Philadelphia Water Department is spending billions of dollars trying to solve the issues resulting from the entombment of many of the city’s creeks and streams that have turned into sewers.
Beyond that, PWD historical consultant Adam Levine and photographer Joseph Elliott have collaborated on a new, temporary exhibition at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia that dives into the city’s sewer system and its role it shaping the city’s landscape, writes Kyle Bagenstose for Hidden City Philadelphia.
According to Levine, between the 1760s and 1960s, 73 percent of the city’s streams and creeks were buried, which contributed to the city’s once complex landscape becoming more flat and gray.
The Lost Creeks of Philadelphia: Burying the Streams, Building the City exhibition serves a specific purpose.
“What we try to do is take people through a history of their creation,” said Levine. “We start with pictures showing the landscape of the city as it was. Then, there are watercolors that show some of the changes in the landscape as the city was being leveled out for development.”
The exhibition includes drawings, artwork, lithographs, artifacts, and more from the 19th century. There are also items from PWD’s collection, the Penn Museum, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Lost Creeks of Philadelphia: Burying the Streams, Building the City will be on display through May 16.
To learn more about the PWD historian behind the new exhibit at the Athenaeum, visit Hidden City Philadelphia.
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