In the earliest days of planning the Catskill Aqueduct, the Board of Water Supply built this experimental section, a full-scale model, of cut-and-cover aqueduct at its 79th Street testing yard. The iconic horseshoe cross-section later became a symbol of Catskill Aqueduct success, reproduced in various celebratory forms.

In 1912, inside the Ridgewood Pumping Station, the Mechanical Division conducted tests on a 12-inch model of a valve for City Water Tunnel No. 1, which would deliver Catskill water throughout the City.

Another pumping station, Grant City, was taken over in 1939 for hydraulic testing on a model of the Rondout Reservoir diversion tunnel, waste weir, and inclined tunnel, parts of the Delaware water supply system over 100 miles away.

But let's go back to the early days... This model of geologic formations from Ashokan Reservoir to Storm King was made in the physiographic laboratory at Columbia University. Understanding New York's geology was critical for planning the Catskill Aqueduct's path.

The Catskill Aqueduct was nearing completion in 1915 when the Board of Water Supply participated in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. This world’s fair marking completion of the Panama Canal also celebrated the exceptional engineering of New York's aqueduct, with an exhibit that featured this specially-commissioned 6’ x 3’ relief map model. It's hard to see in a straight-on photograph, but the mountains, valleys, and rivers are carved out of wood. This type of 3-D map reappeared over time as a tool to show the direct connections between the clean water of the mountains and the growing, thirsty city.

Another 3-D model of the water supply system, here at Board of Water Supply headquarters in the Municipal Building, was made for the New York Public Library's 1917 exhibit on the history of the City's water supply. It seems to have been later transferred to the American Museum of Natural History.

Photographing the model turned it into a more portable system map.

The cut-and-cover horseshoe reappeared as a prop at this Waldorf-Astoria dinner party to celebrate the opening of the Catskill Aqueduct and City Water Tunnel No. 1 in 1917. . .

And paraded down Fifth Avenue on May 26th, 1923, for the Silver Jubilee as New York City celebrated the 25th anniversary of the consolidation of the boroughs into one city.

The Silver Jubilee exposition of Municipal Departments at the Grand Central Palace included a scale model of the spectacular Kensico Dam, which was only a short commuter rail ride away.

At New York's first World's Fair, the water supply exhibit featured a diorama of the Ashokan Aerator fountain, with a small pool where children would splash their hands on hot summer days. The exhibit was designed by Skidmore and Owings. The Board and the Dept. of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity built a massive scale model of the watershed for the fair, but it wasn't exhibited due to insufficient space, instead going into storage.

By 1948, it was time for New York to mark 50 years of unified boroughs with a Golden Anniversary exhibit at the Grand Central Palace. This presented a new opportunity to use the unexhibited World's Fair model, which was electrified, with little lights running along tunnel lines on its 540 square foot surface. It would be the only public display during the first 70 years of its existence.

At the same exhibit, visitors walked through a half-scale replica of the Delaware Aqueduct inviting them to "Learn about the longest rock tunnel on the planet."

On the other side, they could examine models showing the inner workings of the tunnels and structures required to deliver water.

The World's Fair model was stored in crates at the Jerome Avenue Pumping Station for decades, becoming damaged and faded, until it was rediscovered in the 1990s and eventually moved to a DEP maintenance building in Brooklyn. In 2005, the 27 sections were uncrated and examined as plans developed for the model's restoration.

As a teaser, part of the model was exhibited in its future home, and original destination, the Queens Museum, from November 2005 to February 2006.

In 2009, after meticulous restoration, the complete watershed model came to the Queens Museum. Here it is in 2020 with the exhibit "Ridgewood Reservoir for the 21st Century."