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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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EARLY PHILADELPHIA ITS PEOPLE, LIFE AND PROGRESS
THIS LIMITED EDITION HAS BEEN PRINTED FROM TYPE AND THE TYPE DISTRIBUTED
EARLY PHILADELPHIA ITS PEOPLE, LIFE AND PROGRESS
BY HORACE MATHER LIPPINCOTT
JOINT AUTHOR OF "THE COLONIAL HOMES OF PHILADELPHIA AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD"
WITH A PHOTOGRAVURE FRONTISPIECE BY CHARLES H. STEPHENS AND 119 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND PRINTS
-
ET
DROIT
AVANT
PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1917
COPYRIGHT. 1917, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER, 1917
PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.
FOREWORD
HILADELPHIA owes its origin to religious persecution. It was under- taken as a "Holy Experiment," therefore an understanding of its building, its customs and its institu- tions necessarily requires that much be said about religion. Its first settlers were artisans rather than adventurers. Their reli- ance was industry and their watchword liberty. Such factors explain why many useful and great institutions originated in Philadelphia before similar ones developed elsewhere in the Colonies. The character and zeal of their founders were guarantees of their survival.
Much must be said about the Quakers. The province was theirs and they controlled, for nearly one hundred years, down to the summer of 1776, its policy and legis- lation. They were a solid lot, slow but sure, and in any account of the early city obviously become the most con- spicuous of the diversified elements of the people. The other groups were for the first seventy years fewer in num- bers. Many of the settlers, the Germans and Scotch-Irish particularly, went off into the wilderness of the frontier to live by themselves, leaving the Quakers in undisturbed control of politics.
This book aims to bring together under one cover many fragmentary and scattered accounts of important and peculiar customs and institutions which live in Philadelphia to-day, serving as useful a purpose in the complexity of modern life as they did when they started. Most of them were original here, and though now perhaps less conspicu- ous than similar endeavours in other parts of the nation, they still retain a solidarity and dependableness that makes
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FOREWORD
them as unique as when they were alone. A large part of the Quaker reserve of our forefathers remains in the old town and Philadelphians do not feel a necessity or a propriety in shouting about their importance or usefulness. After all, it is enough to just be it.
The author acknowledges indebtedness for information from the many published records and histories of the city and for the uniform courtesy and assistance of indi- viduals connected with the enterprises described. It has been very difficult with the great amount of material at hand to bring the record into a readable and convenient form, and on this account the indulgence of the reader for omissions is requested.
HORACE MATHER LIPPINCOTT
CHESTNUT HILL
July, 1917
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE FOUNDER.
13
THE EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY. 20
THE STRANGER IN TOWN 50
THE CHURCHES AND THEIR PEOPLE. 58
THE MARKET PLACE. 78
GOVERNMENT
95
STAGE COACHES AND POST ROADS. 102
SQUARES AND PARKS 106
THEATRES.
113
THE OLD TAVERNS. 121
THE LIBRARY COMPANY.
129
THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 135
THE UNIVERSITY
146
THE LAW ACADEMY 175
THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS 178
THE PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS.
184
THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES
189
THE PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY.
192
THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE. 195
THE ATHENEUM
197
THE OLD SCHOOLS.
200
FOX HUNTING
211
THE PHILADELPHIA SKATING CLUB AND HUMANE SOCIETY.
217
CRICKET
999
THE BANK OF NORTH AMERICA.
227
THE PENNSYLVANIA COMPANY FOR INSURANCES ON LIVES AND
GRANTING ANNUITIES. 234
FIRE PROTECTION 239
THE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA.
256
THE PHILADELPHIA SAVING FUND SOCIETY
263
5
CONTENTS
TITLE INSURANCE AND SAFE DEPOSITS. 267 THE OLDEST BUSINESS HOUSE 268
THE FRANKLIN PRINTING COMPANY. 272
SHIPS AND SHIPPING 275
THE DANCING ASSEMBLY
278
THE CITY TROOP. 285
THE WISTAR PARTIES 295
THE PHILADELPHIA CLUB 300
THE SCHUYLKILL FISHING COMPANY. 303
FRIENDS' ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE
309
THE QUAKER ALMSHOUSE AND THE BETTERING HOUSE
311
THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL. 314
THE PHILADELPHIA DISPENSARY 319
THE ABOLITION SOCIETY 321
EARLY DENOMINATIONAL SOCIETIES.
326
THE CARPENTERS' COMPANY. 351
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Picturesque Temporary Lodgings of Philadelphia's First PAGE
Settlers while Their Houses Were Being Built .... Frontispiece Penn's House on High Street 18
The Penn House in Fairmount Park To-day
18
Philadelphia in 1702. 22
Diagram of Philadelphia in 1702
The Drawbridge and Dock Creek
28
The Slate Roof House
28
John Dunlap's House
30
Carpenter's Mansion
30
The Shippen House
30
Dwelling and Shop 32
Coomb's Alley, now Cherry Street 32
Bridge over Arch Street at Front. 36
House of David Brientnall and Anthony Benezet 36
Residence of James Wilson 38
The Willing House. 38
Parson Duché's House 38
Third Street from Spruce Street 39
The Morris House 40
Old Houses on King, now Water Street, near South 41
Workman's Court, 41
High Street, West from Market, Showing Ceremony of Washing- ton's Funeral 42
Charles Norris' House 46
Robert Morris' Houses 46
Clarke's Hall. 46
High Street East from Ninth Street. 47
Old Knockers, Franklin Street Lamp and Foot Scrapers 52
Pine Street Meeting House 54
Sparks' Shot Tower. 54
"The Yellow Mansion, " or Dundas Lippincott House, 56
7
22
ILLUSTRATIONS
Friends' Meeting House in Centre Square where City Hall now Stands. 58
Thomas Fairman's House and Penn Treaty Elm 58
Friends' Meeting House, Merion 59
Interior of Merion Meeting 59
Friends' Meeting House at Fourth and Arch Streets 62
The First Christ Church. 68
The Court House in High Street and Christ Church 68
Christ Church. 69
St. Peter's Church. 69
"Gloria Dei," Old Swedes' Church 72
The First Presbyterian Church. 72
St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church
76
Lutheran Church.
77
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church.
77
High Street, Prison, Stocks and Shambles
81
The Germantown Market Square. 81
Second Street Market from Lombard Street 84
Second Street Market from Pine Street 84
The Fish Market. 85
Market Street from Front Street. 85
Callowhill Street Market. 88
Washington Market, Bainbridge Street 88
Spring Garden Street Market.
88
Friends' Meeting House and Court House
96
The Bank Meeting
96
The Court House and Markets at Second Street 96
Back of the State House
97
The State House from Sixth near Walnut Street 97 Commissioners' Hall, District of Southwark 98
Commissioners' Hall, District of Moyamensing. 98
Commissioners' Hall, District of Spring Garden 100
Commissioners' Hall, District of Northern Liberties 100
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ILLUSTRATIONS
Conestoga Wagon . 105
An Early Type of Street Car 105
Old Ironsides, 1832. 105
The First Water Works 107
The Water Works in Centre Square 107
State House Garden 108
Washington and Independence Squares 109
Rittenhouse Square. 109
Fairmount Water Works and Boat House Row 110
Gaol at Sixth and Walnut Streets. 110
The Wissahickon Creek at Valley Green 111
The Schuylkill River Drive from Girard Avenue 111
Southwark Theatre 116
The Walnut Street Theatre 116
Chestnut Street Theatre.
117
Second Chestnut Street Theatre
117
The Penny Pot House.
122
Clark's Inn, Opposite the State House 122
The Cross Keys Inn. 123
The London Coffee House. 123
The Spread Eagle Inn. 127
The Black Horse Inn. 127
The Philadelphia Library Company's First Home; The Univer- sity Medical School. 133
The American Philosophical Society's Building 144
The Charity School, Academy and College 147
College Hall on Ninth Street 147
House Built for President Washington
171
In the Museum Courtyard at the University 171
Entrance to the Dormitory Triangle from the Big Quadrangle at the University . 173
First Building of the Academy of the Fine Arts 186
Friends' Meeting House and Academy 201
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ILLUSTRATIONS
The Episcopal Academy 202
Germantown Academy 202
The Chester Valley Pack Arriving at the King of Prussia Inn. 213
The Radnor and Kirk Hounds on the White Horse Pike 213
Start of the Hunter's Scramble at the Rose Tree Hunt Club's Spring Meet. 215
First Home of the Bank of North America 229
The City Tavern and Bank of Pennsylvania 229
Bank of the United States 232
Fire Mark of the Contributionship. 242
Fire Mark of the Mutual Assurance Company. 242
Garden of the Philadelphia Contributionship. 242
The "White Turtle" and the "Red Crab" Rushing to a Fire. 252
First Home of the Insurance Company of North America 257
The Saving Fund Society's First Home 264
Seventh and Walnut Streets before the Erection of the Saving Fund's Present Building 264
Building the Frigate "Philadelphia " at Humphrey's Yard 276
View of the City from the Treaty Elm. 276
Foot of Market Street 277
Arch Street Wharf 277
The Philadelphia Club.
299
St. Mary's Church, the Cadwalader House and the Wistar House. 299
Friends' Almshouse 312
Friends' Almshouse, Walnut Street Front. 312
The Bettering House 313
The Pennsylvania Hospital in Pine Street
315
Hall of the Carpenters' Company 332
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EARLY PHILADELPHIA ITS PEOPLE, LIFE AND PROGRESS
THE FOUNDER
HILADELPHIANS like to think of their city as "typically American," and indeed it has been so character- ized by many distinguished visitors. Certainly no American city has maintained more of its original char- acter, customs and institutions than that founded by William Penn. No city owes its origin more definitely to the genius of one man nor can any city find among its founders one of more capacity or person- ality. Simplicity, dignity and reserve are still the char- acteristics of Philadelphia, and something of the old Quaker directness, the robust candour not easily subdued, is still to be found here. There is still the decorum which prevents the jostling of her sister cities, which stills the cries of triumph amid the hustle for existence. Noise and excitement do not disturb her mental balance nor crowd out an appreciation of names and things still honoured. Her traditions and opinions of yesterday are maintained with a solidity of thought which recalls their lessons and builds slowly but surely with clear perspective and the saving grace of modesty. The beginnings of all this are laid so nearly to the personality of the Founder that it is well to touch briefly upon his fruitful life at the outset of this book. Indeed, no account of Philadelphia should omit a grateful tribute to this great man who seized the oppor- tunity of the Crown's debt to his father to carry out the great purpose of George Fox and the early Quakers to establish a refuge for them in the New World. The dis- cussion of their plans reached his ears at College and twenty years afterward he wrote: " I had an opening of joy as to these parts in the year 1661 at Oxford."
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EARLY PHILADELPHIA
William Penn, scholar and gentleman, politician and statesman, lover and Minister of Christ, was born October 14, 1644, on Tower Hill, London, the son of Admiral Sir William Penn and the gentle Lady Penn, daughter of John Jasper, a merchant of Rotterdam. The Penns seem to have been of Welsh origin, sometime settled in the counties of Bucks and Wilts, England. They were well- to-do country gentry until Giles Penn, the grandfather of William, took to a seafaring life, which his son con- tinued, and became a Vice-Admiral of England at thirty- one. William Penn was born in troublous times for one who was destined to become a man of peace. He was, however, essentially a man of action, of unbounded energy. His portraits express great determination, a religious face but not that of the hard ecclesiastic or the sour Puritan. A gentle, sympathetic, heroic soul looks out from the eyes. A carving, which seems to be the most authentic likeness, shows him in later years to be of serene and cheerful coun- tenance, an evidence that he was fully sustained in his worst trials and anxieties by a courageous temperament.
The Admiral was at sea when William was born and soon his mother took him from the little court close to the Tower of London and went to live in the pretty village of Wanstead, near Essex, where he passed his boyhood and went to school. The family were Royalists and Penn's close relations with King Charles and King James after- ward made him more so, but he imbibed principles of free government and liberty in his early schooling at Wanstead, among the Puritans, which made him liberal in his views as well. When he was but eleven years old he had a re- ligious experience-" He was suddenly surprised with an inward comfort; and, as he thought, an external glory in the room, which gave rise to religious emotions, during which he had the strongest conviction of the being of God,
14
THE FOUNDER
and that the soul of man was capable of enjoying com- munication with Him. He believed also that the seal of divinity had been put upon him at this moment, or that he had been awakened or called upon to a holy life." This was of course before he had heard of George Fox or the Quaker message.
In 1660 Penn was sent to Christ Church College, Oxford, as a part of his father's design toward preferment and a career. Oxford at this time of the Restoration was still under some Puritan influences, and Penn seems to have sympathized with these, to have engaged heartily in athletics and led a life of freedom in body and mind. To such a healthy, unbound soul the Quaker message was sure to appeal when he met it in the preaching of Thomas Loe, to whom he one day accidentally listened. We may pass over his troubles with his father and his college on this account, his sojourn in France and his first experience of persecution in the whipping he received at home. The journey to France, and to Italy, too, broadened and pol- ished him so that in after life he was a much more effective instrument in what he had to do. A considerable portion of his two years abroad had been spent under the guidance of Moses Amyrault, a professor of the Reformed French Church, in perfecting his theological studies. So we can see how he could correspond in Latin with Sewell the Quaker historian, read and speak Greek, French, German and Dutch, and add to his essays or pamphlets quotations from all the ancient and modern authors that he could find in support of his Theses. In his "Treatise on Oaths " there are over fifty opinions of some Greek or Roman philosopher, statesman or father of the Church. In " No Cross No Crown " there are over 130 of these instances from remote antiquity to men of his own day, so that we can judge of his intellectual equipment, diligence and
15
EARLY PHILADELPHIA
patience. A large part of his enthusiasm came from his reading. He had a passion for the biographies of all who had achieved, learned from their experiences, and was inspired by the most progressive and philanthropic ideas that had been suggested in the whole course of written human history. He was intimate with the most dis- tinguished as well as the lowliest men of his time. His liberality was developed at the expense of many practical qualities and he was not a shrewd judge of the characters by whom he was surrounded in after life. Thus he often failed in carrying into practice the great ideas that came to him. He managed his colony well while living in it only, and was a careless business man. He was so far ahead of his time in everything and so vigorous and enthusiastic that he suffered many temporary defeats. He was a volu- minous writer, much of his work being done in prison. " No Cross No Crown," written in the Tower of London, was his greatest work and passed through several editions during his lifetime. We may pass his many trials for con- science's sake which are well known. He suffered imprison- ment many times, though often confounding the jurists when brought to trial and standing up manfully and ably for an Englishman's rights upon all occasions. His was no meek submission to wrong but a vigorous leadership against all injustice. The whole of his life indicates the power of his personality. He showed his force when he went to jail for a matter of conscience and declared, " My prison shall be my grave before I will budge one jot, for I owe obedi- ence of conscience to no mortal man;" and in the crisis with Lord Baltimore when he says, "Can my wicked enemies yet bow? They shall, or break, or be broken in pieces before a year from this time comes about, and my true friends rejoice," and in another emergency, " If leni- tives will not do, coercives must be tried." While under
16
THE FOUNDER
arrest in the Tower of London he said to Sir John Robin- son, Lord Lieutenant of the Tower: "I would have thee and all men know I scorn that religion which is not worth suffering for, and which is not able to sustain those who are afflicted for it. Mine is; and whatever be my lot, I am resigned to the will of God. Thy religion persecutes, mine forgives, and I desire that God may forgive you all that are concerned in my commitment. I leave you, wish- ing you everlasting salvation."
In the plans of government which he expressed are best exemplified his advanced ideas, many of them the best of to-day. Freedom and toleration of every kind are the rule; indeed he says, " There is hardly one frame of government in the world so ill designed by its founders, that in good hands would not do well enough," and " any government is free to the people under it (whatever be the frame) where the laws rule and the people are a party to those laws." He proposed to the Lords of Trade a plan of union or general government for the Colonies in Amer- ica which is remarkable because it foreshadows the pro- visions of our national constitution.
He travelled in Holland and Germany as well as Pennsylvania, preaching and making many converts. Too little has been said of the human part of Penn's nature and of the lovely lady who must have been the sweet inspira- tion of his life. It was when he was twenty-seven years old that this tenderness fortunately came into his life to soften a spirit so beset by religious controversy, preaching, trials and imprisonments. "Gulie," or Gulielma Maria Springett, was the daughter of a gallant young Puritan officer whose widow married Isaac Penington. They lived at Chalfont in Buckinghamshire and were people of means. Quakerism brought them persecution, and it was in 1668, after their sufferings had begun, that Penn first knew
2
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EARLY PHILADELPHIA
them. Thomas Ellwood, Milton's friend, lived with them, and tells us that Gulie was " completely comely " and that the endowments of her mind " were every way extraordi- nary." In 1672 they were married and settled down at Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire. "Their honeymoon lasted long; the spring and summer came and went, but Penn still remained with his young and lovely wife at Rickmansworth; neither the flatteries of friends nor the attacks of foes could draw him away from his charming seclusion." One of the best things Penn has written is his letter to his wife and children. To her he says: " Remem- ber thou wast the love of my youth, and much the joy of my life-the most beloved as well as the most worthy of all my earthly comforts; and the reason of that love was more thy inward than thy outward excellencies, which yet were many. God knowest and thou knowest I can say it was a match of His making; and God's image in us both was the first thing and the most amiable and engaging ornament in our eyes."
His " Fruits of Solitude " is a collection of 850 maxims which are the result of his experience in life and his con- templation of it in retirement. They contain many excel- lent truths and he summarizes the religion of the Quakers in the maxim, " The less form in religion the better, since God is a spirit."
We may pass over his trusteeship of New Jersey and Proprietorship of Pennsylvania which are so well known. Within a few years he has been proclaimed in Parliament as the greatest Colonial Governor England has ever had- a real tribute from a nation which governs one-fifth of the civilized world. The modern advertiser may well turn for example to his descriptions of the Province aimed to attract settlers of industry and worth rather than the Cava- liers of the southern colonies.
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PENN'S HOUSE, ON HIGH BETWEEN FRONT AND SECOND STREETS AFTERWARDS ON LAETITIA STREET Built prior to August, 1682
THE PENN HOUSE IN FAIRMOUNT PARK TO-DAY
THE FOUNDER
The most valuable contribution to our present condi- tions which this many-sided man has given us is his " An Essay towards the Present Peace of Europe " which seems almost prophetic. In it he states the blessings and reason- ableness of peace, the horrors and destruction of war and advocates a system of arbitration or general government to settle all the disputes of the European nations and prevent war. He proposed a limited States of Europe, with a diet or general council, to which each state should send its representatives; and he even suggested the number each nation should send. When a nation broke the laws or refused to submit to the diet the others should combine in a police duty to enforce their mandates. This essay is a truly remarkable document so clearly does it ring down through the centuries. His treatment of the Indians is well known and was founded upon kindness and justice out of which, he said, could never come strife. It was the love of God which George Fox said took away the occa- sion for all wars.
His wife's death was a great trial to him and he was beset with troubles in business and in his Province. His children who survived were by his second wife, Hannah Callowhill, and were a disappointment to him. But with all the trials, mental and physical, which came to him in his busy life, his spirit was resolute and vigorous until near the end. About six years before his death his health declined and his mind weakened, but he lived in tenderness and peace. He died at the age of seventy-four, on the 30th of July, 1718, and is buried with his family at Jordan's Meeting House, near Chalfont St. Giles, England. We may fittingly close with his own saying so typical of his character-" I know of no religion which destroys courtesy, civility and kindness."
THE EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY
HE Province of Pennsylvania dif- fered from the other Colonies in America in that no other had such a mixture of languages, national- ities and religions. It differed also through the wise plan of its founder in the character of its settlers, who were men of varied capacity and industry. They were free from mediaval dogmas and far advanced in the line of the Reformation, particularly the first settlers and earliest purchasers. These were nearly all Quakers who were the most advanced sect, and the effect of their liberalism on the growth of Pennsylvania was marked. The Quakers were well-to-do people at home who had sold their property in England and sought refuge in America to escape severe persecution. They had servants and were well supplied with clothing, and there was no such cry of distress from Penn's colonists as was heard from Plymouth and James- town after their first winters. These early settlers were not gathered by the force of material or temporary induce- ments or the desire for physical betterment, but for re- ligious liberty. They were radicals and revolutionists in thought but they did not resist authority and were bound by rules of conduct. They were not militant and suffered rather than resist or disturb law and order, believing in the final supremacy of moral and intellectual forces. Peaceful, careful, thrifty and dependable, they and their colony soon grew wealthy.
Their positions in the community at home were those of rugged yeomen of the English democracy, tradesmen and artisans, with few gentry or University men, although
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EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY
the Welsh Quakers had pedigrees dating back to Adam and brought them along. In seventeenth century England, from whence they came, there were few families where learning was esteemed. In his account of the country gentry Burnett writes: "They are the worst instructed and least knowing of any of their rank I ever went amongst." At the universities men were taught merely to despise all who had forsaken the church, and he found the dissenters alone well taught. Macaulay says: "Few knights of the shire had libraries so good as may now per- petually be found in the servants' hall, or in the back par- lour of a small shopkeeper. As to the lady of the manor and her daughters, their literary stores generally consisted of a prayer book and a receipt book. During the latter part of the seventeenth century the culture of the female mind seems to have been almost entirely neglected. Ladies highly born and highly bred were unable to write a line in their mother tongue without solecisms and faults of spelling such as a charity girl would now be ashamed to commit." Swift, writing a letter to a young lady lately married, takes it for granted that she cannot read aloud or spell. This being the condition of culture in the mother country we can easily believe from what the early settlers in Pennsylvania did and what they wrote that many of them were well bred and above the average culture. They were without advantages for the education of their children and, in a wilderness three thousand miles from home and help, had to win the battle for existence before they could give much time and attention to the arts that cultivate and refine.
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