The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-01
A NEGLECTED MEMORIAL.
Monument to the Completion of @
Railroad Is Hidden I'm Underbrush.
Philadelphia North American.


The utter futility of attempting to fasten
in the public mind the date of great
event In this fast-moving age Is strikingly
illustrated by time-stained marble monu-
ment standing on an elevation on the west
bank OF the Schuylkill just south of the
western end of Gray's Ferry bridge.
This monument, erected nearly sixty
five years ago to commemorate the COM
pletion of the Philadelphia, Wilmington
& Baltimore Railway (now the Philadel-
phia Baltimore & Washington Railroad),
is itself now almost hidden from view,
by wild cherry and catalpa trees, which
have sprouted from the earth since it's
erection. OF those who catch gl;mpses
of it through occasional openings in the
trees not one in hundred knows its
purpose or what ii commentaries.
The very names of the projectors and
builders of the road have been forgotten,
and the monument intended to perpetuate
their memory and great achievement is
itself virtually unknown.
The monument. which is Of native mar
bic and about fifteen feet high, consisting
of base, main shaft and tapering apex,
rusty iron fence. Inside the fence
dense growth of poison ivy and small
shrubbery entirely obscures the base of
the monument, hiding the inscriptions
They can only be read by the aid of a
preliminary process of vigorously tramp
ing down the ivy. which clings tenaciously
to the face of the stone.
From the inscription on the monument
itself one learns that the Philadelphia,
Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad was or
ganiZed in 1888, by consolidation OF three
charters granted severally by Pennsyl-
vania Delaware and Maryland. He like
wise learns that work upon the road be-
gan July T. 1885, and was completed, in
GLIDING the bridge over the Schuylkill,
which was called at the time the New
kirk viaduct, on Christmas day, 1888, and
further that the cost of the road opened
from end to end was four million dollars.
The NAMES of the officers, directors and
engineers are inscribed on the monument
During the Civil war this line, forming a
part Of the main system OF transportation
States and the National Capital, became
between the New England and Middle
States and the National Capital, became
one of the busiest and most prosperous in
the country. Its Importance was recognized
by both the Pennsylvania and Baltimore
& Ohio managers. After some spirited
rivalry between the two trunk line sys-
TENS in the matter, controlling inter-
est was acquired by the Pennsylvania July
2, 1881.
Mathew Newkirk was it's first president
Newkirk was a descendant of one OF the
early Huguenot settlers of the Hudson
valley and was born In Salem county,
New Jersey, in 1874. coming to this city
at the age of 10.
established a small dry goods store on
Second street, which expanded into a
prosperous wholesale business, from which
of as. He was a director OF the United
States bank, of which Nichols Biddle was
president; trustee of Princeton College for
thirty years president of the Female Medi-
cal College and active in church and Sun
day school work
He entered enthusiastically into the de-
Velopment of railway transportation lines
and is said to have been the originator Of
| the system of baggage checks now in use,
as well as of the eight-wheeled passenger
| car.
| He died in 1868 in his seventy-fourth year.
| He is certainly deserving of a foremost
| place among the pioneers of our present
| railway system, but unless somebody sees
| fit to clear away the growing trees and
| shrubbery which surround the monument
to his greatest achievement his name and
memory are in a fair way to be forgotten.