Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-05-24
ledger SITE ONCE
FL0WER|NG GARDEN
Tearing Down Of Buildings for
New Structure Unearths
Ancient Traditions
EACH PLACE HAS ITS STORY

in clearing the site for the first wing
of the new PUBLIC LEDGER building 10
finding md uncarthing fragments OF
many traditions.
This particular tract will be remem-
bered as the longest undevelopcd'
corner along the main business path OF
Philadelphia. In the seventy. odd years
or more of the life of the buildings 80
lately demolished there ripcncd and de-
cayed these traditions. Somehow. even
with the sporadic repairs and spas
modic alterations, traces Of them lin
gcred
! The ground. according to oldest
legend. was once mainly the garden OF
William VAIN. whose house stood on
the northeast corner of Seventh and
SAMSON streets. A high wall that ran
up TO Chestnut street and about q
quarter Of the way bnck on Sansoin
street Cor. ns few stubborn oncs
called It even then, George street)
sheltered the garden and protected It
from profane glnnces. What the garden
was like inside and what plants were
grown there Is not recorded. though
some say they remember to have heard
the place was famed for it's hollyhocks.
| Passed Into AnOther'S Hands
The house and garden were bought
aftcrward (at just the time when the
mercantile tide was creeping along
| Chestnut street, by one DIR. Swain.
This DR.. Swain. by many accounts, had
achieved no little distinction as the in
ventor of and holder of patent rights on
a concoction that was specific for mt
least C1 per cent of the ills OF mankind.
lie had. 1t appears. extended consider
ably not only the public health but his
own fortunes. He moved his furniture
into the VAIN house and it became
known ms the Swain mansion.
After time DR.. Swain caused to he
built the row of buildings on Seventh
street that. with n few exceptions.
stood until this year. One Of these
he used ms the salesroom for "Swaim's
panacen.'
Though the Swain family lived on
Seventh street long enough to become
part OF II, they in time turned their
eyes to the more bucolic areas westward
and presently moved to them. DR..
swain. however, continued to maintain
his office and his control of the sur
rounding property. In fact the pana-
cea could be bought. wholesale or 70.
tail. In Seventh street as late as the
Centennial year.
Adjoining the mansion was the
building known to the second genera
ton back as Jones Hotel" though it
was Mt first high class Turkish bath /
Inc present generation. however, knew
II only as Mary Kuntz's placc-Arary
who for ten years ran an annie stand
outside OF it and for twenty more sold
provisions inside
One day tho doctor decided to pull
down the old VAIN house. and tbcre
were built In its place four store build
ings. The upper floors Of these wcrcS
@ set y, ir'o one compartment and the great
1. i. Barnum moved ono of his mu-
Seums into them. The scenery caught
nr Ire one n!sht and the place burned
co"n. as well as part of the house
OF george Harrison that had been nut
up. next door. This was ten yeors
before the Civil War.
Inc undlscouraged doctor built three
more stores on the ruins. These and
the Harrison property next door became
IN ,ime, respectively, the warehouse OF
NlIlam IS Wood and the cravat fac
tory Of Frederick Walton.
Was PhiladeIphia's Newspaper Row"
Meanwhile. in the cnvrons. thcr.
/ were uphcavals s and changes. The then
Incompatible PrmIC LEDGER Buildinr
mas Teen erected at Sixth and Chest.
nut streets. couple Of decades moro
saw IN" ihIIadclphia Press comfortably
/ housed nt Seventh and Chestnut streets
and few moro It's expansion into ~
structure on the northwest corner ~
seventh and SAMSON streets.
at inns time the hotei at Sansom
! street had given way to the shop Of a
J"weler. but Mary Kuntx, IL Is SIM
posed, had not then even so much NJ
heard of Philadelphia. The jewelers.
name IS lost 10 history. but next him
I
quAl!ty. manage 70 fix his name in
men minds, so that many can snv ~
now. though tho owner is dead many
years. II was S'itsnr.
Next Stitser $, going toward Cbestnu,
street. was the Office Of George Young
IN" tcamSt"r, and next that the work.
crmIn,, Snnn o, 't",ml t,,, plumber. The north
,mlaTN' nn'IHlng was tho shop and
greHnh"uS" Of a florist unmed Scboeffer.
Relics of Mr.. Schneffer's greenhouse
ana rISt"d SpIinters Of his old boiler
are StIi upon tho lot, unless the wreck.
crS hav" carried them OF today.
When Old Things Were New
Or. Swain died. and the real cstot.
h" left WAS put In charge Of William
I. Price, who then. and until he dtcI
hnd an office on Walnut street near
seventh. When the buildings thnt had
been put on Chestnut street TO tho vest
~ IN" present lvRLIC LEDGER Build
ing were NOR" than a half crnru,.y old
Nr. Price spok" Of them aS '''thrAe ncw
nulIdingN' ~ tho time ~ his death
Mr.. Price wH~ ninety -scvcn
shortly before the death of old Dr
Swain tn" shop and greenhouse Of M
Schacffer passed into the hands of Hose,
Nat"rer, who gradually converted tho
business int" on" Of garden seeds and
garden furnishings. and whose name ia
now known 70 coumniSts and other
lovers Of the cOngruou- over the whole
country
At Sixth street and SAMSON in IN.
building stu standing there had risen
what was perhaps the most famous res
taurnmt Of It's g"ncration-COvington'
and Wink'"r's. Its principal offerings
were Chesapeake oysters. Delaware fsb
chops and liquor, for any Of which II
was bOastcd by patrons, nothing euuaI
could be found in the city. II reached
the peak Of It's fame and prosperity dur.
ing IA" eighties and ninctirs, though I,
continued many years after that II
was the habitat Of such native Bohcmis
ans a. Walt Whitman and such natu.
rnlizrd BohcmIans as Richard IIardinv
Davis.
There had also risen below Sa,som
street on Seventh tho hardly less we'll.
known "Mrs. Bells" Mrs. Bell dicd
with "A fortune -