Our friends at the Mt. Airy CDC are presenting a series of talks focusing on Historic Mt. Airy.

Historic maps of Northwest Philadelphia show 2 creeks, the Wissahickon Creek and the Wingohocking Creek. Modern maps only show the Wissahickon.

The Wingohocking Creek and its tributaries were encased in large combined sewers and buried in the late 1800s and early 1900s. While the creek still flows in the combined sewers, it is hidden from our view. Natural creek valleys in this 9 square mile watershed were filled, and roads were built over parts of the former creek, forever transforming our watershed.

In this talk, Kelly O’Day, a retired environmental engineer who lives in E Mt Airy, will show historic maps of the Wingohocking Creek, explain why and how the Wingohocking Creek was buried, and discuss the modern day consequences of this drastic reshaping of our natural watershed into the regular street gridded area we now call E Mt Airy and Germantown.