USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Early Philadelphia; its people, life and progress > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
This sound advice gained recognition and the early apothecaries of the City were mostly men of good families who had, before engaging in business, acquired a good academic schooling and were well grounded in the natural sciences, and accomplished in mathematics and belles lettres. A number were men of social prominence and of
192
THE PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
great energy, so that they were among the shapers of the financial and commercial interests of the City.
In 1821 the University instituted " the degree of Mas- ter of Pharmacy to be conferred on such persons exercising or intending to exercise the profession of an apothecary, as are, or shall be, duly qualified to receive the same." This action looking toward the establishment of a course in phar- macy aroused the pride of the apothecaries who determined to have a school of their own. Immediately, Peter Lehman, of Market below Tenth Street, began an opposition. Call- ing on his friend, Henry Troth, a thriving wholesale drug- gist, he exclaimed, " Henry, this won't do; the University has no right to be taking our boys away at noon to make them M.P.'s." Why it had " no right " to perform this useful service Peter leaves no record, but his indignation was shared by Troth and together they called upon the druggists to present the project of founding an institution of their own. A meeting was held in Carpenter's Hall on February 23, 1821, of which Stephen North was Chair- man, and Peter Williamson, Secretary, and a committee composed of the following men chosen to organize a College of Apothecaries-Samuel Jackson, Daniel B. Smith, Robert Milnor, Peter Williamson, Stephen North, Henry Troth, Samuel Biddle, Charles Allen and Frederick Brown. Sixty-eight of the representative apothecaries of the City became charter members of the new college and so began pharmaceutical education and degrees in the western hemisphere.
An important declaration of the new institution was that it should constantly direct the attention to the qualities of articles brought into the drug market, and this was the earliest movement for pure drugs and the germ which has developed into our present pure food and drug laws.
13
193
EARLY PHILADELPHIA
On March 27, 1821, the organization was completed with Charles Marshall as President, William Lehman and Stephen North as Vice-Presidents, William Heyl as Treasurer, Daniel B. Smith as Secretary and sixteen prom- inent druggists as Trustees. The Trustees organized with' Samuel P. Wetherill as Chairman and Daniel B. Smith as Secretary. Samuel Jackson, M.D., was elected Pro- fessor of Materia Medica and Pharmacy and Gerard Troost, M.D., Professor of Chemistry. The German Hall on the east side of Seventh Street below Market was se- cured as a lecture hall and remained as the home of the Col- lege until 1833 when a four-story building was erected on Zane, now Filbert Street. Here the College grew and in 1868 moved on to the present site at North Tenth Street, where it has maintained its leadership through extensive additions to equipment, curriculum and faculty.
The Quaker element preponderated in its inception and organization and the influence of Friends has for many years decided its management. It holds a unique position among the professional schools in that it has never received any financial aid from the Commonwealth.
THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE
HE association of Benjamin Frank- lin with the origin and success of Philadelphia's institutions is so fre- quent that it is curious that none of them existing during his lifetime should have borne his name. The one which appropriately bears it was founded in 1824, 34 years after his death, but it was planned to realize the projects supported during his busy life and so naively expressed in his will. The common thought running through it is the care of the young artif- icer, or mechanic.
After several unsuccessful attempts, two earnest and diligent young men, Professor William H. Keating of the University, and Samuel V. Merrick, aided by Dr. Robert E. Griffith and George W. Smith, called a meeting for February 5, 1824, at the County Court House, Sixth and Chestnut Streets, and here nearly 500 citizens enrolled themselves in the undertaking. The Charter is dated March 30, 1824, and names as the objects of the Institute, the promotion and encouragement of manufactures and the mechanic and useful arts by the establishment of popular lectures on the Sciences connected with them, by the forma- tion of a cabinet of models and minerals, and a library, by offering prizes and examining new inventions. The su- preme aim was the instruction of artisans. How harmoni- ous all this was, too, with the spirit of William Penn, the founder of the City, whose chief concern in his venture was that his colonists should be men of industry.
The professorships were filled by William H. Keating in Chemistry, Robert M. Patterson, Natural Philosophy and Mechanics and William Strickland in Architecture.
195
EARLY PHILADELPHIA
The first two held chairs in the University as did subsequent professors, Alexander Dallas Bache, great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, John F. Frazer, Henry Reed, Ros- well Park, Robert Hare and the brothers James and Robert E. Rogers.
The first course of lectures was delivered in the old Academy building of the University on Fourth Street near Arch. Among the first pupils in Architecture was Thomas Walter, then a bricklayer, afterwards architect of Girard College and ultimately of the Capitol at Washington. A high school was soon started under Walter R. Johnson, out of which grew the present City High School.
The present building of the Institute on Seventh Street near Market was begun June 8, 1825, and the publication of the Journal soon followed. This Journal has a dis- tinguished reputation at home and abroad, is contributed to by leaders in different branches of science and is fre- quently and widely quoted as an authority.
The Institute conducted the first exhibition of manu- facturers in America at Carpenter's Hall in 1824 and the first electrical exhibition in 1884, two notable contributions to science both in perfect accord with the great wish of Franklin to make the latest discoveries in science applicable and available to every day life.
James Ronaldson was the first President of the Frank- lin Institute and served until 1842, when he resigned. He was succeeded by Samuel Vaughan Merrick, the acknowl- edged Founder of the Institute, who resigned in 1855.
The medal of the Franklin Institute is recognized all over the world as the reward of distinguished merit.
THE ATHENAEUM
HILADELPHIA is noted for an organizing spirit. If the Philadel- phian has anything to do or a pet idea to promulgate he immediately sets to work to found a Society for that spe- cific purpose, chooses officers and adopts a constitution. This would seem to indicate that he is a social animal, and so he is, pro- vided he is surrounded by his " set." In spite of the exist- ence of the Library Company, the Philosophical Society, the University and the Academy of Natural Sciences a number of gentlemen assembled at the house of Roberts Vaux about the close of the year 1813 for the purpose of establishing a reading room in Philadelphia where they could collect books of reference on politics, literature and science, maps and dictionaries, to be accessible at all hours of the day. They had in view such gradual acquisitions as might lay the foundations of a large and useful public library. They looked forward, also, to the establishment of lectureships on science and a collection of mineral, botanical and other specimens illustrative of natural history.
Considerable interest was manifested in this project for an athenæum, and the subscribers met in January, 1814, to agree upon the objects of the institution. On the 9th of February, with 200 subscribers, an organization was effected with William Tilghman, LL.D., president; Dr. James Mease, vice-president; Roberts Vaux, treasurer; Robert H. Smith, secretary, and James Gibson, Samuel Ewing, Richard C. Wood, Thomas I. Wharton, Alexander S. Coxe, Benjamin Chew, Jr., Nicholas Biddle, Daniel W. Coxe, William H. Dillingham, John C. Lowber and Jonah Thompson, managers.
197
EARLY PHILADELPHIA
The reading room of the Society was established in the second story of Mathew Carey's book-store at the south- west corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets and the asso- ciation incorporated April 5, 1815. In a couple of years they moved to Dulief's building, Number 118 Chestnut Street at the corner of Carpenter's Court, and then to the first story of the hall of the American Philosophical Soci- ety. Here they rendered a distinct service to the com- munity by obtaining all the leading American and foreign magazines and reviews-literary, scientific, and historical -as well as 55 newspapers. The number of stockholders had increased to 400 and there were 125 subscribers who had the privileges of the library and reading room.
William Lehman was one of the most interested and generous members of the Athenæum and in 1829 left by will the sum of $10,000 for the construction of a suitable building. By careful investment, and some additions, this sum had increased by 1845 to a sufficient amount to pro- ceed and the cornerstone of a new building on Sixth Street below Walnut was laid on November 1st of that year. John Notman was the architect, he also being the architect of beautiful St. Mark's Church.
The Society occupies the second floor, which is a place of great architectural beauty. On the Sixth Street front is the newspaper room finished in pilasters with an enriched cornice and cove to the ceiling. It is a large and lofty room, delicate and refined in its ornamentation and tint. In the back of the building is the library, 37 x 65 feet, and 24 feet high, finished with Corinthian columns, advanced from the sides of the room, forming a nave and aisles; the latter are filled with book-cases, set laterally from the pillars to the wall, against which are cases also set, and over them runs a gallery with cases to the ceiling against
198
THE ATHENAEUM
the wall. The cornice is enriched with medallions and ornaments, the ceiling being in panel. Between the news- paper room and the library is the little chess room, now unused, and standing in the doorway which opens into the library one has a charming view of the handsome room and, through its long windows at the farther end, of the great wistaria vine with its clusters of lovely flowers.
To enjoy the privileges of the Atheneum one must own a share of stock and be passed upon by the Board of Directors. As the stock is closely held and passed on from generation to generation in approved Philadelphia fashion it will be seen that membership is largely hereditary. Not long ago some of the members proposed a move uptown, but the Athenaum stayed in the old place.
The main characteristic of the Athenæum's existence has been the collection of periodical literature, which is said to be unsurpassed either at home or abroad. There are, however, solid books of the day being bought and monthly bulletins to tell the members about them.
THE OLD SCHOOLS
ARDLY had the Quakers established shelter for their families before they bethought themselves of schooling for their children. At a meeting of the Council held in Philadelphia tenth month, 26th, 1683, they " Sent for Enock flower, an Inhabitant of said Towne, who for twenty years past hath been exercised in that care and Imploymt in England, to whom having Com- municated their Minds, he Embraced it upon the following Termes: to Learn to read English 4 s. by the Quarter, to Learn to read and write 6 s. by ye Quarter, to learn to read, Write and Cast accts. 8 s. by ye Quarter; for Boarding a Schollar, that is to say, dyet, Washing, Lodging and Schooling, Tenn pounds for one whole year." By the year 1696 Gabriel Thomas says there were several schools. In 1689 Penn took definite steps toward founding the first public school in his instructions to Thomas Lloyd and in 1701 incorporated the Monthly Meeting's Committee hav- ing charge of it. This grammar school was put in charge of George Keith, a well-known Scotch Quaker and preacher who afterwards caused a schism in the Society of Friends and finally returned to the Church of England. Keith's assistant was Benjamin Makin, who later became the principal. The incorporators of this school, which has become the William Penn Charter School of our day, were Samuel Carpenter, Anthony Morris, Edward Shippen, James Fox, David Lloyd, William Southby and John Jones. The school was kept on Fourth Street south of Chestnut and numbered among its teachers besides Keith and Makin such men as David James Dove, Robert Proud the historian, William Wanney, Jeremiah Todd and
200
Drawn on Stone boy WI Breton 1 & 2-)
1 Win Harney , Teacher
-
- Jam us Hearal Drinker Busy Chen click Germenpoteres . Friends Meeting House and cademy, South East con of 4th and Chestnut Ses. Pita "The Fittiane Forest Building now (1893) occupies part of above franceses I sense on And days morning 1289. The monthly wedding for the Middle Distrust and the youthe meeting were held list 1804 in the Mechong House on the left and the Soloch School for Chilly in the Second Story The Academy building way word as a Boys School House.
Mectina Mouse Birst 1863 Londons 1650 Divided into Finans where used as a School House
School House Budt 1745 Tourdown 1800 Dualed inte Brooms when Is das a School House
THE OLD SCHOOLS
Charles Thompson, the Secretary of the Continental Con- gress. During the incumbency of Thomas Makin the Assembly met in the school room, much to the principal's discomfiture.
In 1745 a school-house of two stories with its end toward Fourth Street was erected. Here was deposited the col- lection of books left to the Meeting by Thomas Chalkley and here was erected the observatory with the astronomical clock by which the State House Clock was regulated. In 1763 a meeting house was built on the lot at where the Forrest Building now stands and it remained until 1859. Jonah Thompson, one of the teachers in the school, was a man of military aspect. He was accustomed to walk at the head of his corps of scholars to week-day meetings in a long line of "two and two." Upon these occasions the town was astonished to see them marching with wooden guns and a little flag which the boys had taken up from their hiding place as they left the school building. The dignified disciplinarian at their head would not deign to look behind him and so the stately procession moved through the street. Robert Proud was also the victim of the pranks of these Quaker youths who seem to have had the same feelings as other boys. He wore a large bush wig which his scholars hooked from his head by means of a string and bent pin let down from a hole in the ceiling. Some of those who became the gravest Friends in after life were known to have hoisted a wagon, in pieces, to the chimney top by night and there put it together to divert the populace on the morrow.
The first Charter of 1701 was supplemented by a second in 1708 and by yet a third in 1711, under which the Board of Overseers now acts. Under this instrument there was a board consisting of Samuel Carpenter, Edward Shippen,
201
EARLY PHILADELPHIA
Griffith Owen, Thomas Story, Anthony Morris, Richard Hill, Isaac Morris, Samuel Preston, Jonathan Dickinson, Nathan Stanbury, Thomas Masters, Nicholas Waln, Caleb Pusey, Rowland Ellis and James Logan. There were a number of "Corporation Schools " as they were called, acting under Penn's Charter, and scattered about the City. About 1874 these were gathered together and the sale of their property made the consolidated school at Twelfth near Market Streets, which we know as the William Penn Charter School. The rigid discipline of Friends was com- municated to their school first by means of the birch and then by a no less robust, though better directed application which has made the school noted for its thoroughness and has sent out into the world scores of well-trained men. Much of its sustained reputation is due to the able adminis- tration of Charles Roberts and Richard Mott Jones.
The Academy of the Protestant Episcopal Church was organized in 1785 as the result of a subscription and plan instituted by a committee of the vestry of Christ Church and St. Peter's. The Rev. John Andrews was chosen principal and opened the school in a house on the east side of Fourth Street below High. It was removed in 1788 to a large building erected for it on Chestnut west of Seventh Street. This proved too much of a burden and was sold in 1791. The school was then kept at Third and Pear Streets and afterwards in Locust Street above Ninth and where it languished until 1845, when Bishop Alonzo Potter revived it and Rev. George Emlen Hare became head-master. In 1849 its present location in Locust below Broad Street was occupied and here many illustrious citi- zens of Philadelphia have received their education under capable masters.
Although not within the old City the Germantown
202
THE EPISCOPAL ACADEMY Chestnut, west of Seventh Street, 1788-1791
GERMANTOWN ACADEMY (BUILT 1760) AT GREENE STREET AND SCHOOL HOUSE LANE, 1917
-
THE OLD SCHOOLS
Academy deserves mention because of the importance of the movement which resulted in its foundation, the distinc- tion of some of its masters and the fact that it is the oldest school in this country which has had a continuous existence in the same building. It was born of that alliance between the Germans and Friends which resulted in maintaining the Quaker ascendency in the Assembly for so long a time, and as a rival to the Academy and College of Philadelphia which was the stronghold of the opposing Episcopal party. It was founded on the 6th of December, 1759, at the house of Daniel Mackinett, then the Green Tree Tavern, and now Number 6019 Main Street. The founders were resi- dents of Germantown with the exception of Joseph Gallo- way, the distinguished lawyer, who drew up the plan. The site chosen was what is now Greene and School House Lane and the present building was erected in 1760. It was called the Union School and the first master was Hilarius Becker who presided over the German School. The English master was David James Dove, who has been more fully mentioned in his connection with the College. He offended the Trustees as he had done at the College and in 1763 Pelatiah Webster took charge of the school. Webster was a genius and a philosopher so that the Trustees exchanged one peculiar character for another. Both men were remarkable and deserve a more promi- nent place in history than has been accorded them. Webster was a graduate of Yale College and had been a minister in New England before coming to Germantown. After retiring from the Union School in 1766 he opened a general store at Front and Arch Streets and later re- moved to High Street, where he dealt in Balm of Gilead, looking glasses, tanner's oil and pickled lobsters. During the early days of the struggle for Independence his house
203
EARLY PHILADELPHIA
was the almost nightly meeting-place of delegates to the Continental Congress. He was a staunch patriot and the British officers imprisoned him in Walnut Street jail dur- ing their occupancy of the City in 1777-78. After the war he became the author of many prophetic pamphlets, chief among which was " A Dissertation on the Political Union of the Thirteen States of North America," pub- lished February 16, 1783. This remarkable document pointed out the weaknesses of the Confederation and the necessity of a Constitution providing for a bicameral sys- tem or a Congress composed of two chambers " with the concurrence of both necessary to every act." He showed plainly the necessity for a taxing power, and provided for all the branches of Government subsequently provided by the Constitution of 1787 and even some of the early amendments to that document. It has lately been dis- covered that it was upon Webster's little "Dissertation " that the framers of the Constitution worked and that he may justly be called the inventor of our form of govern- ment.
During the British occupation the right of the camp of the Third Brigade rested at the school house and its officers played a game of cricket on the grounds. The Hessians pierced the ball on the spire with their bullets, as present day evidence shows, and the building was filled with wounded after the battle of Germantown. The crown of King George on the old spire as well as the ball, still stands.
During the yellow fever outbreak of the summer of 1793 Germantown was singularly free from the disease and in consequence enjoyed a reputation as a health resort. The Trustees of the Academy were accordingly petitioned for the use of the school building by the Congress of the United
204
THE OLD SCHOOLS
States and the Assembly of the State. Upon consideration it was agreed that they should offer the school buildings to the President of the United States upon a rental of Three Hundred Dollars with an allowance of $60 for certain necessary repairs. Henry Hill, president, Samuel Ashmead, Christian Schnider, Samuel Mechlin and Joseph Ferree were appointed a committee of the board to wait upon the President and acquaint him with the decision.
President Washington was at this time living in the large house next to the school which Dove, the first English master, had erected, and on the 6th of November he re- ceived the committee of trustees there and listened to the address which Mr. Hill read to him as follows:
" The President of the United States November 6, 1793.
Sir,
The trustees of the Public School of Germantown have the honour to wait upon the President with a respectful tender of the school buildings for the accommodation of Congress, should they convene at this place.
To Judge of the other Inhabitants of Germantown from our own motives it cannot be questioned they would on this occasion strive to make it as convenient a residence as possible. On the permanence of our General Government and the safety of its sup- porters and defenders rests, under God, in our view, whatever we hold most valuable.
It has been our fortune, Sir, to see you in many seasons of difficulty and danger, always surmounting them; and even now fortifying with your presence the good spirit of the Union lately humbled by the calamity in Philadelphia ; are alleviation of which we participate, doubtless in common with the survivors of the City, in consequence of your propitious return to this State."
To this dignified and briefly sufficient proffer the Presi- dent addressed the following reply, the first two para- graphs written by Jefferson and the last in courteous
205
EARLY PHILADELPHIA
acknowledgment of the personal note, added by Washing- ton himself :
" To the Trustees of the Public School of Germantown. Gentlemen :
The readiness with which the Trustees of the Public School of Germantown tender the buildings under their charge for the use of the Congress, is a proof of their zeal for furthering the public good; and doubtless the Inhabitants of Germantown generally, actuated by the same motives, will feel the same disposition to accommodate, if necessary, those who assemble but for their service and that of their fellow citizens.
Where it will be best for Congress to remain will depend on circumstances which are daily unfolding themselves and for the issue of which we can but offer our prayers to the Sovereign Dispenser of life and health. His favour too on our endeavours- the good sense and firmness of our fellow citizens, and fidelity in those they employ, will secure to us a permanence of good government.
If I have been fortunate enough during the vicissitudes of my life, so to have conducted myself, as to have merited your approba- tion, it is the source of much pleasure ; and should my future con- duct merit a continuance of your good opinion, especially at a time when our country, and the City of Philadelphia in particular, is visited by so severe a calamity, it will add more than a little to my happiness ..
Go: WASHINGTON."
But the fever abated and the necessity for the assem- bling of Congress in Germantown passed. The house next door in which Washington stayed is owned by the Academy and occupied by the head master. Washington's adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis, was entered as a pupil, and every student of the present school hears the tra- dition of the President's calling for the lad at the close of the day's session.
When the fever broke out again in 1798 the school
206
.
THE OLD SCHOOLS
house was occupied by the Banks of Pennsylvania and North America, as well as the Insurance Company of North America. Incorporated as the Public School of Germantown the use of the word " Academy " soon crept into usage. Colonel Isaac Franks, whose house on the Market Square in Germantown, now known as the Morris house, was occupied by Washington, was the first to use the word in the minutes of the Trustees, which he wrote in 1796.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.