Mr. Drexel was a man who had great faith in the future of West Philadelphia and bought vast acreage throughout the section. The Drexel mansion later became the Samuel S. Fels residence and is now one of the buildings of the University of Pennsylvania. Daniel Hughes and others. The area along Market Street naturally became commercial. Stores of various kinds were established West of 38th Street was the William Penn Hotel, a famous hostelry which was long the starting point of the stage for Newtown Square, a line that ran until the turn of the century.
Legend has it that the last driver was a woman.
On the northwest corner of 40th and Ludlow Streets the Philadelphia Electric Company occupies a building that was dedicated in 1876, built by the West Philadelphia Institute, a mechanic's institute incorporated in 1855. Later the building housed the West Philadelphia Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library and still later Cell's Dancing School. The Monumental Baptist Church at 41st and Chestnut Streets was an early Negro church, its cornerstone laid in 1884. It is still an active congregation. At 4012 Ludlow Street was the House of St. Michael and All the Angels, a home for young colored cripples, one of the first of its kind in the City.