{"id":102174,"date":"2026-02-01T10:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T10:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/102174\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T10:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T10:29:09","slug":"with-waters-rising-pennsylvanias-historical-treasures-must-adapt-or-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/102174\/","title":{"rendered":"With Waters Rising, Pennsylvania\u2019s Historical Treasures Must \u2018Adapt or Collapse\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA\u2014Karen Young stood in a cavernous room perched on the edge of the Schuylkill River that was once a public swimming pool.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Abandoned in 1972 after a hurricane, the old natatorium is part of the Fairmount Water Works, an interpretive center and event venue housed in a 200-year-old structure that powered Philadelphia\u2019s municipal water system for almost a century. The room is trapped in time: The paint is peeling, rust crawls across the ceiling and the bleachers sit empty next to the pool\u2019s drained basin.<\/p>\n

As sunlight rippled off the river, dappling the mottled walls, Young thought about the night more than five years ago when another hurricane threatened the Water Works, a National Historic Landmark. The executive director of the Water Works since 2007, she\u2019d confronted flooding before. But she had never seen anything like Hurricane Ida.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ida dumped between five and 10 inches of rain<\/a> on southeastern Pennsylvania, much of it within a matter of hours. The Schuylkill River crested at 16.35 feet<\/a>, just shy of the historical 17-foot record.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe force of the water blew out doors. It blew out windows,\u201d Young said. \u201cAnything that wasn\u2019t removed from the building was subject to floodwaters.\u201d The storm destroyed the elevator and sprinkler system as the water reached the ceiling. Several inches of unsanitary debris and muck were left behind. The center shuttered for more than six months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the Philadelphia Water Department<\/a>, Pennsylvania endures the most flooding of any state, posing serious risks to homes, businesses and infrastructure along 86,000 miles of rivers and streams<\/a>. It\u2019s also a hazard to the state\u2019s many beloved historical sites. Pennsylvania ranks third in the nation for the number of National Historic Landmarks within its borders; Philadelphia<\/a> alone has 65.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because they were built directly on waterways, some of these places are uniquely vulnerable. As climate change intensifies and makes severe weather more frequent, that danger is reaching new heights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the past, climate adaptation was considered something \u201cnice to have\u201d for historical sites, said Seri Worden, senior director of preservation programs at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. \u201cNow it\u2019s becoming a critical, absolute need.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Without adequate preparation at these sites for climate change, she said, \u201cwe just might not have them anymore. They might be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Water rises in the stairwell of the Fairmount Water Works shortly after Hurricane Ida hit (left), while debris carried by the floodwaters lays on the property. Credit: Karen Young with the Fairmount Water Works<\/p>\n

Building Resilience<\/p>\n

The night Hurricane Ida hit in September 2021, the Water Works was scheduled to celebrate the opening of an exhibit in the natatorium about the history of segregation and discrimination in public pools. Hundreds were expected to attend the reception outside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"A sign marking the worst flooding events at the Fairmount Water Works shows Hurricane Ida is second from the top, denoted with a wavy sticker just under 13 feet. Credit: Kiley Bense\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n

As staffers were setting up, cell phone alarms warning of the approaching storm went off. It was hard to know how seriously to take the alerts, Young said, and they wasted precious time trying to decide what to do. Eventually, the center had to be evacuated, the exhibits hastily dismantled and moved to higher ground.<\/p>\n

The damage from Ida is still visible at the Water Works today. Temporary wood paneling covers doorways that have not yet been repaired, and staff use space heaters to stay warm in the winter. There is rust on the legs of some of the exhibits, remnants of the flood. Wiggly blue stickers with Ida written on them are taped around the center, marking the high points of the flood: in the stairwell, on the wall, on a column just below the ceiling.<\/p>\n

Even years later, Young and her staff are always waiting for another Ida to hit, for the water to keep rising. \u201cSo every time it rains around here? Yeah, there\u2019s nothing but tension.\u201d She drew her shoulders to her ears. \u201cIt feels like we all have PTSD from experiencing this amount of flooding.\u201d<\/p>\n

As traumatic as it was, Young has come to see Ida as a learning opportunity. \u201cIt\u2019s a way for us to think through how to save these buildings, because that\u2019s the paramount goal,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t adapt, we just lose the buildings. And that\u2019s not something any of us want to see happen. It\u2019s either adapt or collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Water Works has a three-phase plan to protect the site from future floods, but it is still in phase one. Exhibits are set up on wheels or hung from winches, so they can be easily removed or lifted during an emergency. Interactive screens pop out of their frames.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t use paper for educational resources anymore, and the exhibits are made of steel and other materials that can withstand water. The complex was designed for water to flow through it, so the staff doesn\u2019t try to fight that inclination. During a flood, they open the doors. \u201cEventually, the water will recede, so let\u2019s give it a place to go,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t adapt, we just lose the buildings. And that\u2019s not something any of us want to see happen.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2014 Karen Young, Fairmount Water Works executive director<\/p>\n

Claire Donato, architect with Mark B. Thompson Associates, has been part of the Water Works\u2019 story since the 1990s. Back then, the mission was to restore the Water Works to its former glory after years of neglect following Hurricane Agnes. Its location and Agnes\u2019 destruction meant that protecting the building from floods was always part of the restoration effort, she said. The original opening of the interpretive center in 2003 was delayed because of flooding. But at the time, they never imagined a storm as destructive as Agnes could happen again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ida forced them to reconsider what would be necessary in a future of unprecedented weather.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we got to Hurricane Ida, it was as catastrophic as Agnes, and then we realized that we really need to rethink and add more resiliency features going forward,\u201d Donato said.<\/p>\n

The Paradox of Water<\/p>\n

Frank Lloyd Wright\u2019s Fallingwater is facing some of the same problems that the Water Works must navigate. The iconic modernist house sits on a stream called Bear Run in western Pennsylvania\u2019s Laurel Highlands; it was built here because of the stream, the architecture meant to evoke and echo the forest and water around it. This UNESCO World Heritage site has also been threatened by that intimate proximity: Floods in 1955 and 2017 caused major damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stream is itself the main inspiration for the building. The architecture is meant to be this structural cascade, mimicking the idea of rushing water through the landscape,\u201d said Justin Gunther, the director of Fallingwater. \u201cSo the very thing that inspired the architecture is also viewed as potentially its main enemy in many ways.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The\"TheFallingwater in western Pennsylvania. Credit: Chris Melzer\/picture alliance via Getty Images<\/p>\n

In 2024, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the nonprofit that owns Fallingwater, embarked on an ambitious preservation project to protect the house for future generations. It\u2019s not just flash flooding that has to be considered; the conservancy must account for the slow destruction caused by repeated rainfall, moisture infiltration and temperature cycles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fallingwater\u2019s preservation efforts include keeping the area upstream of the site clear of debris and investing heavily in the health of the acres of surrounding forest. Fortifying the house\u2019s roof and concrete structure also requires careful maintenance. The price tag for this multi-year project is steep: $7 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve attempted to make the house as resilient as possible against rain and snow and any sort of water infiltration issues. We\u2019re using the best technologies that are out there now,\u201d Gunther said.<\/p>\n

For the people who love Fallingwater, the cost is more than worth it to preserve something that exists nowhere else in the world. The house has something to teach visitors about how to build\u2014and live\u2014alongside nature, Gunther said. \u201cWhen you have a building as inspirational as Fallingwater to serve as this vehicle to deepen an understanding of how we can live harmoniously with the natural world, I think there\u2019s great power in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience of walking into Fallingwater, down its narrow hallways, peering through its windows open to the woods cannot be replicated through photography, video or 3-D modeling, because the place it occupies in the landscape is intrinsic to its design.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s multi-sensory,\u201d Gunther said. \u201cSo you\u2019re not just seeing something that\u2019s beautiful, but you\u2019re smelling the forest and you\u2019re feeling the humidity on your skin, and you\u2019re hearing the sound of the waterfall and the birds outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Power of Place<\/p>\n

Young agrees there is no substitute for stepping into the spaces where history happened. The informational film that the Water Works screens for students at the center is shown alongside the actual machinery that powered the complex. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing like that. There\u2019s no artificial intelligence that could replicate that kind of reality,\u201d Young said. \u201cThe power of place is everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fairmount Water Works was considered an engineering marvel<\/a> in its time, renowned for its modern technology and the neoclassical elegance of its architecture and sculptures, a public project that was both beautiful and functional.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many stories that this place tells about the history of America,\u201d Donato said, stories about the history of public health, urban growth and civic technology. \u201cSo it\u2019s not \u2018why should it be preserved,\u2019 but, \u2018How do we preserve it so that those stories can be relevant to our time?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The\"TheThe Fairmount Water Works sits directly on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. Credit: Kiley Bense\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n

The Water Works is struggling to raise the funding necessary to complete its resilience plan, said Joanne Dahme, a board member at the Fund for the Water Works<\/a>, a nonprofit first formed in 1998 to restore the then-abandoned site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put this plan together right after Ida, and we\u2019ve raised, to date, about $650,000,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a long way to go. There\u2019s not a lot of funders out there who are willing or able to fund these sort of improvements, which is really frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPreservation is always local and it\u2019s always political,\u201d said Marty Hylton, who served as the National Park Service\u2019s first historic architect for climate change. Which places get funding and attention\u2014which places are saved and restored\u2014is almost always about power. In 2026, amid sweeping cuts to the federal government, there are fewer resources than there used to be. Hylton said his old position at NPS no longer exists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s happening is that now it\u2019s really falling to the private sector and local communities to step up,\u201d he said. But with so many competing demands for funding, it will be difficult for most historical sites to make up the difference. Especially for smaller museums, the gaps left without federal assistance and expertise are unlikely to be filled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This story is funded by readers like you.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a very challenging situation,\u201d the National Trust for Historic Preservation\u2019s Worden said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dahme said this is part of the problem at the Water Works. \u201cThe needs are so great,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re competing with a lot of other entities and organizations that have similar needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young looked out one of the Water Works\u2019 windows, across the sparkling river and toward the diagonal Fairmount Dam<\/a>, completed in 1821. \u201cI have a huge amount of respect for water and what it does,\u201d she said. \u201cThis view never gets old.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Water Works is flanked by two sculptures designed in 1825<\/a>, \u201cThe Schuylkill Chained\u201d and \u201cThe Schuylkill Freed.\u201d The first sculpture is an old man with chains wrapped around his flowing beard, an eagle perched at his feet, the wild river bound by civilization. \u201cThe Schuylkill Freed\u201d depicts a woman with her hand hovering over a water wheel. She is an allegory of the Water Works itself, an embodiment of the control that city planners sought to impose on the Schuylkill\u2019s might.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This site was once a symbol of humanity\u2019s ability to harness nature\u2019s power and bend its will to our own. In the unpredictable age of climate change, its stewards have had to reckon with the limits of that vision.<\/p>\n

When the Fairmount Dam is submerged under the river, Young knows from hard-won experience, it\u2019s a signal that it\u2019s time to brace for another serious flood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that disappears,\u201d she said, \u201cthink about us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAbout This Story<\/p>\n

Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That\u2019s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.<\/p>\n

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Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.<\/p>\n

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Thank you,<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tKiley Bense\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tReporter, Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Kiley Bense covers climate change and the environment with a focus on Pennsylvania, politics, energy, and public health. She has reported on the effects of the\u00a0fracking boom in\u00a0Pennsylvania, the expansion of the American plastics industry, and the intersection of climate change and culture. Her previous work has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, the Believer, and Sierra Magazine, and she holds master\u2019s degrees in journalism and creative writing from Columbia University. She is based in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA\u2014Karen Young stood in a cavernous room perched on the edge of the Schuylkill River that was once…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[264,49615,49616,49617,49618,49619,49620,97,49621,28,30,29,49622,49623],"class_list":["post-102174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-climate-change","tag-fairmount-dam","tag-frank-lloyd-wright","tag-fund-for-the-water-works","tag-hurricane-agnes","tag-hurricane-ida","tag-national-historic-landmarks","tag-national-park-service","tag-national-trust-for-historic-preservation","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-unesco-world-heritage-site","tag-western-pennsylvania-conservancy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}