Initially, steam engines provided the power for the Fairmount Water Works. The south engine, built by Samuel Richards, is a low pressure engine based on the Boulton & Watt design, similar to those in Centre Square.

The north engine was a new design by Oliver Evans, advertised as his "Non-Condensing, High-Pressure Columbian Steam Engine." With a possible pressure of 100 pounds per square inch, it was the largest he had built.

In 1822, waterpower was harnessed to drive the pumps, at first using waterwheels, and later turbines. Fairmount Dam was constructed to provide the power for pumping water to the reservoir. At 1,774 feet, it was said to be the longest dam in the world at the time. The original dam consisted of three sections: a crib dam, a mound dam of earth and rocks, and the stone wall of the Mill House. Cribs of hemlock logs were fastened together with locust pegs, filled with rocks, and then anchored to the bedrock. The dam has been repaired many times, as shown in this 1904 photograph. The current spillway is a concrete structure, built in 1929, in front of the original wooden cribbing.

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Appendix 2
Notes on the City's First Water Supply and Distribution System

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Jane Mork Gibson, Historical Consultant
Philadelphia Water Department
September 2002


Beginning the Philadelphia Water Department's two hundred years of service to the community, the "Joint Committee of the Select and Common Councils for Supplying the City With Water" in 1799 employed the services of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an architect and engineer, to design a system that ended up becoming a pattern for the infrastructure of subsequent utilities, such as gas and electricity. As Philadelphia grew in population and size, this basic design of the distribution system was followed when additional pumping stations and reservoirs were constructed.

Bounded by two rivers and with water from other smaller streams to the north within reach of the city via aqueduct, Philadelphia had numerous choices for the source of its water supply. The Delaware River water was deemed unsatisfactory due to the activities of a major port, as well as its use in disposing of offal, sewage and other wastes. Other options that were ultimately rejected included Benjamin Franklin's earlier proposal to bring water by aqueduct from Wissahickon Creek; bringing in water from Spring Mill, near present-day Conshohocken; and tapping the Delaware and Schuylkill Canal (designed to connect the rivers north of Vine Street, a project that was never completed). The chosen source--the Schuylkill River--was fast-flowing, removed from the City's population center, and had an extensive upstream watershed to feed the river.

To bring water to the citizens required two pumping stations. Latrobe was well aware that the Centre Square pumping station, at the center of Philadelphia and as the centerpiece of the nation's first large-scale public water-works, would attract a great deal of attention. He had introduced the neoclassical style a few years earlier with his Bank of Pennsylvania, and he designed the Centre Square building to be an architectural wonder. Faced with white marble, its dimensions followed classical criteria. Behind this beautiful facade were crowded the pumps, air chamber, steam engine, flywheel and wooden boilers, so close together that operation and maintenance were difficult. But from the outside, the only evidence of all this interior activity was smoke issuing from the building's “oculus,” or chimney. Philadelphians gave it a rather irreverent nickname: “The Pepper-Pot,” and the park-like setting became a public gathering place.

Centre Square was supplied with water by another pumping station on the Schuylkill, at the foot of Chestnut Street. There a steam engine pumped water to the height of Chestnut Street, after which it flowed by gravity through a brick tunnel under Chestnut and Broad Streets to a well under Centre Square. The Centre Square engine raised the water to two wooden reservoirs at the top of the building, and from there it flowed by gravity to a distribution chest below ground, and then through wooden pipes to hydrants and buildings throughout the settled parts of the city.

Both steam engines were of low pressure Boulton and Watt design, made in England, and if either one broke down, the whole system went off-line. This was a major defect in the system. The engine at the Schuylkill produced more power than needed to pump the water, and the extra power was used to operate a rolling and slitting mill in an adjacent building. Later a china factory was located at the site.

The reservoir tanks of the system were small, holding a mere twenty-five minute supply if no additional water was pumped in. This put the security of the city at stake, for there was danger of not having sufficient water to fight fires that might occur when the reservoir was depleted or when either engine was not working. The cost of operation was far above the original estimates, and ironically, the disease that had prompted the search for pure water--yellow fever--recurred in the city in 1802, 1803 and 1805. By 1811, with the population and the number of buildings in the city rapidly expanding, it became evident that a new system would be needed, and the waterworks at Fairmount were developed, first supplying water in 1815.

According to Philadelphia annalist John Fanning Watson, the Centre Square building (after it was no longer needed as a pumping station) served as a watch-house (for the town watchmen), and as a supply depot for oil burned in the city's street-lamps. It was torn down in 1828, and later in the 19th century another Philadelphia landmark was built on the site: City Hall.

(For further information on the architecture of the Centre Square Waterworks, see Jeffrey A. Cohen and Charles E. Brownell, “The Architectural Drawings of Benjamin Henry Latrobe,” in Vol. 2, Part 1, The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Series II, The Architectural and Engineering Drawings, Edward C. Carter II, Editor in Chief. Published for the Maryland Historical Society and The American Philosophical Society by Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1994.)

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Appendix 3
Notes on the Fairmount Water Works

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During its course of operation from 1815 to 1911, Fairmount Water Works employed three distinct types of pumping equipment: steam engines, traditional water wheels, and water turbines. The buildings were constructed to suitably house these changes in power production machinery, but there was never a loss in architectural beauty, as initially promoted by Benjamin Henry Latrobe at the city's first water works at Centre Square. This was due to the work of Frederick Graff, Esq. (Latrobe's assistant), who was the Superintendent of the city's water system from 1805 until his death in 1847, and of his son Fred Graff, Jr. who succeeded him. The effect of these impressive but thoroughly practical neo-classical buildings today is that of a Grecian temple complex on the banks of the Schuylkill River.

Steam Engine System

A unique situation existed with two very different steam engines side by side in the Engine House - a traditional low-pressure steam engine on the south side and a newly designed high-pressure steam engine on the north. By installing two steam engines in the pump house, the Watering Committee could overcome the problem of breakdowns. With this backup system, they believed one of the engines would always be in working condition and the city would never be deprived of the means of supplying water to the new reservoir that could hold 3 million gallons, a much larger supply for distribution. The pumps were vertical double-acting force pumps and were connected to a single discharge pipe in the basement level of the Engine House. Valves to control the water flow could be adjusted according to the engine being used.

The south engine was built by Samuel Richards, the proprietor of the Eagle Works, located on Upper Ferry Road at William Street (now Callowhill and 24th streets), and some of the castings were made at his Weymouth Furnace in South Jersey. This low-pressure engine was of the same design as that of the British manufacturers Boulton and Watts, and except for the use of cast iron for the lever beam and the flywheel arms and shafts, it was similar to the older engines at Chestnut Street and Centre Square. It had a twenty-six-foot lever beam. The boilers were a combination of wood, cast-iron, and wrought-iron parts. After some difficulties, the south engine was put into regular operation on September 7, 1815.

The north engine was made by Oliver Evans at his Mars Works on Ridge Road at Ninth and Vine streets, where his sons-in-law, James Rush and David Muhlenberg assisted. This was a new type of steam engine, the largest noncondensing high-pressure steam engine he had built, which Evans patriotically called a Columbian steam engine. Evans promised a savings in fuel and assured a large capacity of 3.5 million gallons in twenty-four hours. The Columbian engine was delivered by March 1815 and was used at intervals when the south engine was inoperable even though it was not officially accepted by the committee until December 15, 1817. It was said that the north engine was the one most often in operation.

The growth of the city and the continuing need for more water brought about a change. Plans to have both engines work at the same time were dropped due to the high annual expense of operation, estimated at $30,858 in 1819, with the cost of fuel the major expense. In addition, there had been three deaths when boilers exploded in 1818 and 1821. This led to investigation of utilizing water wheels, an old technology that employed water power, minimizing operating expense, but entailing considerable capital expense.

The majestic steam engines had made a mighty effort, but they were retired when the waterwheels took over the duty. On October 24, 1822, the steam engines were stopped, never to be used again. Although initially held in reserve for emergencies, they soon deteriorated and were sold for scrap in 1832. A few years later the utilitarian engine house was converted to a public saloon, where refreshments were provided for ladies and gentlemen, and its surroundings were developed into a public garden.

Traditional Water Wheel System

The first step in constructing a water-powered system at Fairmount involved damming the Schuylkill River. A plan was developed for the city to purchase the rights to the water power at Fairmount, to throw a dam across the Schuylkill River at Fairmount, and to construct a canal and locks for the Schuylkill Navigation Company, guaranteeing to maintain a sufficient water level at the dam for lockage. The city would have an ample supply of water both for distribution and for power to turn waterwheels, thus operating the pumps without the continual exorbitant expense for fuel. With such a dam, the water would be backed up to the normal fall line at East Falls, creating the Fairmount pool, an extensive slackwater pond for water storage and recreation, which was to be utilized by the rowing clubs, or what was called the Schuylkill Navy in later years.

Led by Chairman Joseph S. Lewis, the Watering Committee decided to install breast wheels - water-wheels that receive water in buckets higher than is customary on undershot wheel - which were reported to be highly efficient in similar conditions. There was no prototype for the scale and configuration of the kind of structure that would be needed to contain multiple waterwheels, so Graff set out to design the mill house through which the water would flow.

Experts were called upon for the design of the Fairmount dam. It was said that there had never been a dam attempted across such a wide expanse of a river with the peculiarities of the Schuylkill. Not only was the river subject to sudden freshets, or floods, but in the winter ice breaking up could do extensive damage. The proposal of Capt. Ariel Cooley of Chicopee, Massachusetts, was accepted by the Watering Committee. The councils approved the plan on April 8, 1819, and work was started on the dam ten days later. It was 1821 before the last crib was put in place, and July 23, 1821, saw the first water over the dam.

In order to direct destructive currents of the river away from the mill house on the east bank, the dam was laid out diagonally upstream in a line 1,2O4 feet long from the mill house to the west bank, where it had been determined that the canal would be located. As it neared its western terminus where it joined the guard locks of the canal, the dam made a sharp angle to permit the breaking up of sheets of ice when they reached the overfall of the dam. (In later years, damage from ice was prevented by a guard pier constructed on the eastern side of the river to protect the entrance to the millrace itself.) The dam was built of cribs of hickory logs filled with stone that were sunk in the river and fastened to each other and to the rock bed of the river. At the east bank, a mound dam 270 feet long was constructed because the riverbed at that location consisted of eleven feet of mud above the rock bottom, allowing no possibility of anchoring a structure of any kind. Beyond this three head arches formed a bridge, 104 feet overall, with gates that controlled the entrance to the millrace, or forebay. The millrace had to be cut out of solid rock and was 419 feet long, 90 feet wide, and from 16 to 60 feet deep.

The mill house was a monumental structure 238 feet long, situated along the rocky east bank of the river, which required extensive blasting to construct. The mill house was divided into twelve so-called apartments, eight for wheels and four for the pumps. At first only three wheels were installed, although space was provided for eight fifteen-foot-wide breast wheels. Each wheel operated a pump placed almost horizontally, which was activated by a connecting rod attached to a crank on the waterwheel, connected to the shaft of the waterwheel. Because the Schuylkill is a tidal river at Fairmount, the water in the tailrace, where water exits from the waterwheels, rises and falls with the tide. The bottoms of the waterwheels were placed two feet below high water and could operate in up to sixteen inches of backwater; thus the wheels were necessarily idle twice a day during high tide, and the pumps also remained idle.

The first wheel went into operation July 1, 1822. As the population and the number of industries continued to increase, always requiring more water, additional waterwheels were added at Fairmount, and additional reservoirs were built atop Faire Mount. By 1843 there was a full complement of eight breast wheels in the mill house. The original three wheels were made of wood, designed by Thomas Oakes and constructed by millwright Drury Bromley, both of whom had worked previously in England with John Smeaton, a prominent engineer. The five other wheels were made of cast iron, with wood buckets, designed by Graff and built by members of the mechanics' community in Philadelphia: Rush and Muhlenberg of Oliver Evans's Mars Works, Levi Morris, and Merrick & Towne Company. The I. P. Morris Company replaced the first three wheels in 1846 with wheels of the original design. The pumps were designed by Graff and built by members of the same group.

By the 1830s Fairmount had become the prototype of a water-supply system for growing urban areas in the United States and abroad. Graff acted as consultant for more than thirty-seven other waterworks, and Philadelphia became the "Mecca of the hydraulic engineer," according to Emile Geyelin in "Growth of the Philadelphia Water Works" (Proceedings of the American Water Works Association, Philadelphia, 1891, p. 21). In 1844 the system supplied an average of 5.3 million gallons of water per day to 28,082 water tenants, expenditures were $29,713, and the amount paid into the treasury was $151,501. This marked a high point for revenues, generated, in part, by water rates paid by neighboring districts where assessments were fifty percent above the rates paid by Philadelphians.

Seeing the waterwheels at full force was a highlight of a visit to the works. The interior of the mill house was designed so that the public could observe the machinery in operation, with two entrances leading to a gallery from which to view the massive wheels--fifteen feet wide and fifteen to eighteen feet in diameter--as water flowed into their buckets and the wheels silently turned, activating connecting rods that moved the pistons in the cylinders of the pumps, drawing water from the individual forebays, or flumes, allotted to them. Visitors found an endless fascination in the practically noiseless flowing of the water, the turning of the wheels, and the movement of the pumps.

Describing a visit to Fairmount in 1840, Thomas Ewbank, inventor and manufacturer, wrote:

"It is impossible to examine these works without paying homage to the science and skill displayed in their design and execution; in these respects no hydraulic works in the Union can compete, nor do we believe they are excelled by any in the world. Not the smallest leak in any of the joints was discovered; and, with the exception of the water rushing on the wheels, the whole operation of forcing up daily millions of gallons into the reservoirs on the mount, and thus furnishing in abundance one of the first necessaries of life to an immense population, was performed with less noise than is ordinarily made in working a smith's bellows! The picturesque location, the neatness that reigns in the buildings, the walks around the reservoirs and the grounds at large, with the beauty of the surrounding scenery, render the name of this place singularly appropriate." (Thomas Ewbank, A Descriptive and Historical Account of Hydraulic and Other Machines for Raising Water, 4th ed. (New York, 1850), p. 301.)

European visitors were greatly impressed with the beauty and the power of the works, especially since it had been conceived and built in this country by locally trained engineers. Frances Trollope had high praise for Fairmount as she recorded her visit to the waterworks in 1830:

"The water-works of Philadelphia have not yet perhaps as wide extended fame as those of Marley [at Versailles], but they are not less deserving it. At a most beautiful point of the Schuylkill River the water has been forced up into a magnificent reservoir, ample and elevated enough to send it through the whole city. The vast yet simple machinery by which this is achieved is open to the public, who resort in such numbers to see it, that several evening stages run from Philadelphia to Fair Mount for their accommodation. But interesting and curious as this machinery is, Fair Mount would not be so attractive had it not something else to offer. It is, in truth, one of the very prettiest spots the eye can look upon. A broad wear [weir] is thrown across the Schuylkill, which produces the sound and look of a cascade. ...The works themselves are enclosed in a simple but very handsome building of freestone, which has an extended front opening upon a terrace, which overhangs the river: behind the building, and divided from it only by a lawn, rises a lofty wall of solid lime-stone rock, which has, at one or two points, been cut into, for the passage of the water into the noble reservoir above. From the crevices of this rock the catalpa was everywhere pushing forth, covered with its beautiful blossom. ...At another point, a portion of the water in its upward way to the reservoir is permitted to spring forth in a perpetual jet d'eau, that returns in a silver shower upon the head of a marble naiad of snowy whiteness. The statue [Rush's Allegory of the Schuylkill River] is not the work of Phidias, but its dark, rocky back-ground, the flowery catalpas which shadow it, and the bright shower through which it shews itself, altogether make the scene one of singular beauty." (Frances Trollope, Domestic Manners of the Americans. London, 1832, Vol. 2, pp. 74-76.)

Charles Dickens recorded his 1840 visit to Fairmount in his American Notes for General Circulation (London and New York, 1842; reprint New York, 1985; p. 89):

"Philadelphia is most bountifully provided with fresh water, which is showered and jerked about, and turned on, and poured off everywhere. The Water-works, which are on a height near the city, are no less ornamental than useful, being tastefully laid out as a public garden, and kept in the best and neatest order. The river is dammed at this point, and forced by its own power into certain high tanks or reservoirs, whence the whole city, to the top stories of the houses, is supplied at a very trifling expense."

Hydraulic Turbines

The first hydraulic turbine was installed at Fairmount in 1851, a harbinger of major change. Again the city embraced new technology to increase the supply of water and to improve service. The physical plant was altered by creating a turbine room between the mill house and the engine house and a pump room under the engine-house terrace. Graff Jr. installed an experimental Jonval turbine, a type of horizontal waterwheel introduced in this country by the French engineer Emile Geyelin. Portions of the 1851 turbine remain in situ at the Fairmount Waterworks. This turbine proved so successful that a new mill house was constructed on the mound dam in 1859-62 and the old mill house was altered in 1868-72 to convert the rest of the system from eight water wheels to six state-of-the-art Jonval turbines and more powerful pumps.

The population of the city had increased and the works expanded to meet the need. With the consolidation of the city in 1854, the steam-powered pumping facilities of the districts were taken over, but Fairmount's water power was still the means of considerable financial benefit to the city and, when there was a sufficient flow in the river, saved on operating expenses. The problem of pollution persisted, however. Although Fairmount had been able to keep up with demand by the shift to turbines and by an ever-expanding distribution system, there was no way to increase the landmass on Fairmount in order to add a filtration system to the five reservoirs that had been constructed there over the years.

The 1859-62 construction of the new mill house on the mound dam presented special difficulties. There was the danger that the mound dam might give way during the excavation to the depth required for the wheel pits of the three large Jonval turbines to be installed. There were some close calls when the cofferdams were in use, but the new mill house was successfully completed. Henry P. M. Birkenbine was then the chief engineer of the Water Department and his design was entirely utilitarian. The roof of the new building was made into a terrace.

The alterations to the old mill house in 1868-72 that were required to install three more large turbines, however, were supervised by Graff, Jr., who was again the chief engineer. The extension of the river wall by eight feet and the reorganization of the interior caused extensive changes to the exterior structure, but Graff's design was able to maintain the original ambience of the works. The size of the machinery necessitated both deepening the wheel pits and raising the level of the deck. Utilizing a design of his father's from 1820 that had been made when the water-power facility was being developed, Graff placed a large, airy pavilion at the center of the new deck of the remodeled old mill house. This was flanked by entrance houses affording access to the interior below, and the carved wood figures by Rush were relocated above the doorways. The gallery overlooking the waterwheels was removed, and although the entrances still made it possible for the public to observe the new machinery, there was no visible flowing of water since the flumes for the turbines and the moving parts of the turbine wheels were completely enclosed by iron casings. What could be seen in action, however, was the massive gearing that enabled each turbine to power two equally massive pumps. Although one of the old breast wheels remained in place until 1883, it was in poor condition and was not in use.

Decommissioning

The knell for Fairmount came in 1899 when a report on the pollution in the river was released. Although there had been laws against it for many years, industry had continued using the river as a sewer. Pollution, together with deterioration of the machinery when the inevitable abandonment of the works became apparent, spelled the end of the active life of this pioneer waterworks. By 1909, when filtration plants had been erected in other parts of the city to take over the duty, plans for decommissioning Fairmount Waterworks were begun. In 1911 the city passed an ordinance giving the Fairmount buildings along the river to the mayor for use as a public aquarium and another ordinance giving the site of Fairmount's reservoirs to the Commissioners of Fairmount Park for construction of a public art museum.

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