USA > Pennsylvania > A geography of Pennsylvania : containing an account of the history, geographical features, soil, climate, geology, botany, zoology, population, education, government, finances, productions, trade, railroads, canals &c. of the state : with a separate description of each county, and questions for the convenience of teachers : to which is appended, a travellers' guide, or table of distances on the principal rail road, canal and stage routes in the state > Part 41
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Fire department .- No city in the Union is more efficiently protected from the ravages of fire than Philadelphia. There are about sixty inde- pendent engine and hose companies, composed principally of active young men, and owning fire apparatus of the most excellent and effective charac- ter. Many of the hose carriages are beautifully constructed and tastefully ornamented ; and most of the engines are built with great attention to ele- gance of appearance, as well as to their power and effect. The expense of maintaining the fire apparatus is borne by the companies, aided by appro- priations from the city and district treasuries.
Municipal government .- In the city proper, the executive authority is vested in the mayor, who is elected annually by the citizens. He is in- vested with magisterial powers, and acts as head of the police department, having the appointment of the high constables, police officers, watchmen, &c. The legislative power is exercised by a select council of twelve mem- bers, four of whom are elected every year; and a common council of twenty members, elected annually. By these councils the necessary ordi- nances are passed for the government, regulation and general welfare of the city. One alderman is elected in each of the fifteen wards into which the city is divided.
The adjoining incorporated districts are governed by their own separate municipal authorities, distinct from the city proper. The district of the Northern Liberties has a mayor and a board of commissioners ; Kensing- ton, Spring Garden, Southwark and Moyamensing have their respective boards of commissioners who have the general regulation of affairs pertain- ing to the district in which they are elected. The county courts have ju- risdiction of cases in both city and county. The sheriff, coroner, county commissioners, auditor and other county officers are elected by the joint votes of the citizens of the city and county.
Finances and taxation .- The expenditures authorized by the corporate authorities of the city and of the several adjoining districts, are defrayed by a tax levied in each, and paid into the respective city and district treasuries. This is separate and distinct from the general county tax, which is as-
327
PHILADELPHIA CITY AND COUNTY.
sessed upon property and persons in city, districts and townships, according to the returns of valuation, and paid into the common treasury of the county. The assessed valuation of property subject to county taxation in the city and the several districts for 1843, with the amount of county and State tax levied upon each, is as follows :
Ass'd. valuation.
County tax.
State tax.
City
58,688,499
294,784 50
180,383 95
N. Liberties
9,224,409
47,923 78
24,639 22
Spring Garden
8,862,404
46,133 59
22,384 44
Kensington .
4,023,668
20,144 64
8,261 99
Southwark
5,578,619
29,168 44
12,944 54
Moyamensing
2,330,341
12,257 15
5,221 78
Townships
10,613,941
64,240 37
31,928 56
Total,
$99,321,881
$514,652 47
$285,764 28
Prisons .- The Eastern penitentiary, the exterior architecture of which in its towers, battlements and massy walls, resembles some huge, baronial, castellated fortress of the middle ages, is situated on Coates street, east of Fairmount and south of the Girard college. It occupies a square area of about ten acres, which is enclosed by a wall thirty feet high, surmounted at the angles and on each side of the front entrance by watch towers, which from their height and position command a view of the inside and outside of the external walls. Over the outside gate of entrance is a massive wrought iron grating or portcullis, affording light to the space between the outer and inner gate, which are a sufficient distance apart to allow a team and wagon to stand while the outside gate is secured previously to opening the inner one. On each side of the entrance are apartments for the ward- ens, keepers, apothecary, domestics, &c., of suitable dimensions and con- veniently arranged. All the windows in the front building are constructed with iron gratings; the doors have bolts and locks of the most improved plan, and every other precaution is adopted which can contribute to se- curity.
In the centre of the whole enclosure is an observatory or watch-house, from which long passages or corridors radiate in different directions. On each side of these corridors the cells are situated, so that a watchman in the centre observatory commands from that point a view of all the passages and of the entrance to each of the cells. The cells are 12 feet long, 8 feet wide and 10 feet high, having thick partition walls between them, and floored with long curb stones, 10 inches thick, that extend across the whole width of the cell and terminate under the partition walls, thereby. prevent- ing escape by excavation. A hollow cone of cast iron is fixed in the solid masonry of the ceiling, at the apex of which is hung, for the admittance of light and ventilation, a convex glass eight inches in diameter, which may be opened and shut at pleasure, but is not attainable by the prisoner as a means of escape or conversation with others. Each cell contains a bed, so contrived as to be raised with its bedding out of the way, and fastened against the wall during the day time. Food is conveyed to the prisoner by means of a cast iron drawer, which also forms a table on the inside, from which the prisoner eats his meals. The cells are warmed by heated air conducted to each from furnaces at the ends of the passages.
From a capacious reservoir beneath the watch-house in the centre of the prison, water is conveyed in iron pipes eight inches in diameter under each of the corridors, to which other pipes are connected, four inches in diame- ter, leading into each cell, about 16 inches above the floor, and so regulated that the water is kept at a height within six inches of the seat placed over them in the cell. These pipes being kept full of water, the prisoners are prevented from speaking through them to each other, and all offensive smell avoided. The water is let off by sluice gates as often as is neces-
328
GEOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
sary, and the pipes thus cleansed from all filth; the gates being stopped, the pipes are again instantaneously filled with a fresh supply from the re- servoir. To each cell, in the lower story of the ranges, is attached a yard for exercise, eighteen feet by eight, surrounded by walls about twelve feet high, which are also overlooked from the observatory in the centre of the prison. The passage from each cell into its yard is secured by double doors ; one a grate of wrought iron, and the other strongly framed of wood, both having fastenings of the most approved construction. The wooden door is kept open in summer, or when occasion may require, for the free passage of air into the cell ; the iron grated one securing the prisoner.
On the arrival of a convict he is placed in a cell and left alone, without employment, books, or any thing which may serve to divert his mind from its meditations on the guilty past, the hopeless present, and the gloomy future. Overcome by these reflections, but few hours usually elapse before he asks for something to do, or for a book. If he has a trade that can be pursued in his cell, he is allowed to work at it as a favour, if he has none, or one that can- not be pursued in his cell, he is permitted to choose one that can be carried on there, and is instructed by one of the overseers. As a reward for good behaviour, a Bible and some other religious and moral books are also given him ; employment for both body and mind being granted as a favour and withheld as a punishment. A suitable person is employed to have the care of the moral and religious instruction of the convicts; and when they are addressed in general, the preacher stands near the centre of the corridor on which the ranges of cells are situated, so that each prisoner can hear, in the solitude of his own cell, the religious truths and moral precepts uttered for his edification and instruction.
The County prison, on Passyunk road below Federal street, is appro- priated to the confinement of persons accused of crimes previous to trial, and of those who are convicted and sentenced to short periods of imprison- ment. The front of this spacious building presents a noble and imposing specimen of Gothic architecture, and its whole plan and arrangement are admirably adapted to the purpose for which it was erected,-that of soli- tary confinement. From the ends of the front edifice two extensive halls run back at right angles with it, containing three tiers of cells on each side ; the two upper tiers being approached by means of corridors or galleries, extending the entire length of the halls, which are lighted from the roof. The cells are constructed like those in the Eastern penitentiary, ex- cept that they are lighted by apertures in the side walls instead of the ceiling. -
The Debtors' prison, adjoining the county prison on the north, is an ob- ject of attention from the singular style of architecture displayed on its front, which is of red sandstone. The portal consists of two Egyptian columns, supporting a pediment of corresponding style and dimensions; and the whole front is of a similar massive Egyptian character.
The House of Refuge is at the corner of Coates street and the Ridge road, not far from the Penitentiary. It is appropriated to the confinement of vicious and abandoned juvenile offenders, of both sexes ; where, in addi- tion to their moral culture, they are taught the various elementary branches of an English education, and are employed in a variety of mechanical and useful occupations. At the expiration of their terms of confinement, the boys are apprenticed to respectable mechanics or farmers, and the girls to families, where they perform the customary duties of domestics. The es- tablishment is supported by annual appropriations from the State and county, by funds received from the association, and by individual bequests and donations. The law authorises the reception of offenders from all parts of the State; boys under the age of twenty-one, and girls under eighteen.
Almshouse .- The Philadelphia Almshouse, on the west side of Schuyl- kill opposite Cedar street, is an extensive establishment erected for the re- lief and employment of the destitute poor. Its benefits are confined to the poor of the city and of the districts of Southwark, Northern Liberties,
329
PHILADELPHIA CITY AND COUNTY.
Kensington, Spring Garden and Penn township; the other districts of the county having their own separate almshouses, or other modes of providing for their poor.
Philadelphia Almshouse.
The Almshouse edifice is an immense structure, consisting of four main buildings arranged in the form of a parallelogram, covering and enclosing an area of ten acres of ground. The front building, which faces the Schuyl- kill, presents a very creditable specimen of architecture, having a hand- some portico with eight massive pillars thirty feet high ; and the site being considerably elevated above the sloping bank of the river, commands an extensive view of the city and the adjacent country. The interior arrange- ments of the building are on a scale of corresponding magnitude and extent with its exterior appearance and the great number of inmates which it is designed to accommodate. In addition to its uses as a mere almshouse, it is also a house of employment, and contains extensive workshops, with a steam engine which propels machinery for manufacturing purposes.
As a home for the destitute, provided with every necessary convenience for the comfort and accommodation of those whom misfortune, improvi- dence or intemperance may have driven to seek shelter within its walls, it is not surprising that the ample provisions of the Almshouse should be shared by so many of those indigent and miserable victims of poverty to be found among the crowded population of the city and its suburbs. The average number of paupers maintained in the establishment during the year ending May 16, 1842, was 1546, of whom 750 were men, 639 women, and 157 children. The number is always greatly augmented on the approach of winter, and diminished on the return of spring: in January there were in the house 1871 paupers, and in May but 1347. The institution is go- verned by a board of guardians consisting of 12 persons, of whom six are elected by the City councils, two by the Commissioners of Northern Li- berties, two by those of Southwark, one by those of Kensington, and one by those of Spring Garden for that district and Penn township. The amount of poor tax assessed for the year 1842, was as follows :
City of Philadelphia, - $120,971 41
Northern Liberties, -
23,376 48
Southwark,
11,167 58
Kensington, 8,723 99
Spring Garden and Penn township, 19,854 70
Total, $184,094 16
Charitable Institutions .- The Pennsylvania Hospital was founded in 1752, chiefly by the exertions of Drs. Franklin and Bond, through whose influence public grants and individual donations were made to an amount sufficient to establish the institution. Its funds have since been so much 28*
330
GEOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
increased by permanent bequests, and other means, as to enable it greatly to extend the sphere of its usefulness. The buildings, grounds and gar- den occupy the entire square bounded by Eighth, Ninth, Spruce and Pine streets. The principal front is on Pine street, having a handsome open area, in which stands a bronzed statue of William Penn. Its spacious buildings afford accommodations for indigent patients, as well as those who pay ; and any one injured by an accident is always received without charge, if brought within 24 hours after its occurrence. There is a fine anatomical museum, and a very extensive library of books, chiefly on subjects appro- priate to the institution. In the rear of the lot, fronting on Spruce street, is a building erected for the exhibition of West's celebrated picture of Christ healing the sick, which was presented to the Hospital by that dis- tinguished artist.
The Insane Asylum, a branch of the Pennsylvania Hospital, for the re- ception and cure of insane patients, has been recently erected between the West Chester and Haverford roads, about two miles west of the Schuyl- kill. The farm contains one hundred and eleven acres, of which forty-one are enclosed by a substantial wall, as a garden and pleasure ground for the patients. The centre building and main wings present a front of 436 feet, having a basement and two principal stories : the whole edifice containing 204 rooms suitable for the accommodations of patients and their attendants. The entire plan of construction and arrangement is on the most judicious and liberal scale, and specially adapted to the benevolent purposes of the institution.
The U. S. Marine Hospital, or Naval Asylum, was originally projected by the officers of the Navy, who, with the common sailors, have for inany years contributed a portion of their pay as a fund for the erection and sup- port of the establishment, which is intended as an asylum for invalid sea- men and officers disabled in the service. The building is situated on the Gray's Ferry road, below Cedar street, and presents a white marble front of 386 feet, embellished by a portico with eight Ionic columns, having on each side balconies resting upon iron pillars ; the whole forming a façade of great beauty. This edifice is of sufficient capacity to lodge about 400 persons, and is partly occupied as a Naval school.
The Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb is at the corner of Broad and Pine streets, having extensive buildings adapted to the purposes of the establishment. In addition to literary and moral instruction, the pupils are taught some mechanical trade by which they may be enabled to provide for themselves in after life. Most of them are supported by funds received from the State ; some by the states of Maryland and New Jer- sey ; and some by their friends or the institution.
The Pennsylvania Institution for the instruction of the Blind is in Race street, near Schuylkill Third. The main edifice contains school, exhibi- tion and lodging rooms : there is also a commodious brick building erected for work shops and the pursuit of such trades as are carried on by the pu- pils. In this excellent institution about sixty blind children are instructed, not only in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and music; but they are also taught to manufacture a great variety of useful and ornamental articles, in which they are scarcely excelled by the clear-sighted.
A great number of other charitable institutions have been established for various purposes, among which may be mentioned the Orphans' asylum ; the Asylum for indigent widows and single women; Wills' hospital for the lame and blind ; Preston retreat; Magdalen asylum; Foster home ; Shelter for coloured orphans; Institute for coloured youth ; St. John's and St. Joseph's orphan asylums; Christ church hospital ; Friends' alms- house ; Friends' lunatic asylum near Frankford ; Philadelphia, Northern and Southern dispensaries for the supply of medicines to the poor ; House of industry ; Union benevolent association, and a number of societies for the relief and employment of the poor ; Fuel savings society ; Seaman's friend society ; Humane society ; Society for alleviating the miseries of
331
PHILADELPHIA CITY AND COUNTY.
public prisons, &c. &c. There are also societies for the relief of poor and distressed emigrants from various foreign countries ; and a great number of Mutual relief societies, and other associations for benevolent purposes. Temperance associations are numerous, and their beneficial influence upon the moral habits of the community is apparent in the general improvement of society, and the decrease in the number of tippling houses and low ta- verns by which the city and suburbs were formerly infested.
Religious societies .- For the promotion of religion and morality, most of the existing religious denominations have in connexion with them Sunday schools and missionary, Bible and tract societies, which, with the blessing of Providence, are likely to exert a very beneficial influence on the rising generation. Among the most efficient operators in this good cause may be mentioned the American Sunday School Union, an association estab- lished for the purpose of publishing books of a religious character, for gratuitous distribution to Sunday schools, or for sale at low prices.
Places of worship are numerous, many of them being edifices of consi- derable architectural beauty, with neat and commodious interior arrange- ments. Of these, together with the number of Sunday schools and scho- lars in the city of Philadelphia and its suburbs, we append a tabular statement, which, though compiled with care, may still not be found strictly correct.
Religious
Places of worship.
Sunday schools. 30
Scholars.
denominations.
Presbyterian
23
8,500
do. (African)
3
3
250
Reformed Presbyterian
3
2
320
Associate do.
2
2
140
Methodist Episcopal .
19
33
7,660
do.
do. (African)
4
4
600
do. Protestant
5
5
830
Protestant Episcopal do.
22
26
5,600
Baptist
14
19
4,150
do. (African)
4
3
200
Lutheran
6
7
1,650
German Reformed
3
2
650
Dutch Reformed
2
5
850
Independent
1
1
470
Moravian
1
1
200
Friends (orthodox) do.
3
Universalist
3
4
500
Unitarian
1
1
100
Swedenborgian
1
1
Mennonist
1
Disciples of Christ
1
Bible Christians
1
Protestant (mariners' chapel)
1
1
350
Roman Catholic
11
10
5,000
Jews
3
1
150
Mormon
1
Total
144
163
38,320
1
2
150
do. (African) .
4
1
Education .- The public schools of the city and county of Philadelphia are not governed by the provisions of the act of 1836, establishing a system of common school education for the State; having been by a law passed in 1818, erected into a separate district for this purpose, and denominated the First School district of Pennsylvania. This district is divided into sections numbered from one to eleven; of which the City forms the first ; Northern
332
GEOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Liberties the second ; Southwark the third; Spring Garden the fourth ; Oxford, Lower Dublin, Moreland and Byberry the fifth ; Bristol, German- town and Roxborough the sixth ; West Philadelphia, Blockley and King- sessing the seventh; Passyunk the eighth; Moyamensing the ninth ; Ken- sington the tenth; North and South Penn township and the unincorporated Northern Liberties the eleventh. A board of directors is elected in each district, whose number is regulated by the amount of duties to be performed. . Those in the city and incorporated districts are elected by the councils or commissioners of the districts, and in the townships and boroughs by the people at the spring elections ; one-third of the whole number being elected annually. To these boards of directors are confided the organization and direction of the schools, the election of teachers, and the general superin- tendence of the local concerns of public education in the several sections.
For the general control and regulation of school concerns in the whole district, a higher board is chosen by and from the directors, termed the "Controllers of the Public Schools," twenty-one in number, composed of representatives from the several sectional boards of directors ; the first section choosing seven ; the second, three ; the third, two ; the fourth, two; the fifth and sixth, one each ; the seventh and eighth jointly, one ; the ninth, one ; the tenth, two ; and the eleventh, one. The controllers determine the amount of money to be drawn annually from the county treasury to defray the ex- penses of the schools ; erect and furnish the buildings to be used as school houses ; fix the number of teachers and their salaries, and furnish the books and other supplies. They control the expenses of the several sec- tions, and make the appropriations required for each. They have the im- mediate direction of the Model school, and of the High school, and make occasional visits of inspection to the schools of all the sections.
According to the report of the Controllers for 1842, there were in the incorporated parts of the district, 62 primary schools with 9342 pupils ; 11 secondary schools with 2597 pupils ; 19 grammar schools with 8445 pupils ; and one high school with 307 pupils. In the outer sections there were 92 schools with 6347 pupils : total amount of schools 185, and of pupils 27,808. The number of teachers employed was 339; of whom 91 were males and 248 females : and their aggregate salaries $110,250 ; being an average an- nual compensation to each of $325. The average cost of tuition for each scholar was $3.97, and the total annual expense for each, not including in- terest on the cost of school houses and furniture, $5.16. The average an- nual cost of each pupil, from the establishment of the present system to 1841, a period of twenty-two years, including interest on school houses and lots at 5 per cent., has been $5.07 ; about one-fourth of the amount which it would have cost the community to educate the same number of children in private schools.
Twenty-four substantial school houses have been erected, generally three stories high, and of sufficient capacity to accommodate from 600 to 1000 scholars each. The total value of these buildings, with the lots on which they stand, is estimated at $540,000, and the value of school furni- ture, libraries, &c., at from thirty to forty thousand dollars. The amount drawn from the county treasury in 1842, for the support of the public schools, was $180,000; and the appropriation received from the State for the same year, $57,764.
The flourishing condition of the schools in this district, the progressive improvement which has been made in their organization, the improved method of teaching, and the extended and liberal course of instruction pur- sued, are such as must afford the most lively satisfaction to the friends of popular education, and bid fair to realise their most sanguine anticipations with regard to the beneficial effects of the system. It is believed that the course of instruction, as developed in the primary, secondary, grammar and high schools, constitutes one of the most perfect systems of common school education that has ever been reduced to practice ; and one which, while it recognises no distinction of rank or of wealth, affords to all the means of
333
PHILADELPHIA CITY AND COUNTY.
acquiring a sound, thorough, and practically useful education. Beginning in the primary schools, where the rudiments are taught, the pupil, when duly prepared, is advanced to the secondary and grammar schools, where receiving the advantages of a good English education, he may qualify him- self for admission into the high school, and thus be prepared for any busi- ness, profession or occupation to which his inclination and talent may direct him.
The course of study in the High school is divided into the following de- partments : I. English Belles-Lettres, with History and Geography : II. The French and Spanish languages : III. The Latin and Greek languages : IV. Moral, Mental and Political science : V. Mathematics and theoretical Mechanics : VI. Mathematics and Astronomy : VII. Mechanics and Na- tural Philosophy : VIII. Chemistry : IX. Natural History, including Ana- tomy and Physiology : X. Drawing and Writing. These studies are grouped into three courses, one of which the parent of a pupil selects for his son. The first is the English course of two years, intended for those whose services will probably be required by their parents at the end of that period ; the second is the principal course of four years, intended as a pre- paration for pursuits connected with trade, commerce, manufactures, and the mechanic arts; and the third is the classical course of four years, in- tended for those who are to become teachers, to go to college after passing through the high school, or, in general, whose parents may prefer this mode of mental training.
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