Belmont Plateau

This guide to Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia opens with the typhoid epidemic that killed thousands of Philadelphians in the 1890s, spread by sewage seeping into the Schuylkill River and out through the city's taps. It follows the doctors, including Henry Hartshorne, who spent years pushing for filtration, and the mayor who had to convince voters to spend twelve million dollars on the idea. A pumping station was raised below the plateau in 1870 and rebuilt around 1900, aimed at a newer idea entirely: the sand filter bed.