Exhibits
Current Overlook Gallery Exhibit
Moving Water: From Ancient Innovations to Modern Challenges
September 13, 2024 - September 13, 2025
Ancient civilizations engineered water systems that sustained communities for thousands of years. This exhibition spotlights six places that innovated ways to deliver, and control water for human use. It also looks at how climate change is impacting all of those places, forcing public officials to consider new ways to keep the water flowing.
With a stunning view of the Great Engine Hall through a wall of glass, the Overlook Gallery serves as a conference room and a place for large temporary exhibits. This room also allows for close examination of the exquisite detail on the Leavitt-Reidler pumping engine, a National Mechanical Engineering Landmark.
Great Engines Hall
The centerpiece of the Waterworks Museum is its collection of steam engines. Three original coal-powered, steam-driven water pumps are preserved at the Museum and are monuments to 19th century technology and innovation. Leavitt, Worthington, and Allis stand in the Great Engines Hall and reach more than 3 stories tall. Walk around each and see the multitude of perfectly engineered parts that pumped million gallons of freshwater a day into the City of Boston.