To Quench the Thirst of New Yorkers: The Croton Aqueduct at 175

Today 8.5 million New Yorkers and all of those who commute in or visit the city take access to fresh water for granted. However, for the first two hundred years of the city's existence until the creation of the Croton Aqueduct, getting water for drinking, cooking, household and street cleaning, fighting fires and more bordered on challenging or impossible. On October 14, 1842, New York was home to the city's largest parade-on view: fountains spraying clean, fresh water. This exhibit, broken down into four sections, The Want of Fresh Water, Building the Aqueduct, Abundant Water! and Croton Aqueduct in Art marks the 175th anniversary of the aqueduct's opening. Among the highlights are maps, drawings, historic artifacts and Fayette B. Tower's letters and drawings which are accompanied by newly commissioned photographs by Nathan Kensinger, revisiting some of Tower's sights.