Fairmount Water Works - History

History

Following a series of yellow fever epidemics in the late 18th century (which was at the time thought to be caused by unclean water or by rotting matter in the streets) city leaders appointed a "Watering Committee". The initial water system was designed by Benjamin Latrobe and accepted by the committee in 1799. His system utilized two steam engines (in series) to pump water from the Schuylkill River, into the city, then into two wooden tanks that held a total of just 57,000 gallons. From the wooden tanks, the water was gravity fed into a series of wooden water mains. The system was plagued with problems. If either of the steam engines failed, the water supply to the city was cut off. HIstoric American Engineering Record 1978

The committee began searching for another solution and eventually picked John Davis and Frederick Graff (Latrobe's apprentice and successor as chief engineer) to design a new waterworks, in order to meet the demand of the increasing numbers of city residents and to solve the problem of inadequate storage capacity.

The Fairmount Water Works was initially constructed between 1812 and 1815 on the east bank of the Schuylkill River. The Water Works initially consisted of a 3 million gallon (11,350,000 L) earthen reservoir atop Faire Mount (now site of the Philadelphia Museum of Art), and a pump house with two steam engines to pump water. Between 1819 and 1821, a 1,600-foot-long (487 m) dam was built across the Schuylkill to direct water to a Mill House with three water wheels that replaced the steam engines in 1822. Later, Jonval turbines were used to lift the water in a New Mill House and in the renovated Old Mill House.

The facility, the industrial nature of which was disguised by a Classical Revival exterior, became a tourist attraction for its beauty and its location on the riverside. Visitors included Charles Dickens, who praised it for its pleasant design and public usefulness.

The Fairmount Water Works eventually closed in 1909, after years of service, when several newer and more technologically updated facilities were built.

• Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia, between 1860 and 1880.

• "Schuylkill Waterworks", 1835 engraving.

• Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia, about 1874.

• Cutaway showing water wheel.

• Cutaway showing boiler system.

• Cutaway showing Jonval turbine.

• Water Works as viewed looking along the Schuylkill River.

• Boathouse Row and Fairmount Water Works from Lemon Hill
  (circa 1872-1874).

• John Rubens Smith, “A View of Fairmount and the Water-Works,” 1837.