The record-union., 1893-03-08
PHILADRLPHIAs EARLY HISTORY
Its Settlement and Rapid Growth-Th,
ssChicago'' of the Last Centnrv

''Chicago' of the Last Century.
Philadelphia came late among Ameri-
cali cities. 1t was founded fifty-eipht
years after New York, fifty years after
Boston. The voyage had few risks, and
no suffering. William Penn, in 1851,
came on no exploring expedition. For
almost the first time in history, a new
city was to be laid out by amicable pur-
chase, and not by conquest. We are used
to this now. 1t was an altogether new
thing two hundred years ago. The day
for Indian fighting along the coast was
practically over. The sea-coast was
known. There were no discoveries to be
held it without rival. The little Dutch
and Swedish settlements OH Delaware
Bay, and Philadelphia future site, were
glad to come under the English flag.
Almost the only trace left of either is the
Swedes' church, the oldest in the city,
for all the world like those you may see
ON the Swedish fiords to-day.
Penn sat in London over maps and
plans, and laid out his new city on paper
Just as 'boom" towns are laid out to-day
in the West and South. He knew the
ground. He understood its advantages.
No seaboard river carried navigation so
far inland. The Southern rivers We're
shallower. The Hudson ended in i'm
penetrable forest. on the Delaware ves-
SGlS SlODDOo bCLW6G Ill6 1dlLGSG uCluS
along the whole coast The very soil OF
the narrow peninsular between the Del
aware and the Schuylkill is the only
fertile city site on our coast. 1t lies far
enough south to gain the teeming life of
tin and feather that fills the coasts and
waters OF the south Atlantic. You can
yet stand on the steps of Independence
Hall on still October day and hear the
crack of towling-pieces among the reed
birds OH the river.
Within the memory of men not old the
chief meat supply of the city was fattened
on the fat, rich farms which make up
the meek where the Delaware and
Schuylkill meet. The land around Phil
adelphia to-day is a vast kitchen garden.
1t has always raised more food than any
area as large around any other of our
| great or growing cities. Lastly, just be-
| yond these two rich river valleys, lie the
| first w estern wheat fields in the fertile
stretch of Delaware, Chester, Montgom-
cry and Lancaster counties.
The farms of these counties fed the
army of Washington. His baker-general
was Pennsylvania German, Christie
pher Ludwig, who after youth spent in
| lighting the Turk on the Danube, sold
gingerbread to the boys of the Revolu-
| luton, in Letitia street. Beginning by
| baking bread at Valley Forge, he ended
by baking 5000 pound loaves for the sur
rendered army OF COrnWalIlS at Ork-
! town. Uncle Sans wheat farm, which
has cheapened the worlds bread, began
at the doors of Philadelphia. 1t was the
first city to get rich selling wheat. Penn
| sylvania farms gave it the first big
rich thickly-settled ''back-country," on
whose trade an American city grew
great. Under the first President Adams.
| Lancaster, Pa, was the biggest Ameri-
can city back of the seacoast. In 1890
instead of the first, it was the. sixty-firsl
OF such cities in population.
All this meant foreign trade and swift
growth for Philadelphia. In i(s first forty
years it grew faster than any other Amer.
lean city in its first hundred. 1t was the
Chicago of the last century. In twenty
years $500 houses went up. The like wa.
never seen before. 1t has often happened
siuce-St Nicholas