USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Early Philadelphia; its people, life and progress > Part 3
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Streets by six or eight footpads, who formed a line across the road and called violently to the postilions to stop. This not being complied with, one of the villains fired a pistol, and another a blunderbuss. One of the postilions being stunned by a ball, which struck his cap, for a moment occasioned the stopping of the carriage, and the whole band immediately closed round to seize their prey. Mr. Hamil- ton, putting his head out of one of the windows, called loudly for the postilions to drive on, and ordered his ser- vants, two of whom just then came up at full gallop, to fire on the rascals, who immediately ran off with the utmost precipitation through a corn-field, which greatly favored their retreat. The servants, being soon after joined by others from Bush Hill, well armed, made diligent search after the villains until daylight, but without success."
Penn's busy colonists who had come to the new country on account of religious principles had little concern about crimes and disorder. For twelve years an ordinary frame dwelling was the only jail the town possessed, and it was oftenest empty. The stone prison at Third and High Streets was not finished, indeed, until 1723. A cage seven feet square was provided for the evil-doer who was taken out with public formality to be " smartly whipped " and made to pay six shillings for each unwelcome service of this kind. The Quakers had little of the melodramatic in their natures and criminals were in little danger of the hero worship of modern days. Justice was prompt and impar- tial while common sense and exactness held sway over sentiment.
Offenses of the Sabbath were serious affairs and in 1702 George Robinson was fined for " uttering two very bad curses." Women were held as accountable before the law as men and their offenses punished as promptly and
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justly. So it is little wonder that accusations of witchcraft and of dealings with evil spirits should have had no effect upon the placid Friends. Many attempts were made to in- troduce these dramatic affairs into an atmosphere of calm depreciation, but all met with a mortifying indifference.
Parties of Indians frequently came to the city to trade and see the sights and excited no surprise. They often remained for several weeks and were generally quartered in the State House yard. There are at present two plots of open ground in the city which tradition says were set aside by Penn as Indian reservations for all time. One of these is in the rear of 145 South Second Street and the other back from Walnut Street near Broad, adjoining the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
The natural opportunities of the place, the thrift and skill of the settlers and the liberality of the government soon brought wealth and growth. At the time of the Revo- lution the city was the greatest in the country. "No other could boast of so many streets, so many houses, so many people, so much renown. No other city was so rich, so extravagant, so fashionable." Among the features which impressed visitors from a distance was the fineness of the houses and this was in large measure due to the artisans which Penn had induced to come and who had brought old world ideas as well as skill with them. As early as 1724, indeed, these composed a guild large enough to be pat- terned after " The Worshipful Company of Carpenters of London," founded in 1477. Penn brought over James Portius, a skillful architect, to " design and execute his Proprietory buildings," and he left his valuable collection of architectural works to the Carpenters Company to form the basis of their present library. The book of joinery pub- lished in 1745 gives ample evidence of the source of the
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fine dwellings that graced the streets, as well as the pres- ence of such able amateur architects as Doctor Kearsley, who produced Christ Church, and Andrew Hamilton, who designed the State House.
A glimpse of some of the notable dwellings and their occupants will give us some idea of what the city looked like and did during the first century of its existence when it was the scene of so many distinguished events in the nation's history and gave birth to so many useful institu- tions whose foundations were so well laid that they have survived in their usefulness to-day.
At the southeast corner of Norris' Alley and Second Street where now stands the Main Office of the Keystone Telephone Company Samuel Carpenter built the " Slate Roof House," noted as the city residence of Penn and his family when on his second visit to the city in 1700. Here was born John Penn " The American." On returning to England in 1701 Penn left James Logan in charge and he retained it as a government house until 1704, when it was purchased from Carpenter by William Trent, founder of Trenton, for 850 pounds. Trent improved the place and had a fine garden extending half way to Front Street and on Second nearly to Walnut. It was sold in 1709 to Isaac Norris and came finally to be a boarding house and a shop. In 1867 it was pulled down to make way for the Com- mercial Exchange.
David Breintnall built one of the first good houses at what is now 115 Chestnut Street, but deeming it too fine for his Quaker persuasion he let it to the Governor of Barbadoes who came to Philadelphia for his health. He used to reach its door in a boat by way of Dock Creek. Here was the first Chestnut Street bridge.
Clarke's Hall was built by William Clarke and occu-
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BRIDGE OVER ARCH STREET AT FRONT
F
E
JI
HOUSE OF DAVID BRIENTNALL AND ANTHONY BENEZET IN CHESTNUT STREET AT HUDSON'S ALLEY
EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY
pied land from Chestnut Street to Dock Creek and from Third up to Hudson's Alley. It was built of brick and had well cultivated gardens in the rear. There were only two neighbors, Governor Lloyd at the northeast corner of Third and Chestnut Streets and Mayor William Hudson near the southeast corner of the same streets. When young William Penn junior came over, James Logan rented Clarke Hall and occupied it himself with Penn, Governor Evans and Judge Mompesson. The place de- scended through Andrew Hamilton and John Pemberton to the wealthy Quaker Israel Pemberton and at the time of the Revolution was famous for its formal gardens and shrubbery. It was rented and occupied by Alexander Hamilton for the offices of the Treasury of the United States until 1800 and was soon after this torn down.
Joshua Carpenter was the brother of Samuel who has been mentioned as one of the earliest to improve the new city. His house fronted on Chestnut Street, being in the centre of a lot running back to the next street and from Sixth to Seventh. Here lived Doctor Graeme, son-in- law to Sir William Keith, who gave his name to that worthy's famous seat at Horsham. Graeme was the father of the celebrated Mrs. Ferguson. Governor Thomas lived in the house from 1738 to 1747 and the shrubbery and fruit trees of the garden extending to Seventh Street were visited by many. Later it was occupied by Colonel John Dickinson and General Philemon Dickinson, and during the Revolution was used as a hospital for the American soldiery. After that it was taken by the Chevalier de Luzerne, Ambassador of France, who entertained lavishly. He was followed by Monsieur Gerard, likewise the Ambas- sador of his country, and finally it came to Judge Tilghman who sold it for " improvements " in 1826.
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Parson Duché was a picturesque figure of the Revo- lutionary period. He was one of the first graduates of the Academy, now the University of Pennsylvania, and was an eloquent preacher. While pastor of St. Peter's Church he was asked to act as chaplain of the Continental Congress then sitting in Carpenter's Hall. This he did and delivered a remarkable prayer by which the delegates were much moved. His father built him a house in 1758 in South Third Street which was deemed quite out of town. Duché's patriotism soon waned and he tried to induce Washington to forsake the cause, for which he was compelled to flee to England. The house was later occupied by Governor McKean.
Among the residents of " Society Hill " were Samuel Powell and Joseph Wharton. The former lived at 244 South Third Street and was distinguished as Mayor of the City and as a lavish entertainer in his handsome house built in 1769. His garden and extensive grounds were beautifully laid out and the walks adorned with costly statuary. Nearby lived Thomas Willing, William Bingham and Colonel William Byrd of Westover in Vir- ginia. Samuel Powell was a graduate of the College and a man of literary and scientific attainments. Washington was frequently a guest at his house as were many other notables. Joseph Wharton was the owner of " Walnut Grove," near the now Fifth and Washington Avenue, where the " Mischianza " was held in 1778.
Bishop White, the first Anglican Bishop in America, lived at 402 South Front Street and later in Walnut Street above Third. He was one of the most revered and trusted men in the city, a graduate and Trustee of the University, chaplain of the Congress, rector of Christ Church and intimate of Washington. Next door to the
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RESIDENCE OF JAMES WILSON, SOUTHEAST CORNER THIRD AND WALNUT STREETS
THE WILLING HOUSE, SOUTHEAST CORNER THIRD STREET AND WILLING'S ALLEY
PARSON DUCHÉ'S HOUSE, SOUTHI THIRD STREET
Birch, 1799
THIRD STREET FROM SPRUCE STREET William Bingham's mansion
EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY
Bishop on Front Street was the handsome residence of John Stocker, an affluent merchant and a founder of the Mutual Assurance Company, the second oldest fire insur- ance company in Philadelphia.
Nicholas Waln lived at 254 South Second Street and deserves more space than we can give him here. After studying at the Temple in London he soon became a dis- tinguished barrister in Philadelphia through his brilliant intellect and legal acumen. After practising less than ten years, however, he suddenly renounced his professional career and became a deeply concerned Friend, devoting himself almost wholly to preaching and performing other ministrations in behalf of Quaker interests. Gay clothing and canary coloured chariot were given up for the simple habits of his sect. His sense of humour did not forsake him, however, and his witty sallies will ever be accounted the most amusing of the day. Almost his last remark was, " I can't die for the life of me."
John Stamper, a wealthy English merchant and the Mayor in 1760, lived at 224 Pine Street and after him Robert Blackwell, a noted minister connected with Christ Church and St. Peter's. At 322 Union Street, now DeLancey, lived Jonathan Evans, a " concerned " Friend and a prominent figure in the Separation of 1827. His Meeting was in Pine Street near Front, where Dorothy Payne, afterwards Dolly Madison, wife of President James Madison, married James Todd.
The large house at 321 South Front Street sheltered Henry Hill, of Madeira wine fame, in 1786. Later came the McCalls and Doctor Philip Syng Physick, the father of American surgery. Mordecai Lewis, a proficient stu- dent of the classics and a prominent merchant, lived at 336 Spruce Street. Samuel Fisher, a noted merchant and
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eminent Quaker, presented the house to his daughter Deborah, who married William Wharton in 1817, and it became the gathering place of many Friends who opposed Jonathan Evans and his party in the schism among the Friends in 1827.
John Barclay, Mayor in 1791, built the fine old house now occupied by the Pennsylvania Seamen's Friend Soci- ety at 422 South Front Street. Its spiral stairway running to the lantern in the roof is a famous piece of architecture.
In 1790 the rich William Bingham built his " Mansion House " at Third and Spruce Streets upon a large plot of ground about which he planted Lombardy poplars, the first seen in the city. He had a high board fence about his grounds to conceal their beauty and keep the vulgar gaze from his lavish entertainments.
At the southwest corner of Third Street and Willing's Alley was the house built for Charles Willing in 1745 after the pattern of the family homestead in Bristol, England. It was " on the hill beyond Dock Creek " and was thought to be a rural home outside the town. The grounds ex- tended from Third to Fourth Streets and had many famous oak trees. Mr. Willing's daughter married Senator Bingham, who lived nearby, and the whole area along Third Street to Spruce thus became one of family distinction.
Charles Norris' house on Chestnut between Fourth and Fifth Streets was one of the finest in the city at the time of its erection in 1750. Like so many others it was sur- rounded by a fine garden laid out formally and containing many fruit trees and a hot house, all presided over by a Swiss gardener for a quarter of a century. The plumbing of the house was above the ordinary and supplied cisterns and dairy. It furnished more lead for bullets during the Revolution than any other house in town.
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THE MORRIS HOUSE, AT NUMBER 225 SOUTH EIGHTH STREET
OLD HOUSES ON KING, NOW WATER, STREET NEAR SOUTH Extant 1917
WORKMAN'S COURT, PEMBERTON NEAR FRONT STREET Extant 1917
EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY
" Fort Wilson," at the southwest corner of Third and Walnut Streets, was the residence of James Wilson. He was a professor in the College and the founder of its Law School in 1790, the first on the Continent. His services in the Constitutional Convention were very distinguished and he later went on the Supreme Bench by appointment of President Washington. Although he had signed the Decla- ration of Independence, he was one of the defenders of the Loyalists accused of treason and on this account his house was surrounded by a mob in 1779 and serious times averted for the occupants of the house by the presence of the First City Troop.
On Pemberton Street near Front, and south of Bain- bridge, there is a high wall with two quaint little houses facing each other at each side of a gateway through which one gets a glimpse of a courtyard and trees. In the bricks of the wall are black headers forming the letters " G. M." and the date " 1748." This little settlement was built by George Mifflin, father of Governor Thomas Mifflin, who afterwards left it to his son John. John Mifflin sold the houses, which were used for workingmen, to John Work- man, of South Carolina, who added two more houses, mak- ing a court still known as " Workman's Court." Lately it has been bought by E. W. Clark and is used by the Octavia Hill Association for housing betterment.
Nearly every Philadelphian knows the Morris House on South Eighth Street, at number 225. It was built in 1786 by John Reynolds and came soon to Luke Wistar Morris, the son of Captain Samuel Morris. Effingham B. Morris has restored it to its original beauty and planted the garden about it as before. It is the best example in the city of the old-time dwelling house.
Of course the most important building of the city until
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the erection of the State House in 1735 was the Court House. It had two stairways uniting in front of the building facing Second Street. After the Revolution these stairways were removed and one built on the inside. Daw- kin's view and Dove's caricature show the original view, while Birch's picture is of it in 1799. In all the old pic- tures there is seen a little balcony projecting from the second story. This was the landing to which the stairways led and from which Governors delivered their inaugural addresses, proclamations were read and speeches made. In 1739 the celebrated George Whitefield preached from this balcony to a vast concourse of people, to whom Ben- jamin Franklin says his voice was clearly audible. Beneath the Court House auctions were held for many years, and one of the tenants there was no less a personage than Mayor Thomas Lawrence. At one time a physician had his office on this floor. (See chapter on Government.)
At the northwest corner of Second and High Streets was the home and drug store of John Speakman, Jr., a prominent Friend. Here was formed on January 25, 1812, a society which in March took the title of the Academy of Natural Sciences, that splendid institution now known all over the scientific world.
It was down Second Street and past Christ Church, the Old Court House and the Market Square that General Howe and his army made their triumphal entry into the city, when the throngs of citizens, clad in their best array, lined the sidewalks to see the grenadiers march by, stead- fast and composed, splendidly equipped, and with their music sounding " God Save the King." Here, too, they listened to the wild strains of the bearded Hessians, terrible in brass fronted helmets, and suggesting plunder and pil- lage to the peaceful Quakers. What a contrast it was to
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Birch, 1799
HIGH STREET, WEST FROM THE MARKET, SHOWING CEREMONY OF WASHINGTON'S FUNERAL
EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY
the little patriot army which Washington had led along the same street not so long before, a sprig of green in the men's hats forming the only sign of uniformity.
In very early times a prison stood in the middle of High Street just behind the Court House or " convenient " to it as Gabriel Thomas wrote in 1698. It was soon regarded as a nuisance and was removed about 1723, the year after the stone prison was built at Third and High Streets.
At the site of the building now numbered 110 the English Bible was first published in America by Robert Aitken. He also published the first volumes of the " Transactions of the American Philosophical Society." After his death his daughter Jane brought out Charles Thomson's translation of the Bible in four volumes, the first translation attempted in the new world.
At the southwest corner of Second and High Streets there stood until 1810 the Meeting House of the Society of Friends. Here the prominent Quakers of our early Colonial history worshipped, and here the tired lad Ben- jamin Franklin wandered after his arrival in 1723 and fell asleep on one of the benches.
On the same side of the street and to the westward were the Royal Standard and Indian King taverns in both of which the Lodge of Free Masons was accustomed to meet. John Biddle kept the latter for many years.
The Pennsylvania Hospital was first located on the south side of High Street west of Fifth. It had been the home of Chief Justice John Kinsey of the Provincial Supreme Court and was surrounded by pastures and gardens.
Near the corner of Water and High Streets dwelt Chief Justice William Allen, who was the presiding Justice over the Supreme Court from 1750 until 1754. Water
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Street was called King Street_until the time when Kings became unpopular. Justice Allen was opulent and influ- ential. He had been a successful merchant and a founder of the Academy and College which subsequently became the University of Pennsylvania. The fame of his coach drawn by four black horses with an English coachman on the box survived for many a day.
At 43 Water Street dwelt the famous Stephen Girard, " Merchant and Mariner," and to his house came the French refugees, the Count de Survilliers, Field Marshal Count Grouchy and General Lallemand, especially to Sunday dinners. Indeed Girard had entertained before this Talleyrand, the Duke of Orleans, later Louis Philippe, and his brother, all of whom were emigrés at the time of the French Revolution.
It is thought that William Bradford, the first printer in the Middle Colonies, had his shop near Front and High Streets and his descendants continued the trade in the neighbourhood for a full century or more. Andrew Brad- ford's " Mercury," first issued 22nd December, 1719, was the first newspaper in the Middle Colonies and the second printed in this country. Until 1723 he was the only printer in the Province and being on that account a per- sonage, secured the postmastership as an aid to the dis- tribution of his paper. He held the position until Franklin wrested it from him on the same account.
This neighbourhood was indeed the printing house square of Philadelphia until the beginning of the last cen- tury. At what is now 135 Market Street Franklin started his first printing office with Hugh Meredith and it was here in 1741 that he began the publication of the first monthly magazine in this country called " The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the British
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Plantations in America." Mathew Carey began business on Front below High Street in 1784 where he published " The Pennsylvania Herald." John Dunlap, one of the founders of the First City Troop and an early Captain of it, was associated in a printing house with David C. Claypool near Second and High Streets on the south side of the latter. They published the first daily newspaper in this country and first published Washington's Farewell address. Dunlap started the " Pennsylvania Packet, or General Advertiser " in November, 1771. It was then a weekly, and Claypool astonished his associate by printing it as a daily in 1784. He published the debates of Con- gress and Washington sent him the original manuscript of his Farewell address.
At 25 North Second Street, opposite Christ Church, was the shop of William Cobbett, widely known by the pen name of " Peter Porcupine." He was as keen a satirist as Swift and resembled him in more ways than one. Scorch- ing invective and keen satire characterized his pamphlets and although he wrote in an age of clever pamphleteers he remained to the end the leader of them all. Just west of Grindstone Alley, on the site of the present number 219, was the clockmaker Robert Leslie whose son Charles Robert became a great painter. Next door Joseph Cruik- shank, the Quaker printer and bookseller, had his shop.
As early as 1768 David Deshler lived where is now number 223. Deshler built the house on the Market Square in Germantown where President Washington lived during the yellow fever outbreak of 1793. " Honest David Desh- ler " was famed for his attire. He favoured olive-coloured silk, velvet knee-breeches and bright silver buckles, and astonished the plain trustees of the old Academy in Ger- mantown when he attended his first meeting in his full
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dress " regalia." Next door to Deshler on High Street in 1767 lived Peletiah Webster, a former master of the Ger- mantown Academy, now in trade. Opposite to him was Hilary Baker, the son of Hilarius Becker, the first head- master of the same school. He became Mayor in 1796. Nearby was another Germantowner, Colonel Thomas Forrest, a Trustee of the Academy, and its President in 1799. He went to Congress for the first time at the age of 72 years.
On the north side of High Street near Fourth dwelt John and Casper Wister. The latter spelled it with an " a " and was really a learned anatomist. His fame, how- ever, rests upon his entertainments, which still linger as Wistar Parties. He was an early graduate of the medical school of the University in 1782 and in 1786 received his doctor's degree at Edinburgh, where he became President of the Royal Society of Medicine of Edinburgh. He re- turned in 1787 and began the practice of his profession on High Street. He soon became Professor of Anatomy in the University and gathered about him the learned men of this and other countries for delightful evenings. The famous " Wistar Parties " were always held on Sunday nights at his later residence at Fourth and Locust Streets.
At the corner of Fifth and High Streets Israel Whelen had his office and lived at certain seasons of the year. Mr. Whelen was a fighting Quaker, although not one of the organization bearing that name. He was an authority on banking and finances and a shipping merchant of large resources. He became Commissary General in the Revo- lution, feeling that it was right to " resist lawless tyranny, bearing down all before it." Friends were alarmed at his digression but took him back and buried him in their grave- yard at Fourth and Arch Streets. He was the head of the
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CHARLES NORRIS' HOUSE, CHESTNUT BETWEEN FOURTH AND FIFTH STREETS
ROBERT MORRIS' HOUSES, SOUTHWEST CORNER SIXTH AND HIGH STREETS
CLARKE'S HALL, CHESTNUT STREET BETWEEN THIRD STREET AND HUDSON'S ALLEY
Birch, 1799
HIGH STREET, EAST FROM NINTH STREET Showing Members of the City Troop
EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR CITY
Electoral College that chose John Adams President and the third President of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. In 1793 he moved to High above Eighth Street and had his place of business at the northwest corner of Fourth and High. William Sellers, famed for his invention of drawn wire and wire weaving, erected the house at Sixth and High.
Probably the most historic personages to reside in this vicinity lived in the house between Fifth and Sixth Streets, now numbered 526, 528 and 530. During the British occu- pation, this mansion being regarded as the finest in the city, was taken by General Howe for his headquarters and on its grounds was quartered the 15th Regiment of Foot. As soon as the British had evacuated the city, General Benedict Arnold, who had been placed in charge of Philadelphia, found it to his taste and so occupied it. Sometime after- ward it was partially destroyed by fire, but Robert Morris built it up again with improvement and lived there for several years. It cost him £3750, and nearly at what is now numbered 510 he had his counting house. When the Capital of the Nation came to Philadelphia the fine residence so centrally located became Washington's Executive Mansion at a yearly rental of $3000. This was more than any other property in the City could command, so we are able to judge that the proximity of the Market must have been an advantage rather than otherwise. From December, 1790, until March, 1797, the President resided there except when on vacation at Mount Vernon or at Ger- mantown during the yellow fever epidemic. At the latter place his front windows again looked out upon the Market Square so that Mrs. Washington was well located for keep- ing the State dinners plentifully supplied.
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