When regular-pressure water is not effective for fighting fires, you have to go big and Round. As buildings in Philadelphia were built larger and taller in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a better system for distributing water throughout Olde City became necessary. The world's first high-pressure water system was built in 1903, and this circular intake manifold drew water directly from the Delaware River, pumping up to 1,400 gallons a minute.

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