Turbines to Tanks: The Early Days of the Philadelphia Aquarium at the Fairmount

Water Works

Samantha MukaPhD Candidate

University of PennsylvaniaHistory and Sociology of Science

Why Philadelphia?• One of the first states with a Fisheries

Department – Pennsylvania Fish Commission(1866)

• Strong Network of People Interested in Fish– Henry Fowler; Philadelphia Academy of Natural

Sciences– William T. Innes; Publisher/Hobbyist/ Fish

Photographer– Fish Commission and Fisherman on the Delaware

Philadelphia Aquarium at Fairmount Park Timeline

1904 1911 1916 1921 1925 1928 1930 1931 1932 1933

William E. Meehan 1853-1930

• Son of Thomas Meehan – a well known botanist and horticulturist in Philadelphia (Germantown)•First went into cut flower supply business•In 1885 became reporter for the “Public Ledger” a Philadelphia Newspaper•Traveled as reporter/botanist to Greenland with the Perry Relief Expedition of 1892•Interviewed Superintendent of Fisheries (Henry C. Ford); writes definitive history of PA fisheries for Columbian Exposition, 1893•After Ford’s death, appointed superintendent of Fisheries and eventually Commissioner•Resigned in 1911- The same year he became Superintendent of the Philadelphia Aquarium at Fairmount Park

1904 St. Louis World’s Fair

Lambert, James The story of Pennsylvania at the World's Fair St. Louis, 1904, Vol. II

Meehan, William E. Fish, Fishes and Fisheries of Pennsylvania 1893

Why does Philadelphia Need an Aquarium?

• Public Education– People love looking at live fish!

• Nothing at the Water Works– Water source readily available– Equipment can be sold to pay for start up money

• Fisheries Purposes– Hatchery– Laboratory

• Government Interests– Fur Seals

We’re not New York City…We’re Better!• Fisheries Bureau established in

1868 (two years after PA)• Strong Fish Culture

– American Museum of Natural History

– Brooklyn Aquarists Society (1905)

• Aquarium opens in Battery Park in 1896

• This is the largest, most talked about aquarium in America by the turn of the twentieth century

• If they can do it, we can do it…better.

Start of Philadelphia Aquarium

• April 22, 1905• March 16, 1911• Use tanks from St. Louis World’s Fair• Sell water works equipment for money• Temporary Aquarium

•32 tanks•All freshwater

fishes•Alligators •turtles

Opens Nov. 24, 1911To Rave Reviews!

10,000 Visit New Park AquariumNovember 25, 1911

City’s Display Opened to the Public Proves a Big Attraction More than ten thousand persons sought admission to the Philadelphia Aquarium in Fairmount Park, which is located at the old water worksbetween the Green Street entrance of the Park and the Spring Garden Street bridge over the Schuylkill River. It opened to the publicyesterday, and when the doors were closed on account of darkness there were scores of disappointed ones unable to get a look in at thefishes.The picture of pleasure on the faces of those who passed within the aquarium told forcefully that the display had met their expectation. Itwas a great day for sportsmen, fish culturists and lovers of fish, who came in groups from Bucks, Lehigh and Montgomery Counties. So deepis the interest in Bucks County in the aquarium that a delegation from Camp 53, of Doylestown, was present, many of the members havingtheir wives and little ones with them. Happy Days for MeehanIt was a happy day for William E. Meehan, in charge of the aquarium, who has devoted a great portion of his life to the study and propagationof fish, and the more the crowd increased in numbers, the more he seemed to appreciate that the city had pursued a course that met withthe approval of the people. The doors opened at nine o’clock, and from then until one o’clock only several hundred visitors passed in, but after that hour they came by the hundred from various points in the Park. Lawyers, physicians, merchants, manufacturers, mechanics and laborers, representing the thrifty industrial classes, lined up and moved along side by side. Judge George B. Orlady, of the Superior Court, accompanied by James F. McLaughlin, chief of the Electrical Bureau, was one of the visitors. The Judge, a fisherman and hunter from his boyhood days in the mountains in the central part of the State, was delighted and took pleasure in telling others of the different kinds of fish that each tank contained.Monster CatfishA freak catfish caught recently in the Delaware was the star attraction among the individual fish and delayed the passing of the line longer perhaps than all the fish put together. Though like a catfish in shape, his color turned a milked white huge with pink eyes and fins. Meehan says he is one of the Albino family so numerous decades ago on the coast of Portugal.

Display to Be Increased

When the other sections of the aquarium are completed, Mr. Meehan will add tanks for snails, lobsters, crawfish and crabs. In the two other buildings which will not be ready for two months, the fish from the mansion room will be exhibited along with other varieties in a total of 120 additional tanks. It is Mr. Meehan’s intention just as soon as funds will warrant to establish in the back part of the forebay between the pumping station and the reservoir one of the largest pools for seals in the country. Part of the station nearest to the Schuylkill also will be utilized for salt water fish. The salt water will be brought from the ocean in tanks.

Opens Nov. 24, 1911 to poor reviews

Dear Madam: Philadelphia being my home city, I naturally dislike to constantly hear the unkind flings of New Yorkers at my birthplace of which I have many reasons to be proud. I had an experience, however, yesterday that I think on investigation at your doorway almost, you will be glad to see shall not occur to another visitor from New York.

I had read of the new Public Aquarium recently established at the old Fairmount Water Works, and having visited the splendid Aquarium here, I went to see what Philadelphia has to exhibit. Of course I was prepared to make all due allowance for the exhibition being new, expected a start in a small way, but my pride was unnecessarily hurt by what I encountered, and being a woman, I concluded the helpmate of our new and justly honored Mayor should know of it. I doubt not in good time the approach down the lane will have a side walk that couples can pass on without one side-stepping into the gutter, but when you step onto the platform leading to the left, to the Aquarium building, you will encounter dirt, ashes and litter disgusting to any tidy housewife.

There was no excuse for this condition on such a sunshiny, beautiful day, for the janitor and a broom could have corrected it in half an hour. At risk of my skirts and Sunday shoes, I crossed the long, dirty approach and reached the door over which was the sign “public aquarium”. Around the sides and down the middle were the usual glass cases containing minnows, perch, sun fish, bass, cat-fish, trout, four little alligators and lots of mud turtles. I almost forgot to mention the lone bull-frog. This was all right too for a starter, but the brown painted, unsightly boards skirting the top, with the poorly executed pen and ink printed descriptive cards, certainly gave one the impression that Philadelphia had gone economy mad. Any other Philadelphia typewriter girl would be glad to supplant these poor house cards, if no public spirited printer be willing to present properly printed ones. I am sure you have not paid a visit to the Public aquarium, but I wish you would, and put a flea in your husband’s ear.

April 2, 1913 Agitator- local newspaper

Sir- I am a Philadelphia born and bred, and as agitation appears to be the order of the day I herewith start some. Entering the Fairmount Park at Callowshill Street I shortly pass into an aquarium, housed in a dingy, ramshackle building that has not properly been touched up during the last 40 years. The aquarium is not a huge joke it is simply a small joke- and to my uninstructed mind is a positive farce for a city like Philadelphia to ask its people to go to. After viewing the small uninteresting fish display I strolled northward through, or rather by, some buildings that reminds one of the ruins of Pompeii, for of all the disreputable shacks allowed to stand and offend the eye the old water works are the limit. I can remember them away back 40 or more years ago and I wonder if any paint or repairs have been added to them in that time.

Philadelphia Aquarium at Fairmount Park Timeline

1904 1911 1916 1921 1925 1928 1930 1931 1932 1933

G. Ralph Smith, WPA 1930s

Drawing of Aquarium, 1950s

Funding issues from the beginning

• money from selling of water works equipment is tied up– $1,500 from initial sale comes through but rest of

money not forthcoming – Eventually get money in fits and starts

But, the work that needs to be done to transform Turbines into Tanks is extensive

and expensive…

A building not meant for an Aquarium

June 30, 1914I have to report that this morning while the men who are delivering the boilers endeavored to cross the forebay bridge, they smashed two-thirds of the South railing, most of it falling into the forebay. They also smashed nearly one-half the northern railing.

And it’s old

Sept. 24, 1915

My dear Dr. Townsend-

Enclosed please find my personal check for $250.00 in payment of the share of the fishes, for the Fairmount Park Aquarium, collected at Key West. I placed your receipted bill among my personal incidental expenses. That enabled me to have the money in my own warrant and pay you a week or two quicker than otherwise would have been the case. I am sorry to say we are in a pretty bad mess.

Our money has suddenly given out and I only have glass enough for one side of the Sea Water House and that I expect to start and put in next week so that it will be two or three weeks yet before I can send for the fishes. I think it only fair that we should pay for the keep as they are virtually in storage in your place and I would suggest that you keep a separate account of the cost of the food that they require. I will try and get over some day next week to see you.

October 19, 1915

Sir:

Owing to the lack of funds, you are hereby notified that any work performed by you for the Commissioners of Fairmount Park is done at your own risk, until the pending appropriation is made by Councils.

Yours Truly,

J.T. VogdesChief Engineer

You will read this notice to all men on your roll.

Eventually, we have tanks

• Marine Hall finished in 1916

•25 stationary tanks around the walls•8 all glass tanks in the center•Contains largest fish tank in the United States

• Main Hall finished in 1922

• 43 tanks• Large Seal “pool” outside

So let’s put in the water!

Fresh Water• Source

– Schulykill River– City Water

• Temperature– Warm water for some fishes

• Bass, catfish, bluegill, sunfish– Cool water for others

• Salmon, herring, whitefish

• Flow– Oxygenation of water extremely

important to health of fish• Cold water vs. warm water

Salt Water• Source

– Off the coast of New York or New Jersey

– Open Ocean

• Temperature– Warm water for some

• Fishes collected in Key West- angel fish, guppies, clown fish, etc.

– Cool water for others• Any kind of North Atlantic variety of

salt water fish

• Salinity – How often do you change it?– How much can you dilute it?

Fresh Water• Schuylkill water does not sustain a lot of fish

varieties– Different species need different water– Pollution

• City filtered water works for most species but…– de chlorinated with filters– Need a proper flow to keep it oxygenated and clean– Heated or cooled depending on the season

• Heating system• Cooling system (ice)

Cooling System

Salt Water

• Berlin Aquarium (1869) uses artificial saltwater, but most aquariums think that the fish do not like it.

• New York Aquarium has used the same salt water for almost 20 years (1896). Just mix in new water to keep salinity constant.– After using water off the coast of NY, they decide

to use open ocean water and suggest that Philly do the same

We have water!

• Warm fresh water– City water supply– 1919 4 inch pipe replaced with 6 inch; from 130,000 gallons

a day to over 150,000 gallons a day• Cold fresh water– Artesian well drilled 1926– Filter added 1927 because of iron content

• Warm salt water– 1916 first delivery of salt water from gulf ($)– 1920 Moore & McCormack Steamship Company delivers salt

water to Philadelphia docks for free-

Let’s add displays…June 21, 1914

Dear Sir:

We are sending you tomorrow by AdamsExpress from Newport, NY, a large and very fine specimen of Sea Turtle. Will arrive in Philadelphia Monday evening. If you will kindly arrange for delivery on Monday night or early Tuesday morning, it will be a relief to the animal.

Yours Truly,

A.H. Allen

Apr. 19, 1914

I am preparing for my usual Spring seal business. I thought I would drop you a line to see if you wished any seals from the Park

And if so, to kindly let me know as soon as possible.

Respectfully,

Janet MacDonald

Sept. 18, 1915

Yours of the 16th received. I will be on the lookout for the seals and will be glad to receive them. Do you keep your Aquarium during the winter? If not, instead of releasing the fish in your tanks, if you have no use for them I will be very glad to have them, and possibly next summer, when you open up I might be able to let you have something that you do not posses and cannot get in return.

If you do not carry your fish and turning them over to me meets with your approval, I would, of course, send the can for them and pay all express charges.

Report of the Department of Fisheries, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1910-1911

Wayne County Hatchery #4

I have a very peculiar case of fatality among one special species of fish- the pearl roach or German rudd-the source of which I have been unable to identify. Perhaps some six weeks ago, out of about 25 or 30 pearl roach on exhibition, one suddenly darted to the surface, then slightly turned over. For an hour or more, nothing abnormal happened, then it repeated the performance.

October 26, 1918

There were received 663 fish of which 354 were sea and 309 fresh water fish. The deaths were 454 of which 167 were sea water and 287 fresh water fish. Nearly one hundred of the deaths among the sea water fish was due to an unavoidable accident one night and the excess deaths of fresh water fish was due to a shortage of both supply and pressure in the month of June.

Seals and Sea Lions

We have sustainable displays• Fresh Water – Hatcheries– Caught by aquarium staff– Donated/shared

• Salt Water – 1916 Key West trips with Boston, New York and

Detroit (Mowbray heads expedition with NYA funds)– 1925 Aquarium takes its own trips (Van Deusen)

Fish fatalities become less and less as the aquarium staff learns to take care of the exhibits. (or, at least, they don’t make the same mistake twice)

City La Jolla, CAScripps

Institution

New York, NYNew York Aquarium

Detroit, MCBelle Isle

Aquarium

Philadelphia, PAFairmount Park

AquariumOwned by University of

CaliforniaCity City City

Controlled by Regents of the University

New York Zoological Society

Department of Parks and Boulevards

Fairmount Park Commission

When opened 1916 Dec. 10, 1896 1904 Nov. 24, 1922, complete*

Annual Maintenance Cost

--- $70,000 $28,000 $30,453

Exhibition tanks 19 89 58 114

Linear Feet glass permanent wall tanks

72 455 280 511

Number of exhibits(1927)

1,350 3,700 4,837 2,749

fishes 1,300 2,700 4,600 2,438

mammals none 2 4 none

Persons employed 3 29 6 (and 4 part time) 21

*Tropical House opened June 15, 1915; temporary aquarium opened Nov. 24, 1911Compiled by Ida M. Mellen (1927) for NYA and published in The Public Aquarium: Its construction, equipment, and management Charles H. Townsend: Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 1045, 1928

Acknowledgements• Director Karen Young and Ellen Schultz Education and

Outreach Coordinator- Water Works Interpretive Center• Adam Young- Archivist and Paul Fugazzatto- Public

Relations- Philadelphia Water Department Archives• Rob Armstrong- Fairmount Park Archives• David Baugh- Philadelphia City Archives• Archivists at the American Philosophical Society,

Philadelphia Museum of Natural History, Franklin Institute , the Temple Urban Archives

• History and Sociology of Science; University of Pennsylvania