City of Boston improved sewerage : plan showing region drained by, and lines of proposed intercepting sewer, also course of sewer from proposed reservoirs 1877
City of Boston improved sewerage
Item Information
Title:
City of Boston improved sewerage : plan showing region drained by, and lines of proposed intercepting sewer, also course of sewer from proposed reservoirs 1877
Description:
Beneath Our Feet: With a clean water supply system in place by the mid-19th century, Boston then focused on disposal of waste water. Up to the mid-1870s, sewers were built privately, but with an increase in population and pollution, drainage problems loomed. This 1877 map illustrates proposed subterranean sewer lines, along with reservoirs and pumping stations at the coast. From these sites, waste water would flow into Boston Harbor, as displayed here. Drinking water continued to be affected after new lines were constructed, which prompted the state to establish the cooperative Metropolitan Sewerage District, the first of its kind in the United States.
Inset: Plan showing supposed course of bottles.
Boston Public Library copy cut from the Report of the Joint Special Committee on Improved Sewerage of July 1877.
Notes (date):
This date is inferred.
Notes (exhibitions):
Exhibited: "Beneath Our Feet: Mapping the World Below" organized by the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, 2017-2018.
IIIF Manifest