# The New International Encyclopædia/Philadelphia

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​ PHILADELPHIA. The chief city of Pennsylvania, and the third city in population and importance of the United States, co-extensive with Philadelphia County, having an area of 129.5 square miles. It is situated in the southeastern corner of the State, at the confluence of the Schuylkill with the Delaware, about 50 miles from the mouth of the Delaware and 100 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, in latitude 39° 57′ N. and longitude 75° 9′ W. It is distant from New York by rail 90 miles, from Washington 132, and from Chicago 822.
The climate of Philadelphia is considerably milder in winter and warmer in summer than that of the central and western cities of the State. The mean temperature for January is 32.3°, and for July 76.2°. The heat during July and August is often very intense, the temperature rising sometimes above 100°. The average annual rainfall in the city is about 44 inches, slightly heavier than that of New York.
Description. William Penn founded the city on the narrow neck of land, some two miles wide, lying between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. Disregarding his plan for a simultaneous growth of the city backward from each river, the early settlers preferred to remain near the Delaware, along which occurred the first north and south expansion of the city. It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that the westward growth of the city reached Broad Street, the half-way line to the Schuylkill. From this time on the city has grown more rapidly, extending southward to the junction of the two rivers, westward far beyond the Schuylkill to Cobb's Creek, and northward in two main branches, the easternmost following the Delaware to Poquessing Creek, eighteen miles from the southern limit, and the westerly through the suburban region stretching ten miles along the Wissahickon—a tributary of the Schuylkill. In the western and northern sections of the city large areas of open country still exist. From the dike-protected lowlands of the south, five feet below the average high tide, the city rises gradually to heights of 443 feet in the hilly regions of the northwest. The general plan of the streets is determined by the east and west direction of Market Street, the main business thoroughfare, 100 feet wide, which runs directly west from the Delaware, a distance of six miles, separating the city in respect of street numbering into north and south divisions; and by Broad Street, 113 feet wide and 12 miles long, which at City Hall Square intersects Market at right angles. The main portion of the city is laid out with great regularity, the numbered streets running parallel with Broad, and the named streets with Market. The regularity of the general plan is broken, however, in the portion east of the Schuylkill, by Ridge and Germantown avenues, which intersect diagonally the streets north of Market, and by Passyunk and Moyamensing avenues, south of Market Street; in West Philadelphia, Lancaster Avenue, north, and Woodland Avenue, south of Market Street, act in a similar manner, though in this and in other outlying sections there is, in general, less attempt to follow strictly the regularity of the older portions of the city. There are more than 1560 miles of streets, of which ​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.
Buildings. 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.
CITY HALL
​ 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 ​Office Building, bounded by Market, Chestnut, Tenth and Ninth, occupying the site of the first President's Mansion and the subsequent home of the University of Pennsylvania; the Custom House, on Chestnut Street near the Delaware, modeled after the Parthenon, and erected in 1819-24 for the Second United States Bank; the Arsenal, below South Street near the Schuylkill; and at the southern end of Broad Street, the large League Island Navy Yard. Of the historic buildings the most important are the familiar Independence Hall and Carpenter's Hall on Chestnut Street, inseparably associated with the early Continental and Federal Congresses; the Betsy Ross House on Arch Street, where the first American flag was made; the Old Swedes (1700) and Old Christ (1727) churches of Revolutionary fame; and the first United States Mint, on Seventh Street below Market. The Pennsylvania Historical Society, one of the strongest organizations of its kind in the country, has an elegant building at Thirteenth and Locust streets.
INDEPENDENCE HALL
​ Now that Philadelphia has adopted the modern steel frame building (with a careful regulation of height, however), its recent business structures will compare favorably in size and importance with those of any other American city. Among the leading office buildings may be mentioned the Land Title Annex (319 feet high); the pioneer Betz Building; the Real Estate Trust Building; the Arcade Building, and the Commonwealth Trust Building—all grouped around the City Hall; and the Real Estate Title and Trust Company Building, the Drexel Building, the Bullitt Building, and the Provident Building—notable structures of the financial area. In this vicinity, also, is the Philadelphia Contributionship ‘Hand in Hand,’ the oldest fire insurance company in America, of whose directorship Franklin was an early member. The Pennsylvania Railroad station, with a train shed over 700 feet long, and the Reading Terminal, a handsome railroad station, approached like that of the Pennsylvania Railroad by a viaduct, are notable railway terminals and office headquarters. Of newspaper buildings the most prominent are those of The North American (22 stories), The Record, and The Public Ledger. Of semi-public organizations the Stock Exchange is housed in the remodeled Merchants' Exchange Building; the Bourse Building is the home of the Board of Trade, the Trades League, and other trade oragnizations; and the Commercial Museum, supported by municipal, State, and Federal appropriations, and devoted to the encouragement of foreign commerce, especially with Spanish America, is located temporarily on Fourth Street, pending the erection of a permanent structure in West Philadelphia, on the site of the Exposition of 1899. Philadelphia has many important hotels, among the most elegant and commodious of which may be mentioned the Walton and the new Bellevue-Stratford, both on Broad Street near City Hall.
With structures representing interests that are not strictly utilitarian Philadelphia is well supplied. The Masonic and Odd Fellows' temples, on North Broad Street, rank with the best society structures on the continent. The Young Men's Christian Association Building on Fifteenth Street, that of the Young Women's Christian Association on Arch street, the Crozier Building of the Baptist Publication Society, the Witherspoon Building, with the publication rooms, general offices, and historical museum of the Presbyterian Church (North), represent in highest perfection the application of modern business methods to religious work. In addition to the historic churches already mentioned, the most important edifices are the Roman Catholic Cathedral, the Kenneth Israel Synagogue, and the Baptist Temple on North Broad Street, Holy Trinity (Protestant Episcopal) on Rittenhouse Square, the Arch Street (Methodist Episcopal), the First Presbyterian and the Tabernacle Presbyterian and the Friends' fleeting House on Arch Street—the Quaker Westminster of America. Of educational institutions the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel Institute, the new Boys' High School, Girard College with its early Grecian structures, and the Roman Catholic High School are architecturally of importance.
Parks. The system embraces about 4000 acres. Public interest has been aroused of late in the development also of parkways. William Penn expressed the desire to make Philadelphia a ‘greene country towne;’ and his surveyor Holme placed on the plan, near its four angles, rectangular open spaces, now Logan (northwest). Rittenhouse (southwest), Franklin (northeast), and Washington (southeast) squares, containing an aggregate of 28½ acres. These, together with Central Square, the site of the original water-works, but now of City Hall, formed a cherished precedent. In 1903 there were under the care of the Bureau of City Property more than 50 small parks and plots containing over 600 acres. The largest was League Island Park (300 acres), contiguous to the League Island Navy Yard. In Independence Square the Declaration of Independence was read to the populace. Penn Treaty Square marks the site of the great elm under which, according to tradition, the founder made his famous compact with the Indians. In Logan Square was held in the summer of 1864 the great Sanitary Fair. Bartram's Garden (27 acres), on the banks of the Schuylkill, was the first botanical garden in the New World. Its noteworthy arboreal collection has been preserved.
The city's greatest pleasure ground is Fairmount Park, rich in natural beauties. The Schuylkill divides it into East Park, with over 633 acres, and West Park, with 1323 acres. Along the Wissahickon is the Wissahickon Valley extension of 1010 acres. The acquisition in 1812 of five acres on Morris's Hill, the original Fair Mount, for water-works and park purposes, led to the formation of the park. To this were added areas of woodland, and country seats, the Lansdowne estate of Governor John Penn, Eaglesfield, Sweet Briar, and Solitude; the Belmont home of Judge Peters of the Supreme Court, where Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Lafayette, and others visited; Mount Pleasant, the residence of Benedict Arnold; George's Hill (83 acres), presented by Jesse and Rebecca George; Strawberry Mansion, Lemon Hill, Ormiston, and Edgely. The miniature Letitia House, built by William Penn for his discontented daughter, was transported from the city. The Zoölogical Gardens are maintained by private subscription, admission receipts, and municipal appropriations contingent upon the free admission of school children. The Centennial Exposition of 1876 brought many noteworthy structures into the park, the most important that remain being Horticultural Hall, with a fine exotic collection, and Memorial Hall, ​where are exhibited the Wilstach Art Collection and the display of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of industrial Art. A trolley line, below grade, eight miles long, extends to the chief points of attraction. A speedway, one mile in length, is being completed. The Schuylkill is frequently the scene of regattas, and there are handsome stone boat houses on its eastern bank.
Many fine monuments have been placed in the park. The Washington Monument by Siemering of Berlin is the most imposing. Funds for its erection were provided by the Society of the Cincinnati, the subscriptions, begun in 1819, aggregating $250,000 when the monument was unveiled in May, 1897. It stands at the Green Street entrance, the termination of the Park Boulevard. This thoroughfare, projected in 1903, is to be 160 feet wide from City Hall to Logan Square, and thence 300 feet wide to the park. In the same year was authorized the construction of the Torresdale Boulevard, 300 feet wide and 15 miles long, from North Broad Street to Torresdale. Of note are the statues of Lincoln, Garfield, Grant, Meade, Humboldt, Schiller, Goethe, Columbus, Joan of Arc, Witherspoon, and Father Mathew; and the Catholic Total Abstinence Union Fountain, and the Smith Memorial Arch. Grant's Cabin, occupied as headquarters at City Point, is here preserved. In the city proper are comparatively few works of art, the most important being statues of Washington in front of Independence Hall, of Franklin on the post-office pavement, and of McClellan and Reynolds on City Hall Plaza.
The Wissahickon Valley, a deep wooded ravine, which has been left almost in its original wild state, is of interest for its memories and legends of Indian braves and mystic German monks who made it their retreat. The first paper mill in America was erected on its banks in 1690. In Fairmount Park there are 20 small streams, several lakes, and more than 150 springs; over 66 miles of drives, 10 of bridle paths, and 40 of smaller roads. The boundary line is 30 miles long. The entire cost approximates $7,000,000, and $3,500,000 has been expended in permanent improvements.
The Laurel Hill cemeteries are contiguous to the park. In the city are numerous burial places, many of historic associations.
Educational Institutions and Libraries. At the close of 1902 there were in the city six higher schools, including a high school for boys, conferring degrees of A.B. and B.S., and a school of pedagogy; a high school, a commercial high school, and a normal school for girls; and two manual training schools. There were also one school of industrial art, one elementary manual training school, one observation and practice school, five special schools for backward children and truants (under the compulsory education law), twelve cooking schools, and grammar, primary, and kindergarten schools, making the total of city institutions 420, with 229 male and 3537 female teachers, and an attendance of 158,473, of which 5800 were in the higher schools. The general course of study falls under no classification, but is the result of development. Foreign languages are taught only in the higher schools. There is some special and experimental manual training for seventh and eighth grade boys, and cooking and sewing instruction for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade girls. Through private bequest and municipal legislation there are available 358 free scholarships in the University of Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr, Lehigh University, and various medical, art, and scientific colleges. Night and summer vacation schools are conducted.
At the head of the higher educational institutions is the University of Pennsylvania (q.v.). Philadelphia is a centre of medical education, its prominent medical colleges being that of the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson, Hahnemann, Medico-Chirurgical, Polyclinic, and Woman's (founded in 1850), the first chartered medical college for women in the world to confer the degree of M.D. The Pennsylvania and Philadelphia dental colleges (the oldest and the best of their kind) and the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy are largely attended. The art schools of the Pennsylvania Academy also are the oldest in the country. The School of Industrial Art and the School of Design for Women are well known. Bryn Mawr College (q.v.), near Philadelphia, is one of the foremost women's institutions of the United States. The Drexel Institute, founded and endowed with $2,000,000 by A. J. Drexel, offers at a small cost courses in art, sciences, and industrial training. Other leading institutions are the Franklin and Spring Garden Institutes, Temple College, Episcopal Academy, the seminaries of the Protestant Episcopal, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic churches, La Salle and Saint Joseph's Colleges, and the Roman Catholic High School, the Methodist Episcopal Collegiate institute for Girls, numerous schools of the Society of Friends, including the William Penn Charter (1701), the first chartered school in the country, the Cheltenham Military Academy, and the Germantown Academy (1760). The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, established under a bequest of $2,500,000 by the late I. V. Williamson, offers complete trade courses and supports students free of cost. Philadelphia is noted for its associations and institutions for the promotion and diffusion of science and learning, and the encouragement of art. Among these are the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences (q.v.), the Franklin Institute (q.v.), the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Zoölogical Society, the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Wagner Institute.
The Free Library, now in temporary quarters, founded in 1891, on bequests of George S. Pepper and others, is maintained by appropriations made by City Councils. In the central and 14 branch libraries are over 250,000 volumes. A gift by Andrew Carnegie of $50,000 for each of thirty additional branches with halls for public gatherings (conditional upon their maintenance by the city), and an appropriation of $1,000,000 for a permanent central building, provided by a loan approved by popular vote, are awaiting expenditure. The Library Company's collection, begun in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin and his associates of the ‘Junto,’ formed the first subscription library in America. Its 200,000 volumes include many of extreme rarity. The Ridgway Branch, an excellent example of pure Greek architecture, contains one of the most valuable reference lists in the United States. Other important libraries ​of the 100 in the city are the Mercantile (1821), general circulation and reference; Carpenters' Company (1736), architecture and building; Friends' (1742); American Philosophical Society (1743); Academy of Natural Sciences; Franklin Institute, scientific; Hurst, law; College of Physicians; University of Pennsylvania, Apprentices', Pennsylvania, Presbyterian, and Baptist Historical societies; Drexel Institute; and the H. Josephine Widener Branch of the Free Library, with a valuable collection of reference works.
Hospitals and Other Institutions. The municipal charities are the hospitals for the Indigent and for the Insane, General Hospital, and the Municipal Hospital (contagious diseases). The Pennsylvania Hospital, founded in 1751, through the efforts of Franklin, and maintained entirely by private subscription, is the oldest institution of the kind in America. The religious denominations maintain institutions, among them being Saint Agnes', Saint Mary's, and Saint Joseph's hospitals (Roman Catholic); Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Jewish, Saint Luke's (Baptist), and German (Lutheran) hospitals. Large hospitals are connected with the University, and Jefferson, Medico-Chirurgical, Polyclinic, Hahnemann, and Woman's Medical colleges. Other important charities are the Rush and Phipps hospitals for consumptives, the Gynecean, Orthopædic, Wills Eye, and Maternity hospitals. There are more than 100 dispensaries, homes, asylums, orphanages, etc. The College Settlement, Society for Organizing Charity, Working Women's Guilds, Flower, Fruit, and Ice Mission, various children's aid, protection, and country week associations do good work. The city maintains numerous public baths, which were patronized in 1902 by 4,453,000 persons.
Girard College, founded by Stephen Girard, who at his death in 1830 gave $2,000,000 for construction and the greater portion of his $5,000,000 estate for endowment, supports and educates annually over 1600 orphans. The residuary fund now amounts to $16,500,000. The Citizens' Permanent Relief Committee has relieved thousands of distressed in all parts of the world, over $5,000,000 having been distributed since 1879. The Mayor is president. The penal institutions are the Eastern State Penitentiary, the House of Refuge (boys and girls), the House of Correction (adults), and Moyamensing and Holmesburg County prisons.
Theatres and Clubs. The drama in America began in Philadelphia, a company being organized in 1749. The first permanent playhouse in the city was built in 1766; a portion of its walls still stands. The Walnut Street Theatre is the oldest in the country. At Locust and Eighth streets stands the Musical Fund Hall where Malibran, Jenny Lind, and Ole Bull appeared. Other important playhouses are Keith's New Theatre, the Garrick, the South Broad the Chestnut Street, the Grand and Chestnut Street opera houses, and the Auditorium. The Academy of Music, with a capacity of 2900, is used for large public gatherings.
Leading clubs are the Union League, with a handsome brownstone building, Philadelphia, Manufacturers,' Mercantile, Rittenhouse, Markham, Columbia, University, Penn, the Art, installed in a beautiful Renaissance structure of Pompeian brick and Indiana limestone, Sketch, Lawyers' Clover, Five o'Clock, Maennerchor, Franklin, Country, Pen and Pencil, Philadelphia Yacht, and the New Century and Acorn (women's).
Commerce and Manufactures. The industrial development of Philadelphia has been greatly aided by the favorable location of the city for commerce, and especially by its proximity to raw materials. The city has the advantage of superior railroad facilities. The great Pennsylvania Railroad system, with 10,484 miles of owned and leased lines, and the Philadelphia and Reading Railway, with $140,000,000 capital and 1457 miles of track, terminate and have home offices near the City Hall. The Pennsylvania lines give Philadelphia more direct communication with the productive Middle West than is enjoyed by any other Atlantic port. The general offices of the Lehigh Valley Railroad are in the city. The Baltimore and Ohio enters where Chestnut Street crosses the Schuylkill. The tracks of the Pennsylvania are nearly all elevated or below grade, the Baltimore and Ohio below, and the Reading partly above, partly below, but mainly at grade. The Delaware River admits of the entrance of ocean vessels, and is navigable the entire length of the city's frontage, 18 miles. Work is now in progress to deepen the river to 30 feet. The Schuylkill River is navigable eight miles for vessels of light draught and is being dredged to a depth of 22 feet. The general export and import interests, including the Port Richmond coal wharves, are located mainly on the Delaware. Eleven transatlantic lines enter the port.
Early in the nineteenth century Philadelphia was first among United States ports in foreign commerce, but its relative importance declined, until in 1901 it ranked fourth. The imports for that year were valued at $48,043,443, and the exports at $79,354,025. In 1901, 158 sailing vessels, with an aggregate of 115,779 tons, and 950 steam vessels, of 1,807,623 tons, entered the port. The pipe lines of the Standard Oil Company from the wells in the northwest section of the State terminate at Point Breeze, on the Schuylkill, and oil is one of the largest and most valuable shipments of the port. In 1901 the exports of illuminating mineral oil amounted to 207,111,311 gallons, valued at $12,323,961. The exports of corn for the same year amounted to $12,633,467, one-seventh of the total for the country. Wheat and flour are also exported extensively. In 1901, 37,833 head of cattle were shipped, and there were also considerable exports of meat and meat products. Coal and copper are other important exports. The largest import is sugar, amounting in 1901 to a value of over $15,500,000. Imports of unmanufactured silk were valued at over $8,000,000. Among other leading imports are goat skins, fabrics, bananas, etc.
Philadelphia is a great manufacturing centre, ranking third in the United States in value of products. Of 15 selected industries in the census year 1900, it was first in one (leather), second in two (cigars and cigarettes, and women's factory clothing), and third in six. The value of the total output was $732,137,957. This was nearly double the corresponding figure for 1880, but the greater part of the increase was made in the decade 1880-90. The manufacture of foundry and machine shop products is most important, amounting in 1900 to $38,372,971. In this industry ​Philadelphia has a special advantage, owing to its proximity to abundant resources of coal and iron. It is noted particularly for the manufacture of locomotives, the Baldwin Locomotive Works, on North Broad Street, having a yearly capacity of 1500. For years Philadelphia has been the foremost shipbuilding centre in the country. Many warships of the United States and also a number for foreign governments have been built at the Cramp shipyard, which occupies some 52 acres in the Port Richmond section. These two establishments are not only the leading ones of Philadelphia, but each excels, in its own line, for the country at large. In the total manufacture of textiles also the city ranks first (though not for any one branch), the value of the principal textiles produced in 1900 being as follows: Woolen goods, $18,340,012; worsted goods, $16,242,250; cotton goods, $15,723,654; hosiery and knit goods, $13,040,905; silk and silk goods, $4,531,794. The output of the sugar and molasses refining industry was valued at over $36,000,000; the output of clothing, $28,000,000; of carpets and rugs, nearly $22,000,000; of leather, nearly $20,000,000; and of liquors, over $12,000,000.
Government. The executive branch of the government is of a dual nature, consisting of county and municipal departments. The municipal form of government is provided for by the Bullitt Bill, act of June 1, 1885, amended April, 1903, the basic elements of which are concentration of authority in the mayor and the distinction between the executive and legislative functions. The executive departments are: Public Safety, which includes bureaus of police, fire, electricity, corrections, boiler inspection, building inspection, and city property; Public Works, which includes bureaus of water, highways, gas, lighting, street cleaning, surveys, ice boats, and filtration (temporary); Law, Education, Public Health and Charities, Receiver of Taxes, City Comptroller, and City Treasurer (ex-officio County Treasurer), and Supplies. The mayor, who is elected every four years and is ineligible for succession, appoints directors of the Departments of Public Works, Safety, Health, and Supplies, subject to confirmation by Select Council. Directors appoint chiefs of bureaus and other employees under civil service requirements. The receiver of taxes, city treasurer, city comptroller, and city solicitor are elected by popular suffrage. The Department of Education consists of 42 comptrollers, appointed by the judges of the Courts of Common Pleas. The Sinking Fund Commission consists of the mayor, city comptroller, and one member elected by Councils. The commissioners of Fairmount Park and members of the Board of Revision of Taxes, and the Board of City Trusts, in charge of Girard College and Estate and minor trusts, are also appointed by the courts. Sixteen port wardens are elected by the Councils. The county officials are commissioners in charge of elections, etc., treasurer, recorder of deeds, register of wills, clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions, coroner, sheriff, and district attorney. The legislative function is exercised by Select and Common Councils, the former consisting of one member from each of 42 wards, the latter of one member for every 4000 voters. Select Councilmen serve three years, and Common Councilmen, two, without pay. The veto power is vested in the mayor, a three-fifths vote enacting over it. The judiciary consists of police magistrates (limited civil and preliminary criminal actions); judges of the Courts of Common Pleas (civil), who are also judges of the Courts of Quarter Sessions (criminal); and the judges of the Orphans' Court (estates). The Superior and Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania and the United States District and United States Circuit Courts sit in the city.
The city has leased its gas-works for a maximum period of 30 years, expiring December 31, 1927. Electric lighting is supplied by a private corporation. The water-works are under municipal ownership. A system of slow sand filtration is being installed, and in August, 1903, when upward of $17,000,000 was involved in contracts, it was over half finished and in partial operation. The complete works, with a daily capacity of 300,000,000 gallons, are estimated to cost $26,000,000.
Finances. The city's receipts for 1902 were $33,520,729. The important items were: taxes, $16,793,680; gas, $486,491; State appropriation (1901-02) for schools and teachers' annuities, $316,000; loans negotiated, $6,915,000; personal property tax, $1,249,332; permits, fees, etc., $7,400,000, including water rents, $3,422,000, liquor licenses, $1,766,000, and premiums on loans, $581,000; interest, $365,000. The expenditures were $34,605,948; the largest item was $25,904,693 for municipal departments and bureaus; of this amount schools received $4,186,000; police, $3,565,000; fire, $1,124,000; water, $6,511,000; highways, $2,109,000; street cleaning, $1,238,000. Other large disbursements were: interest on funded debt, $1,404,036; several sinking funds, $1,727,787; loans redeemed, $680,000; mandamuses, $1,456,105. The general cash balance on January 1, 1903, was $17,166,865. The gross debt at the same date was $59,361,845; the city loans held by the sinking fund amounted to $6,645,300, leaving a net city debt of $52,716,545; the total assets were $29,132,473, not including the real estate owned by the city, valued at $64,520,994. The assessed real estate valuation, as estimated in August, 1903, for 1904, was $1,160,392,710. Under the law the debt is limited to 7 per cent. All permanent loans after the 2 per cent. point has been exceeded must be authorized by a vote of the people.
Population. The population in 1900 was 1,293,697, Philadelphia ranking third among American cities. Since 1854 no territory has been added to the municipal limits. The percentage of increase from 1880 to 1890 was 23.58, and from 1890 to 1900, 23.57. Fifty-four and seven-tenths per cent. of the white population is of foreign parentage, but native whites of foreign birth comprise 32 per cent. of the entire population. The negroes numbered 28,940 in 1900; Chinese, Japanese, and Indians, 1277. The largest classes of European descent are German, Irish, English, and Italian. French, Greeks, Armenians, Russians, Bohemians, and Poles are present in much lesser numbers. Though some tendency to congregate is shown, there are few well-defined foreign colonies. In 1800 the population of Philadelphia was 28,522; in 1820, 63,802; in 1840, 93,665; in 1860, 563,529; in 1880, 847,170; in 1890, 1,046,964.
History. The first settlement (called Wicaco) within the present limits of Philadelphia was made in 1636 by a company of Swedes sent out by the Government of Queen ​Christina. On October 7, 1681, Captain William Markham, Deputy Governor for William Penn, arrived with a small company, and started an English settlement here, which in July of the following year was laid out and called Philadelphia, ‘the city of brotherly love.’ In 1683 a company of Germans, invited hither by Penn, arrived and settled at Germantown, within the present city limits. In 1684, immigration having been rapid from the start, there were 300 houses and more than 2,500 inhabitants. The majority of the early settlers were Friends, and their influence, combined with that of the Germans, predominated for many years and greatly affected the course of Pennsylvania's history. Penn returned to England in 1684, and did not revisit the city until 1699, when he found a population of 4500, and 700 houses. He chartered the city in 1701, and thereafter frequent controversies arose between the people and the Penn family over proprietary privileges, especially as regards taxation of the Penn lands. The first English school was opened in 1683. Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette began publication in 1729 and the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser was started in 1742. In 1741 the city, then having 1621 taxable citizens, was divided into ten wards. In 1723 Benjamin Franklin, who, next to Penn, exerted the greatest influence in the history of the city, came to Philadelphia. In 1747, during King George's war with the French and Indians, the publication of his Plain Truth roused a spirit of military enthusiasm, a force of 10,000 was raised in Pennsylvania, and a battery was erected below the city, on the site of the present United States Navy Yard. In 1751 the first line of packets to New York was established, followed in 1756 by a stage line. Under Franklin's influence, in 1747 the merchants of Philadelphia sent a ship to discover the Northwest Passage. In 1755 a militia bill was passed, and Franklin became colonel of the city regiment.
From 1763 to 1774 Philadelphia was prominent in resisting British aggression, though the Loyalist party was strong, and most of the Friends opposed warfare; and here most of the important official events of the Revolution took place. In 1773 (October 17), during the excitement over the expected arrival of the tea ships, the people met in mass meeting and passed resolutions which, on November 5th, were readopted at Boston. The first Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall, September 5, 1774; the second met May 10, 1775, in the State House; and there, on June 15th, Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental army. In 1776 Congress met for the third time in the State House, and there, on July 4th, the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Philadelphia was held by the British from September 27, 1777 to June 18, 1778, and during this period, while the American army was at Valley Forge, was the scene of much gayety. On May 18, 1778, the famous entertainment called the Mischianza (q.v.), was given in honor of General Howe, who was about to depart for Europe. On October 4, 1777 the battle of Germantown (q.v.) was fought. On May 2, 1787, delegates from the different States assembled here, and, after almost four months of debate behind closed doors, adopted a Constitution for the United States, September 17th. On March 11, 1789, the city received a new charter from the Legislature. Epidemics of yellow fever in 1793 and 1798 caused great loss of life, at least 4000 dying in the former year and almost 5000 out of the 30,000 who remained in the city in the latter.
During the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth Philadelphia was the most important city in America. The historian McMaster says of it in 1784: “The city was then the greatest in the country. No other could boast of so many streets, so many houses, so many people, so much renown;” and Liancourt describes it in 1800 as “not only the finest city in the United States, but . . . one of the most beautiful cities of the world.” Philadelphia was the capital of Pennsylvania from 1683 until 1799, the seat of the Federal Government from 1790 to 1800, and the monetary centre of the country until 1836. (See Bank, Banking.) For many years, also, it was the intellectual and literary centre of the country. Here were published the first newspaper in the middle colonies, American Weekly Mercury (1719); the first secular magazine in North America, Ein geistliches Magazin (1764); the first daily newspaper in the United States, the Pennsylvania Packet (1784); the first American edition of the Bible in German (1743), and in English (1781), and the first religious weekly, Religious Remembrancer (1813). The most popular of the early American magazines—the Port Folio and the Analectic—were also published here.
Philadelphia took the lead in the early anti-slavery movement, the first formal protest against slavery in this country being made by four Germans of Germantown in 1688, the first Abolition convention being held here January 1, 1794, on the invitation of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and the American Anti-Slavery Society being founded here, under the leadership of Garrison, in 1833. In 1812 the water-works at Fairmount were begun and were finished in 1815. In 1832 nearly 1000 deaths resulted from Asiatic cholera. In May, 1838, an anti-Abolitionist mob destroyed Pennsylvania Hall, in which an Abolitionist meeting had been just held. In 1844 occurred the anti-Catholic riots, arising from the demand of the Catholics to be permitted to use the Douai instead of the King James Bible in the public schools. The anti-Catholics, or ‘Native Americans,’ burned Saint Michael's and Saint Augustine's churches, and caused much loss of life before they were put down by the militia. Gas was introduced in 1836, and the first telegraph line was established in April, 1846. On February 2, 1854, a consolidation act was passed by the Legislature, extending the city limits to the county boundaries, and uniting under one municipal government all the outlying districts, known as Southwark, Northern Liberties, Kensington, Spring Garden, Moyamensing, Penn, Richmond, West Philadelphia, and Belmont; also the boroughs of Germantown, Manayunk, and other townships. Philadelphia took an active part in the Civil War, and raised more than $1,000,000 by a sanitary fair in 1864. The centenary of American independence was celebrated in 1876 by the Centennial Exposition; the bi-centennial of the landing of William Penn in 1882; and the centennial of the signing of the Constitution in 1887.
Bibliography. Hazard (editor), Watson's Annals (Philadelphia, 1884); Scharf and ​Westcott, History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 (ib., 1884); Allinson and Penrose, Philadelphia, 1681-1887 (ib., 1887); Trades League, The Book of Philadelphia, 1894 (ib., 1894); Repplier, Philadelphia, the Place and the People (New York, 1895); Young, Memorial History (ib., 1895); Fisher, The Making of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1896); id., Chapters in Pennsylvania, Colony and Commonwealth (ib., 1897); Rhoades, The Story of Philadelphia (New York, 1900); King, Philadelphia and Notable Philadelphians (ib., 1902).