Imagine that you lived here in the 1800s in the days before trash collection and landfills. You and your neighbors would throw your garbage into the streets, alleys, empty lots and your own backyards. Perhaps you would also be one of the city residents complaining about the stench of the streets filthy with decaying vegetables and dead animals.

In 1875 the Board of Health reported that the public water supply was much cleaner since the aqueduct and the reservoir were flushed out. Among the debris were "dead cats, dogs and babies. . . in the greatest abundance."

It was not until the 1890s that there was a sustained effort to supply clean water to city residents. Perhaps you could have afforded the expense to build a cistern or dig a well to supply your family with clean water. By doing so, you would unknowingly dampen the threat of cholera and other diseases which spread by contaminated drinking water.

In the blocks now covered by the MCI Center, archaeologists dug in several back yards and found evidence of city life in an era when the connections between sanitation and public health were less well understood. Archaeologists collected over 80,000 objects and animal bones discarded as household trash. They also found three cisterns for storing water and two wells built between the 1850s and 1880s.