Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Philadelphia (2.)

PHILADELPHIA, the chief city of Pennsylvania, and the second city in the United States of America, is situated (39° 57' 7.5" N. lat., 75° 9' 23.4" W. long.) on the west bank of the Delaware river, 96 miles from the Atlantic and in a direct line 125 miles north-east of Washington, D.C., and 85 miles south-west of the city of New York. Its greatest length north-north-east is 22 miles, its breadth from 5 to 10 miles, and its area 82,603 acres, or about 129 square miles (greater than that of any other city in America). The surface of the city between the rivers Delaware and Schuylkill—the latter running parallel with the Delaware and dividing the city about in half, east and west—is remarkably level. It varies, however, in elevation from 24½ feet above the sea to 440 feet, the latter in the northern and suburban sections. The eastern and western sections of the city are connected by eight bridges. The length of river-front on the Delaware is nearly 20 miles, and the length of wharves 5 miles. On both sides of the Schuylkill, to Fairmount dam, the front is 16 miles and the length of wharves 4 miles. The mean low-water mark of the Delaware is 24 feet, and the tide rises 6 feet, while the average depth of water at the city wharves is 50 feet. The wharf-line, which varies from 14 feet to 68 feet, gives extraordinary accommodation for shipping. The Delaware is navigable at all seasons of the year for vessels of the heaviest burden, and Philadelphia affords one of the best protected harbours in the country. The

substratum of the city is a clay soil mixed with more or less sand and gravel.



General Plan of Philadelphia.

The site of the present Philadelphia was originally settled by the Swedes, and so Penn found it when he came to lay out the city; and many of the original patentees for town lots under him were descendants of these first settlers. The original city limits were from east to west 10,922 feet 5 inches, and from north to south 5370 feet 8 inches, or more than 2 square miles. The boundaries were Vine street on the N., Cedar (now South) street on the S., the Delaware river on the E., and the Schuylkill river on the W. And this was the city of Philadelphia from its foundation until the 2d day of February 1854, when what is known as the Consolidation Act was passed by the legislature of the State, and the old limits of the city proper were extended to take in all the territory embraced within the then county of Philadelphia. This legislation abolished the districts of Southwark, Northern Liberties, Kensington, Spring Garden, Moyamensing, Penn, Richmond, West Philadelphia, and Belmont; the boroughs of Frankford, Germantown, Manayunk, White-Hall, Bridesburg, and Aramingo; and the townships of Passyunk, Blockley, Kingsessing, Roxborough, Germantown, Bristol, Oxford, Lower Dublin, Moreland, Bybery, Delaware, and Penn; and it transferred all their franchises and property to the consolidated city of Philadelphia under one municipal government. The present boundaries of the city are: on the E. the Delaware, on the N.E. Bucks county, on the N.N.W. and W. Montgomery county, and on the W. and S. Delaware county and the Delaware. The greater part is laid out in parallelograms, with streets at right angles to each other. Each main parallelogram contains about 4 acres, or is 400 feet on each

of its sides, divided by one or more small thoroughfares. Upon the city plans there are plotted 191,928 separate town lots. The main streets running north and south are numbered from First or Front to Sixty-third streets, and those running east and west were formerly named after the trees and shrubs found in the province. Thus, while the principal street in the city is named Market street, other main streets are named Chestnut, Walnut, Spruce, Pine, &amp;c. The main streets of Philadelphia are 50 feet wide, with some few exceptions: Broad or Fourteenth street is 113 feet wide, and Market street is 100 feet wide. The streets are generally paved with rubble stone, although square or Belgian blocks of granite are being extensively introduced. There are laid down on the city plans upwards of 2000 miles of streets, but at present (1884) only 1060½ miles are opened, of which 573.54 miles are paved and 44.28 macadamized. The pavements are chiefly of brick, but some of the more prominent streets have flagstone sidewalks. Market street and Chestnut street, below Eighth street, and Front street are the localities where the main wholesale business of the city is conducted. Most of the retail stores are situated in the upper part of Chestnut street and Eighth street. The principal banking institutions are in Chestnut street, between Second and Fifth streets, and in Third street between Walnut and Chestnut streets. Walnut street in the southern section of the city, and Spring Garden and Broad streets in the northern section of the city, are the chief streets for large and luxurious private residences. There is not a street of any consequence which has not a tramway along it; and the tramway system has done a great deal to increase building, until now Philadelphia is emphatically &ldquo;the city of homes.&rdquo; There are upwards of 160,000 dwelling-houses, of which at least 110,000 are owned by the occupants. According to the returns for the census of 1880, there were 146,412 dwelling-houses in the city, which, taking the population as given by that census, 847,170, gave 5.79 persons to each house, while the number of dwellings in New York to the population gave 16.37 to each house. On the original plan of the city five squares, equidistant, were reserved for public parks. One of these, called Centre square, situated at the intersection of Broad and Market streets, has been taken for the erection of the city-hall, and the remaining four, situated at Sixth and Walnut, Sixth and Race, Eighteenth and Walnut, and Eighteenth and Race, and named respectively Washington, Franklin, Rittenhouse, and Logan, have a combined area of 29.06 acres. There are six other public squares in the city, with a total area of 18.90 acres. In addition to these public squares, Fairmount Park, with an area of 2791$1/5$ acres, including 373 acres of the water-surface of the Schuylkill river, is the most extensive public park in the United States. It lies in the north-western section of the city, and the Schuylkill river and Wissahickon creek wind through the greater portion of it. In the park Horticultural Hall and Memorial Hall remain

as mementoes of the Centennial Exhibition held there in 1876. The garden of the Zoological Society, covering 33 acres, on the outskirts of the park, was opened 1st July 1874, as the pioneer of such enterprises in the United States. Until within the last score of years the buildings in Philadelphia bore a singular resemblance to each other, especially the dwelling-houses. The predominant material for building was, and is, red brick, the soil affording the finest clay for brick found in the United States. The desire for uniformity in buildings, both in style and material, has happily undergone a change in recent years, although the danger now is of running to the other extreme, and thus giving the streets a decidedly bizarre appearance. There are 238¾ miles of sewers in Philadelphia, but the drainage of the city is wholly inadequate. The streets are lighted by 12,805 gas-lamps, and Chestnut street by the electric light. There are 748 miles of gas main, and the average daily consumption is 10,624,000 cubic feet.

Buildings.—The old brick Swedes Church in Swanson street in the extreme south-eastern section, dedicated on the first Sunday after Trinity 1700, is the oldest building of character now standing in the city. When it was completed it was looked upon as a great masterpiece, and nothing was then equal to it in the town. The four other colonial buildings of importance still standing are Christ (Protestant Episcopal) Church, the old State House (Independence Hall), the Pennsylvania Hospital, and Carpenter's Hall, all of them built of red brick with black glazed headers. Dr. John Kearsley, a physician, was the architect of the first-mentioned, and Andrew Hamilton, a lawyer, the architect of the second. Christ Church stands on the west side of Second street between Market and Arch streets, and its erection was begun in 1727, but it was not finished, as it now appears with tower and spire, until 1754. It was built on the site of a still older Christ Church, which was also of brick, erected in 1695. Queen Anne in 1708 presented a set of communion plate to the church, which is now used on great occasions. During his presidency Washington worshipped at this church, and his pew is still preserved, as is also that of Franklin. In 1882 the interior of the church was restored to its ancient character at an expense of about $10,000. The nave is 75 feet long by 61 feet in width and 47 feet high; the chancel is 15 feet by 24; and the spire is 196 feet 9 inches high. The old State House or Independence Hall, on the south side of Chestnut street between Fifth and Sixth streets, was commenced in 1731, and was ready for occupancy by the Assembly towards the close of 1735. It was the scene of almost all the great civil events of the Revolutionary War. It is 100 feet in length on Chestnut street by 44 feet in depth; and prior to the centennial celebration its exterior and interior were restored as nearly as possible to their original appearance. The Pennsylvania Hospital occupies the square of ground bounded by Spruce, Pine, Eighth, and Ninth streets, and the corner-stone of the building was laid on 28th May 1755. Carpenter's Hall, where the first Congress met, stands back from Chestnut street, east of Fourth street, and was begun in January 1770. These four buildings are all very simple in their construction, but substantial and imposing, and are interesting specimens of colonial architecture. Among the notably fine buildings in Philadelphia are the old United States bank, now the United States custom-house, the Girard bank, the United States mint, and the Girard College, all of which, with the exception of the last-named, were built more than half a century ago. They are all of white marble and of the different orders of Grecian architecture, with porticos and high fluted columns. Other fine

are the Masonic Temple, the Ridgway branch of the Philadelphia library, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Academy of Natural Sciences. There are also very many beautiful churches. The two newest buildings of magnitude are the new United States post-office, at the corner of Ninth and Chestnut streets, which is just completed (1884) at a cost of $8,000,000, and the new municipal buildings for the city of Philadelphia at the intersection of Broad and Market streets, which are in course of construction. The post-office, which is Romanesque, is of granite, and was more than ten years in building, from October 1873 to March 1884. It has a frontage of 425 feet, a depth of 175 feet, and a height of 164 feet. The carrier delivery of the Philadelphia post-office covers the greatest territory of any city in the world, excepting London; it employs 900 men, of whom 448 are letter-carriers. The annual sales of stamps amount to $1,600,000. About half a million of letters, &amp;c., pass through the post-office each day. The new public buildings, as they are called, or city-hall, were begun in August 1871, and when completed will be the largest single building in America. It covers an area, including courtyards, of nearly 4½ acres, the dimensions being 470 feet east and west and 486 feet north and south. The building will contain 520 rooms, and the topmost point of the dome, on the tower, will be 537 feet 4 inches above the courtyard, or the highest artificial construction in the world. The exterior structure is now roofed in and completed, with the exception of the tower. The total amount expended on this building to 31st December 1883 was $9,731,488.81, and the estimated total cost is $13,000,000. The architecture is rather rococo in character.

Population.—Previous to the census of 1830 Philadelphia was the most populous American city, but since then New York has taken the first place. In 1683 it was estimated that Philadelphia had 80 houses and 500 inhabitants. The next year the population increased 2000, and by the beginning of the last century there were 700 dwelling-houses and 4500 people. In 1800 there were 9868 dwellings and 81,009 inhabitants, and in 1820, the last census when Philadelphia stood first, she had a population of 119,325. By the census of 1880 the population of the city is placed at 847,170 (males 405,989, females 441,181), while in 1870 it was 674,022, and in 1860 565,529. About one-third of the population in 1880 were foreign born. In 1883 there were 21,237 births, of which 11,102 were males and 10,135 females. The number of emigrants landed in the year at Philadelphia was 23,473, of whom 13,899 were males and 9574 females,—a decrease of 9778 from 1882. Of these emigrants 7304 were from England, 6023 from Ireland, 5232 from Sweden and Norway, and 2991 from Germany. The mayor of Philadelphia in his annual message to councils in April 1884 places the population of the city at 1,023,000, while the Board of Health estimate it at 907,041. The death-rate of the city in 1883 was 22.13 per thousand. By the census of 1880 41 per cent. of the population were engaged in gainful occupations. In 1884 there were in Philadelphia 1294 lawyers and 1637 physicians. The city has 622 places of worship, viz., Baptist 83, Hebrew 11, Lutheran 32, Methodist 131, Moravian 5, Presbyterian 110, Protestant Episcopal 96, Quaker 15, Reformed Dutch 20, Reformed Episcopal 10, Roman Catholic 47, Swedenborgian 3, Unitarian 3, Universalist 4, and 52 among 23 other different denominations. There are 53 cemeteries and burial-grounds in the city.

(C. H. H*.)