Fairmount Water Works

The Fairmount Water Works was designed in 1812 as a direct response to sanitation issues identified in the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793. The municipal waterworks were an engineering wonder operating until 1909. The facility’s industrial nature was disguised with classical revival architecture and ornamental gardens and became a world-class tourist attraction visited by the Marquis de Lafayette, Charles Dickens, Fanny Trollope, and others.