Black and white August 1, 1918, photograph presumably taken for one of the area newspapers. Verso, in pencil: "Pumping oil into pond. Gravers station 8/1/18 Gtn." This unusual photograph documents the killing of mosquitos and mosquito eggs present in standing water in what was once a landfill in Chestnut Hill, to slow the spread of the flu during the 1918 influenza epidemic.
The view is taken at the north end of what is now the Watertower Recreation Center in Chestnut Hill, facing north, with houses along the 200 block of East Graver's Lane visible in the background. Gravers station and the railroad tracks of SEPTA's present-day Chestnut Hill East Regional Rail line would be visible out of view, to the right and upper right. The area shown in the foreground is now the site of a baseball field [2020].
