Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-25
DONE in PHILADELPHIA

DOINE lin IllLADGlJI LIZA
MORE serious attention to markets has
lRl been given lately than at any time since
1859, when the city had time for little else
But the occasion which drew attention to the
erection of market houses all over the city
so and more years ago had nothing to dc
with reducing the cost of living.
we are now beset with that problem in
addition to the one of convenience, Whlch
was all that seemed to call for consideration
| in 1859. The establishment of farmers mar
ket at seth and Market streets, where farm
ers from the surrounding country, and as
far away as Lehigh and Northampton Coun-
| ties may bring their products to Philadel-
phia, promises to be a very interesting ex-
! pertinent.
| TNROM the point of convenience 1t has some-
! Il thing to recommend it today, while In
! 1859 it would have been Impossible ana
| ludicrous Before the elevated railroad on
| Market street was erected Goth and Market
streets was not so near as West Chester, so
far as time was concerned. Now 1t is
small matter of 20 minutes or little more
One of the first conveniences, we might
call it necessities, that was considered Tor MS
capital by the founder of Philadelphia was
Market, street, at Front The old journals
of the Common Council are filled with refer
ences to the regulations for this market In
deed, scarcely one meeting of that body from
1904 until the Revolution passed without more
or less reference to the markets.
In those DAYS the city fathers did not have
authority to create loans and sell bonds for
municipal improvements When they desired
to extend the market sheds another square
they had to borrow from some Philadelphian
who had civic pride enough to advance the
necessary money. There was some income
from rent of stalls, from wharfage and rev
other perauisites all of them rather trivial
and small from the modern viewpoint.
DY 1916 the market sheds extended west
ID ward on Market street to Eighth street.
where they stopped There were also the
sheds on Second street, north and south, ana
these still remain Later in the last century
similar sheds were erected in the middle of
sprng Garden street, by the District or
snrnR Garden; in Girard avenue, by the
Penn Township and in Bainbridge, then
shippen, street, and in Moyamensing avenue
bv the District of Southwark. The District
Of Moyamensing erected sheds in Eleventh
street. south from cambridge street.
Those were the places where Philadeiphia
went to market before the civil war; All
of the sheds, except those on Market street.
survived until about 25 years ago. ana V1sl-
tors to the city, especially those early
European travellers who came here to look
us over like some rare and astonishing trlpe
that had done we'll under civilization wrote
enthusiastically about Philadelphia and her
markets.
JoIo etc cd n
w commerce and was doing a larger manu-
featuring business than any other city IN the
country in the early sos, the business men
on Market street began to demand the
removal of the market sheds They might
be convenient but they did not believe 1t.
They declared business demanded that the
main business thoroughfare should present
a better appearance, now that the city had
become a metropolis by the consolidation OF
all political parts of the county.
Accompanying this agitation for the re-
moval of the sheds was a movement FOR the
erection of market houses in the central part
of the city. A good many business men,
probably to assist in the removal of the
sheds more than from any idea that the
investment would prove profitable, took
shares in numerous market companies that
were started. For a few years there was
a veritable craze for erecting market houses.
Other sections of the city became inoculated
with the spirit, and market houses arose in
all of the populous centres. Some
of the specuations proved failures, or at
least enjoyed little success, but some of them
are still in being.
FINALLY, in 1859, Councils agreed to the
j. removal of the sheds from Market street,
and then the market houses began to assume
importance. The Eastern Market was erected
on the site of the Bourse. The Franklin
Market erected the building now used by the
Mercantile Library. Indeed, this building
was never occupied a market and the
statue of Franklin, which was cut by Baily |
and adorned the platform over the entrance,
was later erected on the PUBLIC LEDGER
Building. At Twelfth and Market streets |
two market houses were built, the Twelfth
Street Market and the Farmers Market. |
These have been superseded by the Terminal |
Market. Above Sixteenth street on Market |
another market house went up, and still an |
other at Nineteenth street.
But they were put up in so many quarters
that the housewives soon appreciated their |
and the old ungainly sheds |
were never missed. GRANVILLE.