Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 15.djvu/786

PHILADELPHIA. some 900 miles are paved with brick, stone, or asphalt, 225 macadamized, and the remainder unpaved. The mileage of sewers is 951 and of water mains 1319. The street railways (employing the overhead trolley system, and in 1902 carrying 325,801,963 passengers) have a total mileage of 475, and the steam railroads of 360. At the present time (1903) there is under construction a subway system of four tracks from the Delaware to the Schuylkill, with an elevated extension along Market Street from the Schuylkill to the city line. Twelve public and twelve railroad bridges cross the Schuylkill, and one railroad bridge the Delaware; and among these are some of the finest structures of the kind in the country.

It is possible to characterize with tolerable accuracy the various sections of Philadelphia. The business life centres around Market Street. The portion north and south of this thoroughfare bordering the Delaware is devoted to wholesale trade, shipping, and warehouses; from Third Street to Eighth, Market, Chestnut, and Walnut may be designated as the financial and banking centre of the city: these streets, with Arch, from Eighth to City Hall, form the great retail shopping section, where are found the great department stores. The large office buildings cluster about the City Hall, at the Junction of Broad and Market Streets, in the vicinity of which are also found the Pennsylvania and Reading depots and the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Westward from the City Hall, Market Street is lined by smaller wholesale and retail establishments; while beyond the Schuylkill, Lancaster and Woodland avenues dispute its supremacy in retail trade. The northeastern section, comprising Kensington and Frankfort, and certain portions of the northwest section form the chief textile centre of the city; the northeast section at Port Richmond is also the location of Cramp's ship-yards. The southern portion, east of the Schuylkill, is devoted to general manufactures and to transportation.

The residential portions of the city seem to be as clearly divided by Market Street as are the business interests. South of that thoroughfare, on Chestnut, Walnut, and Spruce streets, centring about Rittenhouse Square, is the aristocratic residential section of the city. North of Market the upper portion of Broad Street, with portions of other streets between it and the Schuylkill, forms another important residence area. North of this comes the residential section occupied largely by textile operatives. South of Market and extending a few blocks below Lombard is the section occupied by the foreign and colored elements, with the former, consisting largely of Italians and Hebrews, grouped to the east of Broad, and the negroes between Broad and the Schuylkill. In this region are located most of the slums of the city, though the peculiarities of the building plan permit them to exist in the rear of the best residential sections. West of the Schuylkill, Market Street continues to divide West Philadelphia into two distinct residential portions; for the northern the character is largely determined by the proximity of the main freight yards of the Pennsylvania Railroad, whose employees, together with employees from the downtown business district, constitute the bulk of its population. The southern is a

more pretentious residence district, with many notable residences and with an academic air imparted to it by the presence of the University of Pennsylvania. Especially noted for their villas and gardens are the attractive suburbs of Germantown and Chestnut Hill; and in the general beauty of its numerous suburban sites Philadelphia is unsurpassed by any city of the world. By its name Philadelphia suggests its distinctive title “The City of Brotherly Love;” its early history renders especially appropriate that of “the Quaker City;” but none more truly characterizes it than that of “The City of Homes.” Of 323,783 buildings of all kinds (1903), 298,144 are dwelling houses, with an average of 4.5 persons per dwelling, and with 22 per cent. owned by the occupants. There are 800 church buildings, 474 schools, public and private, and 247 buildings used for charitable and benevolent purposes. In the older portions there are many survivals of the long blocks of red brick houses, with white marble steps and trimmings, that early gave Philadelphia the neat appearance for which it is still famous. In the newer portions red brick is still the principal building material, and the residences are commonly built in long blocks of houses of four or more similarly arranged rooms, each separated from its neighbors by a brick party-wall, and varying in size with the width of the street. On some of the larger streets the houses are built in pairs, instead of blocks, but the arrangement of the separate houses is the same. There is, however, a more welcome variety in styles of architecture than formerly, and various kinds of building stone, along many streets, are beginning to break the monotony of the customary brick, while in the better suburbs the residences are almost wholly of stone or wood. In general, Philadelphia, in its homes and parks, may be said to retain to a greater degree than any other large American city the finer qualities of its early town life and to combine with these the best features of modern industrial development.

. Adherence to an early architectural idea has made Philadelphia one of the last of large American cities to favor tall buildings. Very recently, however, a group of tall structures has sprung up in the vicinity of the ‘Public Buildings,’ as Philadelphians designate their City Hall. This immense structure, begun in the early 70's, and covering 4½ acres, accommodates all the municipal and county officers, and the State and county courts. It is a marble edifice, of modern French Renaissance style, 90 feet high, rising in corner pavilions to 101 feet, in central pavilions to 203 feet, and in the tower surmounted by a colossal statue of Penn (37 feet high and weighing 53,348 pounds) to a height of 547 feet 11¼ inches. The building, inclosing a large central court, measures 486 feet 6 inches by 470 feet, and in it are 634 rooms, with a floor space of 14½ acres. In the tower are four great clock dials, each with a minute hand eleven feet long and weighing 225 pounds, and regulated by a vibration and temperature proof clock 143 feet below. The cost of the Public Buildings up to December 31, 1902, was $24,344,350, of which some $18,250,000 was for construction proper. Among the important Federal buildings located within the city are the new United States Mint, on Spring Garden Street, one of the largest and most completely equipped in the world; the Post