From Marsh to Solid Ground

In 1771 the British army built Fort Mifflin on the southern tip of marshy Mud Island, beginning the process of draining the island. Over the next century, the waterways between Mud and the other islands were gradually filled in by people and tidal silt. Farms were established on higher ground, streams were dammed, meadows were drained for fields and grazing, and dikes were built to keep the tide from flooding new pastures. The waterways filled in and became solid ground. As Philadelphia grew and prospered, becoming the "world's workshop" in the 19th and 20th centuries, industry eventually surrounded Fort Mifflin. Today, the fort is an island of green in the midst of an urban industrial complex and forms a valuable link in a chain of green spaces along the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers that is essential in supporting and nurturing the region's wildlife.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States