Second Site Added

Accession Number P75-54-A242g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,

Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

By 1928, a second water treatment plant was added to the Lake Montebello facilities, which expanded across Hillen Road.  This image documents a filtration building at the Hillen site.

Improvements on Hillen

Accession Number P75-54-A254g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,

Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

In 1923, a "balancing reservoir" was added to Lake Montebello as part of the Loch Raven dam raising project.

New Demands

Accession Number P75-54-0832g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,

Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The newly annexed territories of 1918 tripled the geography of the city, and the new municipal drinking water system quickly had to adapt to meet these demands.  This photo shows row upon row of filter beds in the north and south galleries of the Filter Building at Lake Montebello.

State of the Art in 1915

After several months of delays, the Baltimore Sun reported on August 6, 1915 that the Lake Montebello plant in Northeast Baltimore had begun filtering water for public consumption.  The Hughes Company photos, taken July 12, 1915, show the brand new facilities just a few weeks before full-scale operations began.  These images show the beauty of the plant's interior and exterior architectural features. 

Accession Number P75-54-0830g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,

Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Accession Number P75-54-0834g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,

Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County