[2] The creek arose at the confluence of two smaller streams in a pond around the present-day intersection of Sixth and Thompson streets.Planting artillery on the south side, the British dammed the stream to create a broad marshland, forming a barrier against attacks from the north.In order to promote drainage in the developing neighborhoods, and to discourage the miasma said to originate from the creek, the Cohocksink was converted to a storm sewer in the 1850s, around the time Northern Liberties and Kensington were consolidated into the city of Philadelphia.[6] Industry had taken its toll on the Cohocksink; when it was finally culverted, the City Board of Health issued a statement describing the project as "one of the most valuable sanitary improvements ever to be undertaken by the corporate authorities. ...The entire length of its serpentine bed had become the receptacle of vile refuse and dead animals, while its sides were lined with privies, emptying their contents upon its filthy surface; added to these, the offal from cow-stables, dye houses, slaughterhouses, kitchens, and the impurities from various trades and factories, together with street-sewage ... thus predisposing to and causing the spread of ... disease throughout the entire vicinity.
