Philadelphia’s Epidemics and the Built Environment

Trauma and Resolve:
 David Barnes

Yellow Fever, Cholera, Typhoid Fever,
 Dept. of History & Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania

and the City dbarnes@upenn.edu

 Board of Health

❖ established 1794
❖ responsibilities:
❖ quarantine
❖ urban cleanup:
❖ privy cleaning
❖ nuisance complaints
 Philadelphia Waterworks

❖ Center Square: 1801

 Philadelphia Waterworks

❖ Fairmount: 1815
Fairmount Park
❖ 1867-68: Fairmount Park Commission
established with authority to buy land along
Schuylkill River and Wissahickon Creek to
protect city’s water supply