Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/403

 PHILADELPHIA 389 lower portion, called "the city of waters" on account of the perennial stream which rises in. and still flows through it, was captured by Joab, who yielded to David the honor of storm- ing the main citadel. Two centuries later the wall and the palaces of Rabbath-Ammon are again spoken of. In the time of Nebuchad- nezzar it is mentioned as a city of great im- portance, with several towns in the neighbor- hood dependent upon it. In the 3d century B. 0. Ptolemy Philadelphus bestowed upon it the name of Philadelphia, and the surround- ing district was called Philadelphene, or Ara- bia Philadelphensis. Antiochus the Great be- sieged and took it in 218. Subsequently it fell into the hands of Aretas, an Arab chief- tain, and from later accounts it appears to have been for a time uninhabited. Yet in the beginning of our era it was again one of the strongest cities of Peraea, and one of the cities of the Decapolis. It became very early the seat of a Christian bishop, forming one of the 19 sees of Palsestina Tertia. At the time of the Mohammedan invasion of Syria the town was in ruins. The remains of a magnificent theatre, temples, mausoleums, the citadel, and other public and private buildings still exist. In recent times the place has been visited and described by Burckhardt, Seetzen, Bucking- ham, Lindsay, Robinson, Hamilton, E. H. Pal- mer, Tyrwhitt Drake, Tristram, members of the English Palestine exploration fund, and members of the American Palestine explora- tion society. The last named assumed the task of triangulating the country, and making it a special field of exploration. PHILADELPHIA, the chief city of Pennsyl- vania, and the second of the United States in population, coextensive with the county of the same name, situated on the Delaware river, at the mouth of the Schuylkill, 96 m. from the Atlantic ocean, 125 m. in a direct line N". E. of Washington, and 85 m. S. "W. of New York; lat. of Independence hall 39 57' K, Ion. 75 10' W. ; greatest length N. 1ST. E. and S. S. W. 22 m., breadth from 5 to 10 m. ; area, 82,603 acres, or 129*4 sq. m. The original city was included between the Delaware on the east and the Schuylkill on the west, and Vine street on the north and South street on the south, the latter street being about 3 m. N. of the junc- tion of the two rivers. This area, a little more than 1 m. 1ST. and S. and 2 m. E. and "W., was not enlarged till 1854, when the corporation was extended over the entire county. The densely built portion comprises about 15 sq. in. between the rivers, on either side of and including the original city. The district W. of the Schuylkill is popularly known as "West Philadelphia, and there are other localities which still retain the names they bore prior to annexation. Among these may be mentioned Bridesburg, Frankford, and Holmesburg in the northeast, and Manayunk (on the left bank of the Schuylkill), Germantown, and Chestnut Hill in the northwest. The last two are chiefly noted for their fine residences, the others for their manufactures. Several small streams empty into the Delaware and Schuylkill, of which the principal are "Wissahickon creek, flowing through the IS". W. portion of the city and emptying into the Schuylkill below Mana- yunk, and Frankford creek, formed by the junction of Tacony and Wingohocking creeks, emptying into the Delaware above Bridesburg. At the junction of the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers is League island, separated from the mainland on the north by a narrow passage called the " Back channel." Above this in the Delaware are Windmill, Smith's, and Treaty islands. The surface between the rivers is in general level, with an elevation of from 30 to 300 ft. above tide. In the south, however, it falls off into alluvial flats, while in the north and in the district W. of the Schuylkill it is undulating and sometimes broken. The im- mediate front on the Delaware was originally a bluff of gravel 30 to 50 ft. high. It is now closely built up with lofty warehouses on nar- row streets. The foundation of the city is mainly a dry, well drained gravel, making the sewerage easy and perfect. Ledges of gneiss and imperfect granite underlie the upper part of the city; Fairmount reservoir rests on a large and peculiar ledge of this sort, 96 ft. high, near the Schuylkill. The tide ascends the Delaware river above the city on the E. side, and the Schuylkill on the W. side to Fair- mount dam, thus nearly surrounding it with tidal waters. The original city was regularly laid out, the N". and S. streets, with few ex- ceptions, being numbered from the Delaware W. to the Schuylkill, which is reached at 23d street, the first street W. of that river being 30th. These are crossed at right angles by named streets. This plan, though in general applied to the newer portions of the city, has been modified by the conformation of the land as determined by the curves of the rivers, while the suburbs in some instances were laid out upon an independent plan. A few irregu- lar avenues, formerly highways leading to the country, stretch away from the original town plot. The buildings on the E. and W. streets are numbered toward the west, all between Front or 1st street and 2d street being be- tween 100 and 200, and all between 2d and 3d streets between 200 and 300, and so on. On the N. and S. streets the buildings are num- bered in either direction from Market street, certain streets being designated as boundaries of the hundreds. Market street, the great cen- tral, street E. and W., is 100 ft. wide. Broad street, the central street N. and S., is 113 ft. in width. The other great streets are from 50 to 66 ft. wide, forming squares with sides of from 300 to 450 ft. In most cases the squares are subdivided by small streets laid out at a later period. Broad and Market streets are each continuously built up for about 4 m. The streets near the Delaware and parallel to it are all built up for greater distances than Broad