6

## Market Street East

Market Street has been the main street of Philadelphia since William Penn's surveyor laid out the plan of the city in 1682. Originally called High Street, it was distinguished from other east-west streets by its width (100 feet as compared to 50 feet) and by its intersection with Broad Street in the Center Square. Commercial development began at the eastern end and gradually extended westward, taking advantage of the improved transportation Market Street's width provided. This transportation advantage was enhanced in the late nineteenth century with the completion of the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroad terminals and by the completion of the city's first subway system under Market Street in 1908.

Penn intended that no buildings be built between Front Street and the Delaware River, but inevitably warehouses and pier facilities began to proliferate around the expanding Port of Philadelphia. Many were cleared in 1850 when Delaware Avenue was created. Recently all structures in this area were demolished to make way for another road, the Delaware Expressway (Interstate 95), and the view, temporarily, is much as Penn intended. However, this view of the river is rapidly being transformed by the first-phase construction of Penn's Landing, a waterfront recreation and education center to be opened in 1975.

Many of the city's important institutions originated in the area between Front and Fourth streets. The first open-air markets were here and gave High Street its popular name, officially changed to Market Street in 1854. The first city hall was at the eastern end of the market in a structure similar to the Head House, still standing at Second and Pine. Christ Church, the first major church in the city, was constructed at Second Street just north of Market, even though at the time the principal residential areas were farther south. There are still a few examples of the commercial structures that once surrounded the markets, such as the group along North Front Street between Market and Arch streets, some recently restored buildings on Strawberry and Bank streets, and the Land Building, a nineteenth-century example on South Third Street.

## Market Street East

6 Apollo Theater

40 Ben Franklin Bridge

12 Chinatown

38 Christ Church

4 City Hall

5 City Hall Annex

36 Customs House

28 Edwin O. Lewis Quadrangle

39 Elfreth's Alley

22 Federal Courthouse and Office Bldg.

14 Federal Reserve Bank

37 Franklin Court

21 Franklin Square

17 Gimbels Dept. Store

34 Headhouse Square

26 Independence Hall

27 Independence Mall

13 Jefferson Medical Center

7 John Wanamaker Dept. Store

31 KYW-TV Bldg.

8 Library Co. of Phila.

23 Lit Bros. Dept. Store

3 Masonic Temple

20 Metropolitan Hospital

9 Penna. Historical Society

41 Penn's Landing

16 Pennsylvania Hospital

32 Phila. Bourse Bldg.
1 Phila. Life Ins. Bldg.

30 PNB Bank Offices

19 Police Administration Bldg.

10 PSFS Building

11 Reading R.R. Terminal

24 Rohm and Haas Bldg.

35 Society Hill Towers

33 St. Peter's Church

18 Strawbridges Dept. Store

2 Trailways Bus Terminal

29 U.S. Mint

15 U.S. Post Office and Courts

25 Washington Square

Wanamaker Eagle, 13th and Market