
The main building of the Fairmount Water Works after its restoration. The Water Works has been an engineering and architectural marvel for nearly two centuries.
Faced with the shortage of clean, usable water, the city turned to its primary artery, the Schuylkill River for salvation. Two pumping stations were constructed in 1801, which pumped water from the Schuylkill to the city. However, the small pumping stations could not keep up with the demands of a growing city, so in 1805 the Philadelphia Watering Commission set out to design a larger water works—a system consisting of reservoirs, holding tanks, buildings, pumps and pipes that would supply Philadelphia with clean water.

Frederick Graff, Sr., chief engineer on the Fairmount Water Works project.
The city did not stop there: reminiscent of Roman design almost two millennia prior, Philadelphia decided on another landmark feature. The city, conscious of the prevailing national fondness for pastoral country life, surrounded the compound with formal gardens reserved for citizens to use for their leisure, creating a unique blend of rustic charisma and new technology that became the envy of the world.
This unique synthesis of new and old prompted a surge in artwork and photographs of the place. After a visit in 1842, the English author Charles Dickens noted, “In Philadelphia there is a place that is wondrous to behold, and that is the Philadelphia Waterworks.” The Fairmount Water Works became a symbol of Philadelphia, and by extension, of the United States. Visitors from across the nation and from overseas came to Philadelphia to marvel at what everyone knew to be the cleanest, most efficient and elegant solutions to one of civilization’s most basic needs.

This engraving of the Fairmount Water Works from 1835 captures the sense of wonder with which most people viewed the site in the 19th century. This is a view over the southeast reservoir, featuring the "Bridge of Sighs" to the right.
However, the Fairmount Water Works did not just rest on its laurels. In 1819, the city council concluded an agreement with the Schuylkill Navigation Company for the right to construct a dam across the Schuylkill River and to purchase the right to the water power, turning a section of the river into a small freshwater lake used for recreation and transportation. In 1822, the first of a series of waterwheels replaced the costly and loud coal-powered steam engines, taking over the role of raising the water from the Schuylkill to the reservoirs. By 1843, a total of eight waterwheels were finished, which supplied the city with an average of 5.3 million gallons of fresh water a day, at an shockingly low cost: the city of Philadelphia spent a total of $29,713 to run the facility in 1844, a significant decrease compared to the $30,858 spent in 1819 after increasing population and inflation are taken into account.

Frederick Graff, Jr. refurbished the water works with added technology.
The younger Graff decided to treat this problem by taking a page out of his father’s book: he chose to innovate. Rather than trying to fix the original design of the water wheels, which used the flow of water downstream, he chose to be the first to implement a radically new design, and install an experimental French turbine known as the Jonval engine.
The Jonval engine differed from other conventional hydropower designs because it used a completely different method of turning the engine shaft. By setting up a vertical watertight column in which the Jonval turbine wheel was laid flat below the low tide mark, water fed into the column would fall vertically onto the wheel’s curved blades, forcing it to turn the vertical shaft of the engine. This method was so successful at circumventing the twice-daily idle periods of the water wheels, that by the mid-1870’s, the water wheels had been replaced by six Jonval engines.

This cutaway view of the water wheels demonstrate how the wheels were turned, regulating the water flow.
Concerned, the citizens of Philadelphia and neighboring municipalities took a stand: over 2,400 citizens petitioned the city council, demanding that Philadelphia purchase the land around Fairmount Water Works and its dam, as documented in The North American newspaper’s October 30, 1843 issue:
The Fairmount Water Works were constructed at great cost… although trifling compared with the advantages which the city has enjoyed from an abundant supply of pure water. If there was ever reason to construct these works, the same reason still exists to maintain [their] purpose. The dangers to which… the whole community of Philadelphia is exposed, of having the water above the dam adulterated, calls for immediate measures to prevent so great a misfortune… Health, comfort, decency and the interests of the city demand it.
Starting with the Lemon Hill Estate, the Consolidation Act of 1854 allowed the city of Philadelphia to purchase 9200 acres of land around the Fairmount Water Works—which, in 1855, would evolve into the Fairmount Park system of Philadelphia, one of the largest municipal parks in the world.

The Jonval Engine, first operational at the Fairmount Water Works, used a vertical cylinder to allow falling water to turn the turbines no matter the tidal conditions.
Over the course of its 94 years of continued operation, the Fairmount Water Works remained a shining symbol of American and Pennsylvania ingenuity. By implementing elegant solutions to the common problem of providing sufficient water to all residents in an urban setting, the water works had been compared to such famous public works such as those of ancient Rome in terms of relative technological accomplishment. Fairmount was the first municipal waterworks in the United States—and for its role as a testbed for several new technologies such as Jonval engines, and for its role in advancing the practical application of technology to the problem of municipal water supply, it is recognized as a National Historic Engineering Landmark by both the American Association of Mechanical Engineers and the American Association of Civil Engineers, as well as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior for being “an engineering triumph as well as an architectural treasure.”

Birds rest atop the dam at the Fairmount Water Works. People use the grounds of the Water Works as a park.
Information about visiting the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center can be found by clicking this link.
Sources:
- “#21 Fairmount Water Works (1815).” ASME. 2010. 13 Oct. 2010. <http://www.asme.org/Communities/History/Landmarks/Fairmount_Water_Works…;.
- “City of Philadelphia.” Richmond Enquirer 30-17 4 July 1833: 4.
- Delaware River Basin Commission. (n.d.) Pamphlet. A View From The Top. <http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/edweb/waterworks.pdf>.
- Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center. (n.d.) 14 Oct. 2010. <http://www.fairmountwaterworks.com/>.
- “French Guests: Programme for Their Entertainment While in Philadelphia.” The Philadelphia Inquirer 110 25 Oct. 1881: 3.
- “Haverhill: Tuesday Morning, March 16, 1841.” The Haverhill Gazette 21-12 20 Mar. 1841: 1.
- “Pure Water.” The North American 5-1421 19 Oct. 1843: 2.
- The North American. 5-1430 30 Oct. 1843: 2.
- United States. Dept. of the Interior. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Fairmount Water Works. National Park Service. 10 Oct. 2010. <http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/76001662.pdf>.
- “Water Problem: Its Solution by the Commission.” The Philadelphia Inquirer 8 Oct. 1875: 2.