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Goats Versus Mules: The Army-Navy Game in Philadelphia
By Hillary Kativa
Much like the city of Philadelphia itself, the annual college football match-up between the U.S. Military and Naval Academies, colloquially known as the Army-Navy Game, has a storied history that echoes that of the city in which the match has been held more than any other. Since the Army-Navy Game’s inception in 1890, Philadelphia has hosted the match a record 81 times, far surpassing its nearest competitors, New York (11) and Baltimore (4). After the rivalry’s first four matches incited passionate reactions and a near duel between two officers in 1893, the...
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‘There’s A Party Going On Right Here:’ Philadelphia Civic Celebrations - Part Three: Race, Redevelopment, and the Bicentennial
By Hillary Kativa
From their inception, Philadelphia’s civic celebrations were invested with political messages and social values that, as the city’s population grew more diverse, often betrayed the politics of inclusion and exclusion in the City of Brotherly Love. As celebrations increasingly became city-wide endeavors, they served as a means to build communities, both real and imagined, and define civic identity based upon who was invited to participate and in what fashion. More often than not, African-Americans found themselves excluded from civic celebrations, beginning with the earliest Independence Day festivities and continuing into the...
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There’s a Party Going On Right Here:’ Philadelphia Civic Celebrations - Part Two: The City and its Celebrations Come of Age
By Hillary Kativa
In the early years of the new nation, the Federalist and Republican parties each infused Philadelphia’s public celebrations with political messages and symbolic meaning, a precedent that organizers of civic observances continued in the latter half of the 19th century. As both Philadelphia’s population and geographic limits expanded, efforts to centralize municipal government led to greater government control over public celebrations. Implicit in this control was the idea that such celebrations should elevate public taste and instruct rather than simply amuse, as celebratory rituals were intended to communicate certain social, political,...
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‘There’s a Party Going On Right Here:’ Philadelphia Civic Celebrations - Part One: Festivities in the New Nation
By Hillary Kativa
Throughout its history, Philadelphia has played host to celebrations as diverse as its neighborhoods, from Columbus Day and Washington’s birthday to the Emancipation Exposition and the annual Mummer’s Parade. And from the first commemoration of Independence Day to the Bicentennial, these celebrations historically have been infused with notions of citizenship, public space, and civic identity. As historian Gary Nash notes, civic observances provide a means of binding diverse ethnic, racial, and religious groups together, as well as connecting the past to the present. Ultimately, public celebrations are rarely just fun...
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The Art Club of Philadelphia
By Deborah Boyer
Incorporated on January 18, 1887, the Art Club of Philadelphia was formed “to advance the knowledge and love of the Fine Arts, through the exhibition of works of Art, the acquisition of books and papers for the purpose of forming an Art Library, lectures upon subjects pertaining to Art, receptions given to men or women distinguished in Art, Literature, Science or Politics, and by other kindred means, and to promote social intercourse among its members."1
Created as both a social club and an organization for the support of the arts, the Art Club...
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Edwin Forrest: A Legend of American Theater
By Deborah Boyer
In the early 1800s, Americans flocked to theaters as a source of entertainment and drama. During this time, American actors began to challenge the dominance of British actors and theater. One of these actors, Edwin Forrest of Philadelphia, would become one of the most well-known and popular performers of the first half of the nineteenth century.
Born on March 9, 1806 in Philadelphia, Forrest joined his first theater company at the age of twelve. In 1820 at the age of fourteen, Forrest made his professional debut at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. For...
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The Dempsey-Tunney Fight of 1926
By Deborah Boyer
Among the many events at the Sesquicentennial, perhaps none drew as much attention and publicity as the world’s heavyweight title fight between defending champion Jack Dempsey and challenger Gene Tunney. Held at the Sesquicentennial Municipal Stadium on September 23, 1926, the boxing match drew a crowd of over 120,000 people and became one of the best known fights of the 1920s.
Although Tex Rickard, the promoter for the fight, originally investigated staging the match in Chicago or Jersey City, he eventually arranged for it to be held on September 16, 1926 at Yankee Stadium...
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Pageantry at the Sesquicentennial
By Deborah Sting
In an attempt to attract large numbers of visitors, the Sesquicentennial Exposition offered a variety of activities and events. Visitors could tour nearly a million square feet of exhibit space and dozens of different amusements and see everything from a military camp to monkeys to a house displaying nothing but different types of wallpaper.
Along with these other attractions, Sesquicentennial officials staged various pageants, choruses, and performances. Perhaps two of the largest performances were the “Freedom” pageant and the “America” pageant, both held at the Municipal Stadium located near the intersection of Broad Street...
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Cowgirls and Calf Roping at the Sesquicentennial
By Deborah Boyer
Not all of the entertainment that took place at the Municipal Stadium during the Sesquicentennial Exposition of 1926 focused on pageantry, theater, and music. The Stadium, located near the intersection of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, was built to serve both as a gathering and performing area during the Sesquicentennial and as a venue for outdoor and athletic events in Philadelphia after the Sesquicentennial was finished. 710 feet wide and 721 feet long, the Stadium had a seating capacity of 100,000 with 73,830 of those seats being permanent and the remainder being movable...
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I Remember Arch Street
By Ron Kushnier
Picture, if you will, walking down a street in Center City Philadelphia; and lining both sides, as far as you can see, are nothing but stores packed full of electronics goodies. A mere fantasy you say? Not really. Because such was Arch Street in the late Nineteen Fifties and early Sixties, as I remember it.
"Radio Row", as it was called, started around 12th Street with Herbach & Rademan, or H&R as it was fondly known. The company still exists today on Erie Ave (actually Moorestown NJ, now), and features as it...