New Exhibit Highlights History Of Fairmount Water Works

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio 1060) -- There's a new permanent exhibit at the Fairmount Water Works, on the banks of the Schuylkill River behind the art museum, designed to help visitors understand the history behind the beauty of the site.

KYW's Karin Phillips reports that the Fairmount Water Works is no longer just a pretty face, thanks to a new permanent exhibit that organizers hope will add depth to its interpretive center.

Karen Young is director of the center:

"It's no longer a former pumping station that now operates in a museum-like setting. This is in the architectural record, that it has value and stance, historically, in architecture."

The exhibit tells the story of Frederick Graf Sr., the Philadelphia architect and engineer who built the Water Works in 1812, borrowing the Palladian-style architecture -- not Greek Revival -- from a 17th century Italian.

Albert Lee is with the Independence Visitors' Center:

"This is the opportunity for tour guides as well as just history buffs to come inside to see the history and hear the history of why it is what it is."

(Photo provided)