Although Joseph Gillingham was a merchant, not a mechanic, he shared the other early directors’ interest in manufacturing and technology. With Josiah White, he built a water-powered nail factory at the Falls of Schuylkill (now East Falls). In 1817, they offered to build a water-powered pumping station to fill the reservoir at Fairmount (now the site of the Philadelphia Museum of Art), but the water department decided to continue to use steam pumps. Three years later, the city changed its mind, bought them out, and constructed a station on their plan just below the reservoir.