USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania in the olden time; being a collection of the memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania, Vol. III > Part 22
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not agreeing with Andrew's second wife, he left his uncle and went to England, purchased a stock of books and materials for printing, and opened a store in Second street between Market and Chestnut, at the sign of "The Bible," and commenced the publication of the Pennsylvania Journal, which became success- ful. When he opened the coffee-house he removed his business to the store adjoining on Market street. He joined the volunteer militia in 1755, was elected captain, and afterward major, and was active in public matters, particularly about the Stamp Act and Non-Importation Agreement. He was wounded at Prince- ton in 1776, and made colonel; was a member of the Navy Board and chairman of the committee for arresting inimical per- sons, and served in resisting the siege of Fort Mifflin. When the British evacuated the city in 1778 he returned and resumed the publication of the Journal, and reopened the coffee-house. He continued the latter only two years, as it did not prove profitable, the more elegant City Tavern, in Second above Wal- nut, having attracted the best custom. Its prestige was gone as a centre for news, auction sales, and public events. Gifford Dally next rented the place from John Pemberton, who had re- ceived it from his father by will.
THE STATE HOUSE.
The State House, p. 396 .- The Assembly of Pennsylvania, governing the colony after its settlement by the English, met in various places, such as the Quaker meeting-house ; in Whitpain's, Carpenter's, and other private houses; in the school-room of Thomas Makin, and, after the purchase of the State House lots, for about five years in a building which was there at the time of purchase. As the city grew it became evident to the Provincial government of Pennsylvania that there should be provided a permanent and commodious building for the sessions held by the Assembly and for the accommodation of the courts and public offices of the colony. It was considerably discussed in 1707 and '8, the proposed amount of six hundred and sixteen pounds being a large amount to raise by tax. The idea was commenced to be carried out in February, 1729, by the petition of the inhabitants requesting that the House would build a State House in High street near the prison, followed by the appropriation on the 10th of May of two thousand pounds by the Assembly for the build- ing of a State House, the money to be paid out under the direction of Thomas Lawrence, Andrew Hamilton, and John Kearsley. The building of the house was not commenced until the summer of 1732, owing to a contrariety of opinion among the members of the building committee, and was completed in 1741,
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though the finishing touches were not given till 1745, but part of it was occupied by the Assembly in October, 1735. The doorway as at present seen is quite modern, and copied from the doorway of the former St. James's Church in Seventh street above Market.
The ceiling and upper work had to be done, for which com- petent workmen were scarce. Curtains of some sort, apparently inexpensive, were ordered for the windows; and a handsome silver inkstand was made for the Speaker's table by Philip Syng, silversmith, at a cost of £25 16s.
Kearsley had favored the petition of the citizens, who wanted it near the prison on Market near Third street, in conjunction with a market, and drew up a plan. Hamilton drew up one, and his plan and choice of location on Chestnut street were preferred by a majority of the committee. Kearsley constantly objected, and finally had nothing to do with its building, and Lawrence, having full confidence in Hamilton and his superintendence, had but little to do with it; so that the structure may be said to have been built by and under the plans of Andrew Hamilton. The plan adopted included only the present main or central building, and was designed to accommodate the Assembly, the Supreme Court, and the governor's Council.
Andrew Hamilton was a member of the governor's Council in 1720, and attorney-general of the Province from 1717 to 1726; prothonotary of the court and recorder of the city for fourteen years, and at the same time a member of the Assembly from Bucks county, and was the Speaker for ten years; he was judge of the vice-admiralty court in 1739. He won great fame by his bold and able defence of John Peter Zenger and the liberty of the press at his trial in New York in 1735. Zenger was prosecuted for a libel against the king and the governor, and his paper was ordered to be burnt by the hangman. Zenger was acquitted, and the city of New York presented Hamilton with the freedom of the city in a gold box. He resided at Bush Hill, a property granted him by the Penns. He died August 4th, 1741. A lawyer at the head of his profession, retained in all important cases, and consulted by the governors, he was able, fearless, and honest; on the popular side in his feelings, he maintained the cause of liberty, and helped to make laws whose benefits we enjoy at this day. He was called by Gouverneur Morris "the day-star of the American Revolution." His por- trait is in the National Museum. Another Anthony Hamilton was governor of Pennsylvania from 1701 to 1703; he was Col. Anthony Hamilton, but no relation of this one.
As originally designed and constructed, there was neither tower nor steeple, nor were arrangements made for the staircase. The bell originally in service was the one used by the Assembly to call the members together and as an accompaniment to official proc-
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lamations long before the State House was built. It was prob- ably brought over by Penn, and was rung as early as 1685 at the proclamation of the accession of James II. It was hung in a small belfry erected for the purpose in front. This Provincial bell, or the second one imported from England, was given in · 1830, with the original clock, made by Peter Stretch in 1759, to the Roman Catholic church of St. Augustine in Fourth street below Vine, and was destroyed while hanging in the cupola, to- gether with the clock in the tower of that church, at the time the church was burnt and destroyed in the Native American riots on the 8th of May, 1844.
In early days " those members who do not appear within half an hour after the ringing of the bell and the Speaker assuming the chair shall pay a tenpenny bit," and again, " shall pay one shilling."
Before the Revolution all distances from Philadelphia were measured from the old Court House at Second and Market streets. On Scull & Heap's map of 1750 the description is thus: "A table of distances of particular places within this map, beginning at the Court House."
" The Town Hall, or place where the Assemblies are held, is situated in the western part of the town; it is a fine large build- ing, having a Tower with a bell in the middle, and is the great- est ornament to the town. The deputies of each Province meet in it, commonly every October, .... in order to consider the welfare of the country and to hold their diets or parliaments in miniature. There they revise the old laws and make new ones." "On one side of this building stands the Library, which was first begun in the year 1742, on a publick-spirited plan formed and put in execution by the learned Mr. Franklin." . "Open every Saturday from 4 to 8 P. M." (Kalm's Travels, 1748-49, vol. i. p. 45.)
Feb. 20, 1735-36, an act was passed vesting the State House in trustees. (Col. Recs., vol. iv. p. 46; Smith's Laws, i. xxi.) It was repealed Feb. 17, 1762, by act of that date. (See Smith, i. p. 242, at length.) See message from Council to Assembly, al- luding to above act, Feb. 20, in which the State House lot not built on "should remain a public green and walk for ever," and recommending attention to it," September 17, 1783. (Col. Rec- ords, vol. xiv. 692.)
State House Yard, as originally purchased, extended from Fifth to Sixth street on Chestnut, and was about three hundred and thirty-seven feet deep. It consisted of eight lots granted by Penn in 1683 to private individuals. The Walnut street front had likewise been granted in 1683, '84, '92, and 1715. The Chestnut street lots were all purchased by William Allen and Andrew Hamilton for the State House, and the remaining half by the Province, which appropriated five thousand pounds in
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May, 1762, and the deeds were finally passed in 1769-not in 1760, as Watson states. A brick wall seven feet high was erected, with a very high brick arch on Walnut street support- ing two large solid doors. Though before the Revolution it had been ordered "to prepare a plan for laying out the Square in proper walks, and to be planted with suitable trees, etc.," nothing was done in the way of improvement, but in Septem- ber, 1783, President John Dickinson urged the attention of the Assembly to it. Still, nothing was done until February 28, 1785, when a few trees were planted; and in April Samuel Vaughan took hold of its improvement. Public walks were laid out, one hundred elm trees planted, and in 1791 the height of the wall was reduced on Fifth and Sixth streets to three feet, with a stone coping and iron railing, and it began to be called "State House Garden."
See a complete statement of the title to State House Square by Recorder Joseph Reed, Dec. 1, 1813, made at request of Councils (in Hazard's Reg. Penna., vol. ii. 228-233), with a diagram of different purchases. Also title to the North-East Public Square by Recorder Alexander Wilcox, June 5, 1797 (pp. 232, 234 of same vol.).
In 1752 the superintendents of the State House were directed to purchase from Mr. Allen his cedar tree lot, lying on Walnut street south of the State House, for the use of the people of the Province.
On March 24th, 1733, it was ordered that two additional build- ings, for the reception of the records and papers of the Province, should be constructed, forming wings on each side of the main structure, though at some little distance from it-about thirty feet, and occupying substantially the same ground as the present wings. They were of brick, two stories high, much lower in height than the main building, and of about the same depth, with quadrangular roofs. The upper story of each, one large room, was reached by stairs under arched piazzas, open in front with a blank wall in the rear, set back from the lines of the principal buildings, and connecting the wings with the main building. The eastern wing was built in 1735-36. Its lower floor was divided into two rooms, occupied by the registrar-gen- eral, or custodian of original wills, and the recorder of deeds, who had before kept the books and papers of their offices at their houses, and objected to the change, considering it a great hardship. The western wing was finished in 1739. It was called Provincial Hall. The whole was completed about 1744. Low walls covered with shingles extended to Fifth and Sixth streets and along those streets. The lower floor was used by the secretary of the Province until 1779; the upper floor by the Philadelphia Library Company, "to deposite their books in," until 1773, when they were transferred to Carpenters' Hall,
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just in time for the convenient use of the Congress in the fol- lowing year. The flags captured during the Revolution were displayed in this chamber. It and a corresponding chamber in the eastern wing were used by the Assembly and Congress as committee-rooms. Charles Thomson, the Congressional secre- tary, had his private office here. After Congress left the city this chamber was occupied by the Supreme Court of the State; in 1786 fitting decorations and partitions were put up. The wings were altered by the county commissioners in 1813; at the same time new walls were put up around the Square. The arcades and staircases were removed, and the present two-story structures replaced them, and the buildings themselves adjacent were changed as we now see them. The bases of the clock were also removed.
On the 27th of January, 1750, the Assembly ordered an ad- dition " on the south side of the said house, to contain the stair- case, with a suitable place therein for hanging a bell;" and the present tower, finished in 1753, with its noble staircase, is the result. The tower before this terminated very nearly with the main roof; a steeple does not seem at first to have been contem- plated, but was now determined upon. A new room was ordered to be added by raising the tower one story; it was designed for the use of the committees and " for our books." It either proved inadequate or was too difficult of access, as one of the rooms in the eastern wing was sometimes used for committee meetings at least as early as 1761. The library collected for the Assembly was placed herein, and Charles Norris appointed " keeper." A wooden steeple was erected on the tower, in which was hung the famous Liberty Bell with its prophetic motto.
In 1781 the woodwork of the steeple was removed on account of decay, and the tower was covered with a hip-roof, above which was placed a short spire with a weathercock.
In this statement we correct the error of Watson in Vol. I. p. 399, where he states : " At a former period, say in 1774, . . it was deemed advisable to take it down." The truth is, few re- pairs were made to the building from the time of its completion to the termination of the Revolution ; but in 1771 the steeple of wood which surmounted the tower had already excited attention from its decay ; in 1773 a skilful carpenter made a report of it ; the next year the Assembly ordered " that it should be taken down, and the brick-work cheaply covered to prevent its being damaged by the weather ;" this order was not carried out. Es- timates were again made in March, 1775, and it was then pro- posed to place a cupola upon the front building; but the matter was "referred to the next sitting of the House." The Conti- nental Congress met only for a short time afterward within its precincts, and the stirring events of the time put aside further consideration or action until after the Revolution. But in April.
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1781, it had become really dangerous, and was then taken down. The Liberty Bell and its frame were lowered down and rehung in the brick tower ; the tower was plainly covered and surmount- ed by a slender spire or point. On the main roof, in front of the spire, another bell, called "the clock-bell," was hung under a shed built over it, as seen in Birch's Views of the State House.
Westcott, in his City Guide, says: "The Liberty Bell was used after the first steeple was taken down only upon particular occasions. It was rung in honor of the news of the passage of the act of the British Parliament emancipating the Catholics, in 1828. It was rung on the 22d of February, 1832, in honor of the centennial anniversary of the birth of Washington. It was cracked upon the morning of July 8th, 1835, whilst being tolled in memory of Chief-Justice Marshall, who had died in Phila- delphia on the 6th of that month, and whose remains were being removed, attended by Councils and many citizens, to the steam- boat wharf, to be transported to their last resting-place in Rich- mond, Va. The bell thus cracked is believed to have been used on after occasions, which increased the fracture. It became hopelessly useless after having been tried upon the celebration of Washington's birthday, February 22, 1843. At the time when the convention of delegates from the thirteen original States was held for the purpose of concerting measures for the erection of a monument in Independence Square to commemorate the Declaration of Independence, the bell was removed from its framework in the tower and placed upon a temporary pedestal in Independence Hall. Afterward a handsome wooden pedestal, with emblematic carvings and decorations, was prepared, upon which the bell was placed, and so remained until 1873, when the National Museum was fitted up in the west room, first story, which immediately before that time had been occupied by the Common Pleas Court." Here it can be seen placed near one of the front windows, from which was removed the old sash, and a single pane of glass was placed to give an uninterrupted view of it. This room, formerly the Judicial Hall of the colony of Pennsylvania, contains many other most interesting relics of his- torical and social interest; amongst others, the original charter, signed by Penn, of the city ; West's painting of the Treaty with the Indians ; one hundred and thirty-four portraits, painted from life, of many great men, by Sharpless between 1790 and 1800.
In 1824, on the visit of La Fayette to Philadelphia, Inde- pendence Chamber was fitted up to receive him, but not with the true spirit of "restoration " shown in the fitting up for the Cen- tennial of '76. The wooden statue of Washington, carved by William Rush-noted for his figure-heads for ships-was at this time placed in the chamber on deposit.
In 1828, a committee appointed to examine the tower-walls found they were three feet thick at the base and eighteen inches VOL. III .- 0 18 *
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at the top, being carried up with good substantial brickwork sixty-nine feet, having regular offsets at each of the stories. The walls of the upper story are thirty-one feet square, tied together with girders. The committee decided it was sufficiently strong to bear the superstructure of a wooden steeple.
A bell was ordered in October, 1751, and reached Philadel- phia from London in August, 1752; and it being found in Sep- tember "that it was cracked by a stroke of the clapper without any other violence, as it was hung up to try the sound," it was recast here by Pass & Stow in March, and hung in April, 1753; but not proving satisfactory in its tone, they recast it, and hung it in June following. It weighed two thousand and eighty pounds, and cost £60 13s. 5d. The second not proving entirely satisfactory to all parties, the English founder was ordered to send over another of his make. The difference from the first one was not very great, but both were retained. The American bell continued to be used for threescore and three years. It sometimes rang for the benefit of congregations, but was finally stopped on complaints made, and reserved for public occasions. (See the correspondence in relation to this bell in Hazard's Reg. Penna., vol. i. 152, 222-3, 416; vol. ii. 144, 183, 220, 351, 376.)
The clock, which indicated the time on dials at the eastern and western ends of the main building, was ordered March 11, 1752, and was made by a noted city watch- and clock-maker, Peter Stretch, who was paid, in 1759, £494 5s. 5}d. for making it and taking care of it for six years. These dials or clock-faces showed beneath the gables at the top of projections or jambs built to im- itate the cases of old-fashioned high eight-day clocks, and reaching down to the ground. Edward Duffield in January, 1762, suc- ceeded Mr. Stretch in the care of the clock, and he was followed by David Rittenhouse in 1775. " As he has charge of the time- piece " [most probably of his own construction] " belonging to the Philosophical Society, which is kept in the observatory in the State House Square, with the astronomical instruments for adjust- ing it, he conceives it would not be inconvenient for him to take charge also of the said public clock," etc. The pay was twenty pounds per annum.
In 1828 a new steeple was erected upon the tower which was sixty feet higher than that which was finished in 1753, but re- sembled the old steeple in its architectural details as nearly as possible. A larger bell and new clock were ordered. The bell was cast by J. Wilbank, and weighed four thousand two hundred and seventy-five pounds, and cost $1923.75. Not being satisfac- tory, Mr. Wilbank furnished another, weighing four thousand six hundred pounds ; it was cracked, and was replaced by another, which did duty for forty-five years in announcing the hours, sounding fire-alarms, and being rung on important public
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occasions. The new arrangement for striking the hours with a hammer regulated by the clock was adopted. A new arrange- ment was also adopted for fire-signals, by which the direction of the fire from the State House could be learned from the number and arrangement of the strokes sounded upon the bell. This bell was taken down in 1876, and replaced by another presented to the city by citizen Henry Seybert. The old trouble was again shown in the casting of this bell. It was made by Menealey & Kimberly of Troy, but upon being tested the sound was not satisfactory, as it did not reach to any great distance. It was removed, and another one cast and put in its place. The sup- planted bell now strikes its clear and distinct notes for the in- habitants of Germantown, being placed in the Town Hall. The clock was made and kept in order by Isaiah Lukens, a watch- and clock-maker of the city. In 1876 a new one was presented the city by Henry Seybert, made by the Seth Thomas Clock Company of Thomastown, Conn.
In 1831, Independence Chamber was restored nearly to its orig- inal condition, under the care of Mr. Haviland. He reinstated such portions of the panelling as had been removed, but fortu- nately preserved in the attic of the State House, and only eked out the missing portions. Councils also purchased Rush's statue of Washington for five hundred dollars. He executed it in 1812 ; he had frequently modelled Gen. Washington in his life- time, as well in miniature as of life-size. Of this statue when, in September, 1831, Rush offered it for sale to Councils, he said : " I think you need not have any doubts as to its being a good likeness. .... Judge Washington pronounced the figure here alluded to immediately on sight a better likeness than Stuart's." Rush was a member of Councils for twenty-two years, and at this time had " been about sixty years at my business, and prob- ably have exhibited some humble talents that would entitle me to some consideration more than a mere laborer."
In 1832 the Society for Commemorating the Landing of Wil- liam Penn presented, through Roberts Vaux and Thomas I. Wharton, a full-length portrait of Penn, hoping it might be the forerunner of a collection of portraits of eminent Pennsylvanians.
In 1846 the papers announce : "This sacred place is under- going a thorough repairing, repainting, etc ..... The old fur- niture disposed of, a splendid outfit in furniture, including carpets, sofas, chairs, etc., is to be placed in it." The old Liberty Bell was brought from the tower and placed on an ornamental pedestal, with Peale's eagle surmounting it. After this, in 1854, part of Peale's collection of portraits was purchased, amongst them thirteen of the Signers. With these various things as a nucleus, all sorts of things were presented to the city and stowed away here without order or relevancy. On the approach of the Centennial, the idea was conceived of restoring the original fur-
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niture of '76 and the room to its then appearance. Councils appropriated six thousand five hundred dollars to the committee. and the exterior as well as the interior of the building has been nearly restored as it was in 1776. They have replaced the chair originally made for the Speaker of the Assembly, and used by President Hancock and Washington as president of the Con- stitutional Convention ; the table on which the Declaration was signed ; the silver inkstand that held the ink ; a number of chairs of the members; replaced pillars that upheld the ceiling; and thus made the chamber to be more highly revered than ever before. The Liberty Bell was brought down, and is now in the west room or National Museum. The front brick- and marble- work with great labor was cleaned off, as well as the entire woodwork of the interior; and other improvements have been made, which, with those yet to be done, will make the State House and Yard the Mecca for American pilgrims.
On the eastern side of the hall is the east room, where the Declaration was decided upon and signed. The 10th of May, 1776, was fixed for the meeting of the second Continental Con- gress ; the Assembly of Pennsylvania was on the eve of adjourn- ment, and now for the first time they relinquished their chamber, the east room, first floor, of the State House, leaving for that dis- tinguished body all the furniture and equipment; and, ordering " a dozen windsor chairs" for the western or court room, they took temporary possession of it for their sessions; they afterward occupied for some years one of the square chambers on the second floor. The east room presents now nearly the same appearance as it did on that occasion, the panelled woodwork in 1823-24. and many pieces of the original furniture used by the second Conti- nental Congress, having been restored.
Since the restoration of the hall there have been collected and hung upon its walls the portraits of the Signers of the Declara- tion. The majority of these were donated by the descendants of their illustrious originals, but many were secured only by purchase.
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