamboats, 1876.
A description from a Centennial guidebook, with illustrations.
Philadelphia's
Hidden Streams, 1889.
As early as the late 19th century the streams that had been converted
to sewers, and thus hidden underground, were seen as worthy of a newspaper
story.
The Neck,
1919.
An essay by Christopher Morley on this section of South Philadelphia.
The
Western Commons, 1840s.
Excerpt of a section from Watson's Annals about the western rural part
of the original city.
Wingohocking
Creek Watershed, 1902.
Excerpts from a 1902 guidebook of Germantown concerning the Winghocking
watershed and other local history.
November 2, 2005
Jones Wister's
reminiscences.
Excerpts concerning Winghohocking Creek and Schuylkill River.
Sad
History of Frankford Creek.
A PowerPoint slideshow converted into a Web page or PDF format, with text,
maps, photographs and newspaper articles illustrating the history of pollution
and channelization of Frankford Creek.
Engravings
from the Magee Guide to Philadelphia, 1876.
and
Engravings from Philadelphia
and Its Environs, 1875.
Selections focusing on the city's streams, rivers, and parks.
List of
Illustrations in History of Philadelphia: 1682-1884.
Indexes to images in all three volumes of this pre-eminent historical
work, commonly known by its authors' last names, Scharf and Westcott.
Petition and
Plan of Manufacturers along the Schuylkill River, 1868.
Including an editorial deriding the self-serving nature of the petition,
in which the manufacturers suggested piping water to Philadelphia from
upstream so they could continue polluting the river within the City limits.
August 10, 2005
Photographs of underground sewer inspections added to Down Under!, courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News library.
Philadelphia
brick and cobble-stone: A vision of arctic climates
Chapter XI of Town Geology: The Lesson of the Philadelphia Rocks,
an 1885 book by Angelo Helprin.
Illustrated
history of Philadelphia's drainage and sewerage system
A digital version of part of an exhibit celebrating the 200th anniversary
of the Philadelphia Water Department, mounted in 2001 by PWD and the City
of Philadelphia Department of Records. I co-wrote the text and located
most of the illustrations for this part of the exhibit. [Link updated
March 23, 2006]
A map detailing "The Journey of Your Flush" along with a tribute to the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center.
July 27, 2005
1912 History of Frankford. 80-page souvenir booklet, with historical essays about this Philadelphia neighborhood, as well as many pages of advertisements that provide a portrait of Frankford at that moment in time.
May 24, 2005
Maps Page: Five early maps of Fairmount Park (1870-1893), and an 1873 engraving of Fairmount Water Works, with buildings identified by date of construction.
Lemon Hill and Fairmount Park: The papers of Charles S. Keyser and Thomas Cochran, relative to a public park for Philadelphia, published in 1856 and 1872. [PDF1016 kb]
Our City of Tomorrow: Twelve-part 1930 newspaper series detailing plans for Philadelphia and the surrounding region [PDF, 1317 kb]
Watersheds: A 1999 article by Adam Levine.
May 12, 2005
1844 Report on the Flood of 1843, in Delaware Co., Pennsylvania [183 kb]
August 11, 1843 newspaper article describing the Flood of 1843
1826 Report on Manufactories of Delaware Co., Pennsylvania [PDF, 1538 kb]
1890 Census Return: Portrait of Philadelphia [PDF, 372 kb]
May 10, 2005
WWW.PHILLYH2O.ORG launched.
Philly H2O replaces my former site, www.sewerhistory.net,
and includes the best of what was on the old site and much more.
The History of Philadelphia's Watersheds and Sewers
Historical Consultant
Philadelphia Water Department
