Historic Sites

Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia's Industrial Past, Part III

PhillyHistoryTeam — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:12:24 GMT

By Ron Hoess

We will begin the final part of our tour down Washington Avenue starting at Broad Street and working our way eastward towards the Delaware River. One of Philadelphia's major industries, textiles, was well represented along Washington Avenue. By 1860, Philadelphia had as many people employed in the textile industry as the textile center of New England - Lowell, Massachusetts¹. The industry thrived through the early part of the 20th century, with large mills located primarily in the Kensington area of the city, but also scattered in various locations throughout the city. On Washington Avenue, textile mills included the Abraham Kirschbaum Co. located on the northeast corner of the intersection with Broad Street, which can be seen on the right side of the photograph across the street from the PW&B railroad station. A second large mill, the Caleb J. Milne factory, took up an entire city block on the north side between 10th and 11th Streets. Built in 1895 and added to in 1904, it housed spinning, weaving and finishing operations².

Another major industry along Washington Avenue was the Curtis Publishing Co., located between 11th and 12th Streets. Founded in 1883, it is principally remembered for its popular magazine publications The Ladies Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post³.

Ancillary to Curtis Publishing was the Columbian Carbon Co., manufacturers of printer's ink, located one block west at 1223 Washington Avenue. The industries on Washington Avenue included a number of smaller companies as well. For instance, there was McCracken and Hall, “Manufacturers of Fancy Cabinet Ware,” located at 1124 Washington Ave. This rather ornately decorated building seems to have survived at least another 40 years, although minus its mansard roof and with a new tenant - the Frank A. England Co., also a furniture maker. Interestingly, after 10th Street, Washington Avenue takes on a much more residential character with no major industries until its intersection with Delaware Avenue. Coal dealerships like American Ice and Coal still appear, but for the most part, the tracks glide past the row homes of Southwark on their way to the river.

After looking at these archival photographs, it’s interesting to reflect on what remains today. The tracks themselves are now gone, last used in the 1980s. Perhaps symbolic of the fate of manufacturing in Philadelphia, there are very few manufacturers of any sort remaining along Washington Avenue. A perusal using Google Earth shows that many of the small coal yards are now parking lots. Many of the very large buildings such as those of the Kirschbaum Co. and Caleb Milne Co. have been demolished and are vacant lots. As Philadelphia, like many other urban centers, evolves away from being a nexus of industry, it is still useful to remember and appreciate its rich industrial heritage that made it a great city.

References:

[1] Scranton, Philip, (1992). Large Firms and Industrial Restructuring: The Philadelphia Region, 1900-1980. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 116, pp 419-465.

[2] Workshop of the World, Oliver Evans Press, Philadelphia (1990), pp. 1-11-1-12.

[3] Scranton, Philip, Walter Licht. Work Sights: Industrial Philadelphia, 1890-1950. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1986, p. 222.

Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia's Industrial Past, Part II

PhillyHistoryTeam — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:36:35 GMT

By Ron Hoess

We continue our tour down Washington Avenue at 17th Street heading east towards Broad Street. There are, of course, the ubiquitous coal yards along the way. These may seem strange to us today but were an essential feature in the first half of the 20th Century. Through World War II, nearly half of the railroad sidings along Washington Avenue were devoted to coal delivery. As we cross 17th Street looking north, we can see another element of Philadelphia's industrial past, the Philadelphia rowhouse. Viewing this picture one sees an almost endless line of rowhouses, with trolley tracks running down the center of the street. Most workers lived close to the factories they worked in, but if they were not within walking distance, they took the trolley.

At the intersection with Chadwick Street stands the Southwark Plating Co. This is a reminder that while Philadelphia did have large companies that dominated the industrial landscape, such as Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia was also home to many smaller specialty firms that formed a productive network with neighboring industries.¹ Just across Chadwick Street, extending to the corner of 16th and Carpenter Streets, was a series of public delivery tracks, allowing industries not directly on Washington Ave. to load and ship by rail. On the west side of 16th Street, a branch office of Berger Manufacturing turned out sheet metal products even after the company was assimilated into Republic Steel in 1930. ²

At the intersection of Washington Avenue and Broad Street, there were a number of important buildings. The northwest quadrant was the site of the original passenger station built by the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad in 1852. This was the first passenger station where locomotives were able to bring passengers directly into the city. The station boasted a 400' long train shed that housed 8 tracks.³ During the Civil War, the station was an important departure point for Union troops headed south. It was also a stopping point for the Lincoln funeral train on its journey to Illinois.⁴ With the Centennial Exposition of 1876, the railroad expanded its terminal facilities, including the addition of a separate enclosed freight shed.³ Once under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the station was closed for passenger service in January of 1882, coincident with the opening of the railroad's Broad Street Station.

On the southwest side of the intersection was the Marine Quartermaster's Depot. This massive building was later expanded and served as an important source for war materials during both World Wars. Uniforms were manufactured here, drawing on the expertise of the local Philadelphia textile industry. Its location along Washington Avenue proved expeditious for shipping materials via rail.⁴

In the next part of our trip down Washington Avenue, we will continue our tour east of Broad Street and look at some representatives of major industrial categories that were part of the Philadelphia landscape.

References:

[1] Scranton, Philip, (1992). “Large Firms and Industrial Restructuring: The Philadelphia Region, 1900-1980.” Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 116, pp 419–465.

[2] http://glassian.org/Prism/Berger/index.html

[3] Roberts, Charles S. and David W. Messer (2003). Triumph VI: Philadelphia, Columbia, Harrisburg to Baltimore and Washington DC 1827-2003. Baltimore, Maryland: Barnard, Roberts & Co. p. 50.

[4] “Workshop of the World At War: The USMC Quartermaster Depot.” September 19, 2006. http://ruins.wordpress.com/2006/09/19/workshop-of-the-world-at-war-the-usmc-quartermaster-depot/

Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia's Industrial Past, Part I

PhillyHistoryTeam — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:41:55 GMT

By Ron Hoess

For the historic background of Washington Avenue, please read "Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia's Industrial Past, Background History."

We will start our tour at 25th and Washington Avenue and make our way eastward. At the north east corner of 25th and Washington Avenue, we have the Robert Wilson Coal Yard.¹ There were numerous coal yards all along Washington Avenue. Not only was there a demand for coal by the surrounding factories, but it should also be remembered that at the turn of the century most of the rowhouses of the surrounding area were also heated by coal. Looking south between 25th and 24th, we see the William Wharton Jr. steel works. The company was the first to manufacture manganese steel for street railway tracks and later manganese steel frogs used in railroad switches. Despite the size of the complex as viewed in a 1930 photograph looking west from 24th Street, Wharton decided the company required larger facilities and in 1915 moved the company to Easton, PA.² This is an early example of an industry moving due to an inability to expand within the confines of its urban setting.

Not surprisingly the vacated buildings were then occupied by another steel company, The Philadelphia Roll and Machine Co., which already had a substantial operation on the north side of Washington Avenue between 24th and 23th Streets. Eventually this company left as well and, according to the 1942 Land Use Map, the Pennsylvania Range Boiler Co. had occupied at least some of the space. In the 1960 photograph the building looks the same as when it had William Wharton's name painted on its side. Note also in this relatively late view the railroad boxcar “parked” right on Washington Avenue.

The manufacturing of steel and other metals was becoming a significant industry during this time period and Philadelphia had numerous small foundries. Between 23rd and 22nd Streets on the north side of Washington Avenue was the Belmont Iron Works. If one carefully examines the company sign, one can see that the company made structural steel for bridges. The other item to note from this 1916 photograph is that the railroad had as many as four tracks running down Washington Avenue with little space for other vehicular traffic. About this time the city proposed elevating the entire railroad but funds for this project never materialized and the railroad tracks remained in Washington Avenue for many years.³ Across the street from the Belmont Iron Works was the Phosphor Bronze Smelting Co. which had foundry buildings on either side of 22nd Street.

So as not to leave the impression that the only type of industry along Washington Avenue was metal manufacturing industries, we will end the first part of our tour in the 2100 block of Washington Avenue. On the north side was a large factory owned and operated by the retailer John Wanamaker.

Inspection of the Sanborn Insurance maps indicates that furniture was manufactured here with a rail siding from Washington Avenue used to deliver lumber. Across the street on the south side was the massive Continental Brewery built in 1879. A drawing of the building can be found in the Hexamer Survey of 1880 at the Free Library in Philadelphia. This was a very successful Philadelphia brewery and at its peak produced some 80,000 barrels of beer per year. Unfortunately like many of the breweries located in Brewerytown section of Philadelphia, Prohibition brought the demise of the business and even upon the repeal of Prohibition many breweries like Continental never reopened.

References:

[1] Atlas of the City of Philadelphia, 1901. George W. & Walter S. Bromley, Civil Engineers. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

[2] Maintenance of way cyclopedia: a reference book by E. T. Howson, E. R. Lewis, K. E. Kellenberger, American Railway Engineering Association, New York,Simons-Boardman, 1921.

[3] Messer, David W. (2000). Triumph III: Philadelphia Terminal 1838-2000. Baltimore, Maryland: Barnard, Roberts & Co. p. 287.

Additional Resources:

Scranton, Philip, Walter Licht. Work Sights: Industrial Philadelphia, 1890-1950. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1986.
Penrose, Robert L. (1988) “The PRR's Delaware Avenue Branch”. The High Line (Philadelphia Chapter, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society) 9 (1), p. 7.
Ibid., p. 8.
Atlas of the City of Philadelphia, 1901. George W. & Walter S. Bromley, Civil Engineers. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/
Hexamer General Surveys, 1866-1896. Ernest Hexamer. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/
Baist's Property Atlas of the City and County of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1895. G. Wm. Baist. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/
Philadelphia Land Use Map, 1942. Plans & Registry Division, Bureau of Engineering Surveys & Zoning, Department of Public Works, Federal Works Progress Administration for Pennsylvania. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/
Philadelphia Land Use Map, 1962. Plans & Registry Division, Bureau of Engineering Surveys & Zoning, Department of Public Works, Federal Works Progress Administration for Pennsylvania. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia's Industrial Past, Background History

PhillyHistoryTeam — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:28:43 GMT

By Ron Hoess

Philadelphia was once a major industrial center in the late 1900's and the first part of the 20th century, deservedly earning the title “workshop to the world”. Unlike other cities that were centered around a single industry, i.e. Pittsburgh and steel or Detroit and automobiles, Philadelphia had a spectrum of different industries. There were knitting mills in Kensington, steel mills in Nicetown and breweries in Brewerytown to name a few representatives.¹ Today much of the manufacturing activity in Philadelphia is gone. Competition from overseas and limited capability for expansion within the confines of an urban setting are some of the contributing factors that have led to this demise. While many of the buildings that housed these industries have either been demolished or lie vacant, photographs from the City Archives displayed by PhillyHistory.org serve as a wonderful reminder to us of what once was a thriving manufacturing city. To gain an appreciation of the diversity of Philadelphia's industrial past, there is probably no better place to start than on Washington Avenue which runs east to west across the city.

Before commencing on our journey down Washington Avenue, a little history is in order as to why this became an industrial area for Philadelphia. In 1838, the Philadelphia Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) entered the city of Philadelphia via a railroad bridge at Grays Ferry and proceeded to lay track down Washington Avenue to Broad Street.² The ability to ship goods by rail, particularly to other major cities such as Baltimore, immediately attracted various industries who located adjacent to the railroad. Concomitant with industries locating along the line, housing for workers in the form of the Philadelphia rowhouse quickly sprang up in the surrounding area. Nice examples of this architecture can be found along Federal Street and other streets that ran parallel to Washington Avenue. By 1881, the rail line was absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad who had gained controlling interest of the PW&B. At about the same time, the rail line originally built by the Southwark Railroad running along Washington Avenue from Broad Street to the Delaware River was also absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad.³

As we begin our journey it is probably worth noting additional source material that is useful for identifying the industries along Washington Avenue. Of particular value are maps noting where various industries are located. Many of these maps can be viewed online by going to http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/index.cfm and clicking on Resource Browser. From there, one can access many useful maps including ones created by Bromley,⁴ Hexamer,⁵ and Baist⁶ as well as maps that date back to the turn of the century or earlier. More contemporary maps include the Land Use Maps of Philadelphia from 19427 and 1962.⁸ Perhaps the most accurate maps are the Sanborn Insurance Maps that can be viewed at the Free Library in Philadelphia. One other useful tool is a Pennsylvania Railroad publication called the CT1000. In these books, every railroad siding and the company that used the siding are listed. While not all industries have a railroad siding, many along Washington Avenue did. It should be remembered that industries along Washington Avenue were constantly changing; some would move to other locations and be replaced by yet other industries. In many ways the industrial flux on Washington Avenue very much reflected what was happening citywide.

For more information about industry on Washington Avenue, please read "Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia's Industrial Past, Part I."

References:

[1] Scranton, Philip, Walter Licht. Work Sights: Industrial Philadelphia, 1890-1950. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1986.

[2] Penrose, Robert L. (1988) “The PRR's Delaware Avenue Branch”. The High Line (Philadelphia Chapter, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society) 9 (1), p. 7.

[3] Ibid., p. 8.

[4] Atlas of the City of Philadelphia, 1901. George W. & Walter S. Bromley, Civil Engineers. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

[5] Hexamer General Surveys, 1866-1896. Ernest Hexamer. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

[6] Baist's Property Atlas of the City and County of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1895. G. Wm. Baist. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

[7] Philadelphia Land Use Map, 1942. Plans & Registry Division, Bureau of Engineering Surveys & Zoning, Department of Public Works, Federal Works Progress Administration for Pennsylvania. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

[8] Philadelphia Land Use Map, 1962. Plans & Registry Division, Bureau of Engineering Surveys & Zoning, Department of Public Works, Federal Works Progress Administration for Pennsylvania. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

The Widener Mansion

PhillyHistoryTeam — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:18:04 GMT

By Deborah Boyer

During the second half of the nineteenth century, prominent businessmen throughout the United States amassed great fortunes through the development of new industries including railroads, steel production, and mining. Men such as Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt became wildly wealthy and often spent that wealth on lavish houses, yachts, and travel as well as philanthropic endeavors such as universities, museums, and charitable organizations. The era became known as the Gilded Age, and many critics accused the wealthy of wielding unchecked power and taking advantage of poor workers.

During this time, there were few people in Philadelphia who could rival the wealth of Peter A.B. Widener. Born on November 13, 1834 to a bricklayer, Widener worked as a butcher and saved enough money to start one of the first meat store chains in the country. He also began buying stocks in street railways. Together with his friend William L. Elkins, Widener eventually controlled the streetcar system in Philadelphia. His wealth grew even more as he became involved in public transportation systems in Chicago and other cities. He later expanded his power by purchasing large blocks of stock in the United States Steel Corporation, Standard Oil, and Pennsylvania Railroad.

In 1887, Widener had a large mansion built at the intersection of Broad Street and Girard Avenue. Designed by architect Willis G. Hale, the residence was four and a half stories high and included an arched entrance with a double staircase, a banquet room, and original murals and frescoes by artist George Herzog. In 1900, Widener transferred ownership of this mansion to the Free Library of Philadelphia. The building was designated as the Josephine Widener Memorial Branch of the Free Library in honor of Widener’s wife who had died in 1896. The mansion served as a branch of the Free Library until it was sold in 1946. With the proceeds from the sale, a former bank at 2531 West Lehigh Avenue was purchased and remodeled as the new location for the library branch. In 2005, the Widener Branch of the Free Library moved to its current location at 2808 West Lehigh Avenue. The Widener Mansion was destroyed by fire in 1980.

In addition to his support for the Free Library of Philadelphia, Widener contributed to other charitable organizations in Philadelphia. He founded the Widener Memorial Home for Crippled Children in memory of his late wife. After his son and grandson died on the Titanic in 1912, Widener provided funds for an additional building at the Home in honor of his son.

After donating his mansion to the Free Library, Widener took up residence at Lynnewood Hall, his newly constructed 110-room mansion located in Elkins Park. Designed by Horace Trumbauer, the mansion was based on a palace in Bath, England and featured numerous outbuildings and gardens. Widener also used Lynnewood Hall as a gallery for his valuable art collection which included works by Raphael, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and El Greco. After Widener’s death on November 6, 1915, his son Joseph continued to add to the art collection. In 1939, Joseph agreed to donate the collection to the newly formed National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

“From the Tour: Founding Benefactors of the National Gallery of Art – Object 5 of 9.” The Collection National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art. http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/ggfound/ggfound-1239.html
“Peter A.B. Widener House.” Historic American Buildings Survey. HABS No. PA-1742. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(PA1358))
“Residential Designs by the Horace Trumbauer Architectural Firm.” Free Library of Philadelphia. http://libwww.library.phila.gov/75th/residential.htm
The New York Times. “P.A.B. Widener, Capitalist, Dies.” November 7, 1915. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F04E0DF113CE733A25754C0A9679D946496D6CF
The New York Times. “P.A.B. Widener’s Gift.” May 9, 1900.The New York Times. “Widener Plans Memorial.” April 28, 1912. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B05E5DD103AE633A2575BC2A9629C946396D6CF
“Widener Branch.” Free Library of Philadelphia. http://libwww.freelibrary.org/branches/branch.cfm?loc=WID

Staying in Philadelphia: The Hotel Stenton and Hotel Walton

PhillyHistoryTeam — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:27:28 GMT

By Deborah Boyer

At the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century, Philadelphia was home to several large and elaborate hotels. These hotels, including the Hotel Stenton and the Hotel Walton, provided lodging for travelers, apartments for Philadelphia residents, fine cuisine for both local residents and visitors to the city, and a meeting place for clubs and conventions.

The Hotel Walton, located on the southeast corner of Broad Street and Locust Street, opened in February 1896 and incorporated the Hotel Metropole, an earlier establishment on the same site. Upon its completion, the hotel featured a ladies’ restaurant, a gentlemen’s café, several parlors, a banquet hall, and 400 guest rooms (200 of which had separate baths). The hotel would eventually be known as the John Bartram Hotel before being demolished in the 1960s. The history of the Hotel Stenton is harder to determine. Located on the northeast corner of Broad Street and Spruce Street, photos of the hotel date to the 1890s. A 1942 city atlas, however, does not show the hotel at that location, likely indicating that it had been demolished or gone out of business by that time.

Several articles from the New York Times give insight into the clientele who frequented the hotels. On May 28, 1894, Miss Julia Marlowe, an actress, quietly married Robert Taber, an actor, at a small ceremony at St. James’s Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia attended by seven friends of the couple. While making preparations for the wedding, the reporter notes that Mr. Taber stayed at the Hotel Stenton. After the ceremony, the wedding party returned to the Hotel Stenton for a wedding breakfast before departing for New York. On September 17, 1901, the paper reports that a visiting English cricket team would reside at the Hotel Stenton while they spent time in Philadelphia for games with the local cricket club. In 1909, a group of female motorists on a two-day automobile run from New York to Philadelphia finished their competition at the city line. They were then escorted to the Hotel Walton for a reception where they were given an address of welcome by Mayor Reyburn.

Local hotels also provided housing and meeting space for individuals traveling to Philadelphia for conferences and conventions. From June 1-4, 1897, the American Medical Association held a semi-centennial meeting in Philadelphia. In a letter to The Medical News, a member of the organizing committee urged those planning to attend the meeting to make arrangements at one of the local hotels and provided a list of hotels and prices. The Hotel Walton offered lodging for $1.50 and upward per day on the European plan and $4 and upward per day on the American plan. The Hotel Stenton offered lodging for $2 and upward per day on the European plan and $4 and upward per day on the American plan. The European plan usually covered the cost of the room whereas the American plan covered the cost of both the room and meals at the hotel. The Hotel Walton also served as the headquarters for the Association during the meeting, and meetings of the Section of Physiology and Dietetics were held at the Hotel Stenton.

As they still do in the twenty-first century, hotels in Philadelphia in the nineteenth century provided lodging, both for travelers and city residents, and also served as social places where people could find a meal or gather for meetings and discussions. In the twentieth century, many of the older, independently run hotels would be purchased by larger business entities and change to reflect the desires of different generations of travelers.

Sources:

Goffe, J. Riddle, ed. The Medical News: A Weekly Journal of Medical Science, Volume LXX. December-June, 1897. New York: Lea Brothers and Co., 1897, p. 443 and 672-673.
Historic American Buildings Survey – Hotel Walton (John Bartram Hotel). HABS No. PA-1091.
“Hotel Walton, Broad Street at Locust.” Free Library of Philadelphia. http://libwww.library.phila.gov/HIP/HIPSearchItem.cfm?ItemID=pdcl00175
New York Times. “English Cricketers Here.” September 17, 1901.
New York Times. “Mrs. Cuneo Leads Women Autoists.” January 12, 1909.
New York Times. “She is Mrs. Robert Tabor Now.” May 28, 1894.

Richard Allen and the Founding of Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church

PhillyHistoryTeam — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:32:14 GMT

By Deborah Boyer

Throughout the 1700 and 1800s, Philadelphia was home to a large community of free African-Americans, many of whom were descendants of enslaved Africans forcibly brought to America. Members of the community formed churches, schools, businesses, and charitable societies. One of these churches, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, would become an important part of the community and influence African-American religious life throughout the country.

The history of Mother Bethel is inextricably bound up with the history of its founder, Richard Allen. Born into a slave-holding household in Philadelphia in 1760, Allen and his family were later sold to Stokeley Sturgis, a farmer in Delaware. In 1777 at the age of 17, Allen became a religious believer after hearing the preaching of a traveling Methodist pastor. Allen convinced his master to allow a minister to preach at the farm. When Sturgis heard the abolition influenced sermon, he agreed to allow Allen to buy his freedom. After three years of working nights and odd jobs, Allen became a free man at the age of 20.

For the next few years, Allen supported himself by taking manual labor jobs while traveling extensively through several states and preaching on the Methodist circuit. In 1786, Allen was invited to preach to African-American members at St. George’s Methodist Church in Philadelphia where he was required to lead services at 5am so as to not interfere with the worship of the white congregants. As the African-American membership at St. George’s grew under Allen’s leadership, racial tensions in the congregation also increased. In 1787, Allen and Absalom Jones founded the Free African Society, an organization to provide aid to members of the black community. When Allen, Jones, and other African-Americans left St. George’s in protest of racial discrimination, they turned to the Free African Society as a source of religious leadership. The Society under Jones’ leadership would eventually organize the African Church, now known as the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, in 1792. Allen, however, wished to maintain a connection with the Methodist church and purchased land at 6th and Lombard Streets for the construction of a church. On July 29, 1794, Bethel Church was dedicated at the location. Facing interference from other Methodist congregations, Allen successfully fought in court for the right of Bethel to exist as an independent congregation. In 1816, Bethel joined with other black Methodist congregations to found the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America. Bethel became Mother Bethel and Allen was appointed the first bishop of the church.

Allen and Mother Bethel continued to play a role in the life of the free African-American community of Philadelphia. The church served as a stop on the Underground Railroad, and Allen remained an active leader of the church working for the rights of free and enslaved African-Americans. Constructed in the 1890s, the current Mother Bethel church building still sits at 6th and Lombard on the oldest parcel of real estate in the United States continuously owned by African-Americans. Richard Allen died on March 26, 1831. He and his wife Sarah are interred in a lower level of the church.

Sources

“About Us…History.” The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. http://www.aecst.org/about.htm

“About Us – Our History.” African Methodist Episcopal Church. http://www.ame-church.com/about-us/history.php

“History of the AME Church.” Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. http://www.motherbethel.com/museum.htm

“Richard Allen.” Africans in America. PBS Online. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p97.html

Entering America: The Washington Avenue Immigration Station

PhillyHistoryTeam — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:22:48 GMT

By Deborah Boyer

In the early 1600s, Europeans began arriving in the Philadelphia area, inhabited at the time by members of the Lenape tribe. Over the next four hundred years, immigrants, affected by various social, political, geographic, and economic factors, would continue to leave their countries of origin and settle in Philadelphia. While the population of the United States grew throughout this time period, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw an especially large boom in the growth of cities. As the American population shifted from predominantly rural to predominantly urban, immigrants also began settling in cities in large numbers.

Despite its location over a hundred miles from the ocean, Philadelphia served as the port of entry for 1.3 million immigrants from 1815 to 1985. In 1873, two steamship lines, the American Line and the Red Star line, began regular steamship service between Europe and Philadelphia. Other companies also began offering service to Philadelphia including the Hamburg-American Line, which operated runs between Hamburg, Germany and Philadelphia beginning in 1898. From 1873 until the enacting of stricter immigration quotas in 1924, over one million immigrants arrived in Philadelphia. These immigrants received health inspections at various locations on the Delaware River before disembarking at the immigration stations in Philadelphia and passing through customs.

The Washington Avenue Immigration Station, the first of these stations, was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1870s on a pier located where Washington Avenue approaches the Delaware River. After completing all their paperwork at the station, some immigrants found employment and housing in Philadelphia while others traveled on to different locations. Since the station was owned by the railroad, train tickets were readily available for purchase, and many immigrants chose to board trains for destinations throughout the United States. The Washington Avenue Station was demolished in 1915.

As in cities across the country, the increase in immigration to Philadelphia brought new cultural customs and traditions as well as ethnic and economic tensions that influenced the development of the city and continue to have an effect on American history and policy today.

Miller, Fredric M. “Immigration through the Port of Philadelphia.” In Forgotten Doors: The Other Ports of Entry to the United States, edited by M. Mark Stolarik, 37-54. Philadelphia: Balch Institute Press, 1988.

Miller, Fredric M. “Philadelphia: Immigrant City.” Balch Online Resources.

Sitarski, Stephen M. “From Weccacoe to South Philadelphia: The Changing Face of a Neighborhood.” Pennsylvania Legacies 7, no. 2 (November 2007).

Broad Street Station

PhillyHistoryTeam — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:29:18 GMT

By Ron Hoess

While intercity travel today primarily involves the automobile or airplane, a century ago the passenger train represented the principal mode of long distance travel. The increasing volume of rail passengers in the late 1800's required railroads to find efficient ways of delivering passengers to their destinations. In Philadelphia, the problem for the Pennsylvania Railroad was the lack of a station that would deliver passengers directly into Center City Philadelphia. In 1879, the railroad devised a plan to construct a large passenger station at Broad and Market Streets, directly opposite City Hall. The station would be connected by multiple tracks to the Pennsylvania Railroad station located in West Philadelphia, across the Schuylkill River¹. The extension would have required numerous street crossings, starting at 23^rd St. and going eastward towards Broad Street. To avoid both the safety hazard of street crossings and the potential bottleneck they would create for the numerous passenger trains, it was decided to construct the tracks on an elevated embankment. Large granite blocks were used to enclose the embankment and over time the structure was often referred to as the “Chinese Wall” because of its resemblance to the Great Wall of China². In later years this structure would become the bane of city planners because it was viewed as an impediment to development of the area north of Market Street³.

Broad Street Station was officially opened on December 5, 1881⁴. The brick station was of Gothic design with a rather ornate Victorian appearance. Behind the station were four train sheds to protect passengers from the elements. The station was an immediate success, boasting 160 daily trains⁵. The volume of passenger traffic steadily increased, so that by 1886, the number of passengers using the station averaged a million per month⁶. As a consequence, in 1892, a mere eleven years after its opening, plans were submitted for the enlargement of the station. An office building that would serve as the Pennsylvania Railroad's headquarters was designed by noted architect Frank Furness and added to the existing station⁷. The smaller train sheds were replaced by one massive train shed 306 feet wide and 591 feet long. The roof, made of wood and glass, was at its highest point 100 feet above the tracks⁸.

Already by 1910, the 16 tracks of the station saw 578 arrivals and departures daily⁹. At the same time, the success of Broad Street Station brought with it a number of problems. While it served well as a final stop for commuter traffic into Center City, it was inconvenient and time consuming for through trains because they were required to retrace their steps to West Philadelphia Station before continuing on their journey. The stub-ended design of Broad Street required arriving locomotives to back up and be turned on a turntable before they could depart, creating additional congestion. A partial solution was provided by the railroad's electrification, allowing the use of multiple-unit commuter trains which could operate in either direction.

On June 11, 1923, a fire broke out below the station platforms and quickly spread to the train shed, engulfing the entire structure in flames. Within hours of the fire, the Pennsylvania Railroad marshaled a work force of some 3500 men to begin repairing the station. Within five days, all tracks and platforms were restored. The weakened train shed was dismantled and replaced with umbrella shelters¹⁰. However, the handwriting was on the wall for Broad Street Station.

Within two years, the Pennsylvania Railroad started drawing up an ambitious plan, referred to as the “Philadelphia Improvements,” that called for the construction of 30^th Street Station as the railroad's main passenger station in Philadelphia, replacing the West Philadelphia station¹¹. The plan also called for the elimination of Broad Street Station, replacing it with an underground station for commuter trains, known as Broad Street Suburban Station (but usually referred to simply as Suburban Station). By 1929, the excavation for the trackwork leading to Suburban Station had begun, parallel to the north side of the Chinese Wall. A year later, the construction of 30^th Street Station across the Schuylkill River began, and Broad Street Station's days were numbered. Surprisingly, the station was used for two more decades before finally closing on April 27, 1952. Aboard the last train from the station rode the Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Eugene Ormandy conducting a rendition of “Auld Lange Syne”¹². Within a year, the station was demolished, making way for Penn Plaza and a series of high rise office buildings.

[1] Pennypacker, Bert (December 1983). "The Grandest Railway Terminal in America". Trains (Kalmbach Publishing Co.): 40-57. ISSN 0041-0934.

[2] Albrecht, Harry P. [1972] (1976). Broad Street Station. Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania: Harry P. Albrecht. p. 3.

[3] Underkofler, Allen P (1987). "The Philadelphia Improvements, Part I". The High Line (Philadelphia Chapter, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society) 2 (2 & 3). p. 5.

[4] Albrecht, p. 3.

[5] Pennypacker, p. 44.

[6] Ibid., p. 45.

[7] Messer, David W. (2000). Triumph III: Philadelphia Terminal 1838-2000. Baltimore, Maryland: Barnard, Roberts & Co. ISBN 0-934118-25-6

[8] Pennypacker, pp. 46-47.

[9] Ibid., p. 49.

[10] Ibid., pp. 51-52.

[11] Underkofler, pp. 6-15.

[12] Pennypacker, p. 57.

Mapping the Sesquicentennial

PhillyHistoryTeam — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:55:47 GMT

By Deborah Boyer

Many of the photographs in the Philadelphia Department of Records City Archives’ collection are associated with a particular location. As photographers from the City’s Photography Unit traveled around Philadelphia capturing images of construction projects, school yards, busy commercial districts, and residential areas, they often noted the address or intersection where the photograph was taken. The other collections available on PhillyHistory.org- the photographs from the Philadelphia Water Department, the property maps from the Department of Records, and the historic maps from the Free Library- are also very geographic in nature and usually connected to a specific place in the city. Using the address or intersection associated with an image, a photo can be geocoded (mapped) to that location. Once a photograph has been geocoded in PhillyHistory.org, it can be found using the address or neighborhood search, making it convenient to view photos or maps based on the location where they were taken.

Like the other photographs and maps on PhillyHistory.org, the collection of photographs from the Sesquicentennial International Exposition has a geographic element. The majority of the photographs were taken on the Sesquicentennial grounds in the area around the intersection of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue by present-day FDR Park and the stadiums. Many of the photographs depict buildings, attractions, or exhibits at the Sesquicentennial but do not give specific addresses or intersections where these places were located. Thanks to the staff at the City Archives, a copy of the Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition General Plan was located (also available in the "Sesquicentennial Exposition" article on Wikipedia). This plan, published in the Sesquicentennial Promotional Booklet 1926, provided a map of many of the buildings on the Sesquicentennial grounds and showed the main roads that ran through the area- Broad Street, Pattison Avenue, Packer Avenue, and Moyamensing Avenue.

While those four streets have remained the same, the rest of the area had changed considerably from the time of the Sesquicentennial in 1926 to the present. Streets that were created for the Sesquicentennial no longer exist, and areas that were open land in 1926 are now filled with roads and buildings. Using the Sesquicentennial General Plan, it was easy to see where the buildings existed in 1926, but the changing landscape made it much trickier to match those 84 year old locations with a Philadelphia street map from 2008. Since the geocoding system uses current street maps, it was necessary to find some way to sync the older map with the newer map in order to accurately geocode the photographs.

The solution to the problem came in the form of a piece of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping software. One of the PhillyHistory.org software developers used the software to overlay the historic Sesquicentennial map with a current Philadelphia street map. To ensure that the maps had the same orientation, he found several points that were in the same location on both maps- the intersections of Oregon Avenue and Moyamensing Avenue, Broad Street and Packer Avenue, and Broad Street and Pattison Avenue. By lining up the two maps using these three intersections, a reliable composite map of the two images was made. To download a copy of the map, visit Avencia Commons. Avencia is the software company who created PhillyHistory.org for the Philadelphia Department of Records.

This two-layer map proved to be a valuable tool for geocoding the Sesquicentennial photographs. Using the historic map, PhillyHistory.org staff could see that the Nuremberg section of the Exposition was located south of Packer Avenue and several blocks west of Broad Street but could not determine a more accurate location. With the two-layer map, however, it was easy to see that the Nuremberg area was located precisely at what is now the intersection of 18^th Street and Schley Street. Thanks to the assistance of the software developers and Archives staff, the PhillyHistory.org team was able to geocode a large number of Sesquicentennial photos, making them easy to locate on PhillyHistory.org and providing an illustration of how technology can help us relate the past to the present.