OUR PHILADELPHIA
BY E. ROBINS PENNELL
AND JOSEPH PENNELL


OUR PHILADELPHIA


LOOKING UP BROAD STREET FROM SPRUCE STREET


OUR PHILADELPHIA

DESCRIBED BY ELIZABETH ROBINS
PENNELL ILLUSTRATED WITH
ONE HUNDRED & FIVE LITHO-
GRAPHS BY JOSEPH PENNELL




PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

MCMXIV


COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY



PUBLISHED OCTOBER, 1914







PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.


PREFACE

To-day, when it is the American born in the Ghetto, or Syria, or some other remote part of the earth, whose recollections are prized, it may seem as if the following pages called for an apology. I have none to make. They were written simply for the pleasure of gathering together my old memories of a town that, as my native place, is dear to me and my new impressions of it after an absence of a quarter of a century. But now I have finished I add to this pleasure in my book the pleasant belief that it will have its value for others, if only for two reasons. In the first place, J.'s drawings which illustrate it are his record of the old Philadelphia that has passed and the new Philadelphia that is passing—a record that in a few years it will be impossible for anybody to make, so continually is Philadelphia changing. In the second, my story of Philadelphia, perfect or imperfect, may in as short a time be equally impossible for anybody to repeat, since I am one of those old-fashioned Americans, American by birth with many generations of American forefathers, who are rapidly becoming rare creatures among the hordes of new-fashioned Americans who were anything and everything else no longer than a year or a week or an hour ago.

Elizabeth Robins Pennell

3 Adelphi Terrace House, London
May, 1914


CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. An Explanation 1
II. A Child in Philadelphia 24
III. A Child in Philadelphia (Continued) 48
IV. At the Convent 72
V. Transitional 104
VI. The Social Adventure 130
VII. The Social Adventure: The Assembly 154
VIII. A Question of Creed 175
IX. The First Awakening 205
X. The Miracle of Work 233
XI. The Romance of Work 268
XII. Philadelphia and Literature 304
XIII. Philadelphia and Literature (Continued) 332
XIV. Philadelphia and Art 368
XV. Philadelphia and Art (Continued) 390
XVI. Philadelphia at Table 413
XVII. Philadelphia at Table (Continued) 433
XVIII. Philadelphia after a Quarter of a Century 451
XIX. Philadelphia after a Quarter of a Century (Continued) 477
XX. Philadelphia after a Quarter of a Century (Continued) 509
Index 543


ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
Looking up Broad Street from Spruce Street Frontispiece
Delancey Place 3
"Portico Row," Spruce Street 7
Arch Street Meeting House 13
The Schuylkill South from Callowhill Street 17
Friends' Graveyard, Germantown 21
In Rittenhouse Square 25
The Pennsylvania Hospital from the Grounds 29
"Eleventh and Spruce" 33
Drawing Room at Cliveden 37
Back-yards, St. Peter's Spire in the Distance 45
Independence Square and the State House 51
Christ Church Interior 57
Classic Fairmount 65
Down Pine Street 69
Loudoun, Main Street, Germantown 75
Entrance to Fairmount and the Washington Statue 83
Main Street, Germantown 89
Arch Street Meeting 95
The Train Shed, Broad Street Station 99
St. Peter's, Interior 105
The Pennsylvania Hospital from Pine Street 109
Second Street Market 115
Fourth and Arch Streets Meeting House 121
Johnson House, Germantown 127
The Customs House 131
Under Broad Street Station at Fifteenth Street 135
The Philadelphia Club, Thirteenth and Walnut Streets 141
The New Ritz-Carlton; The Finishing Touches; The Walnut Street Addition Has Since Been Made 149
The Hall, Stenton 155
"Proclaim Liberty Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof" 159
Bed Room, Stenton, the Home of James Logan 163
The Tunnel in the Park 167
The Boat Houses on the Schuylkill 171
The Pulpit, St. Peter's 179
The Cathedral, Logan Square 185
Christ Church, from Second Street 189
First Presbyterian Church, Seventh Street and Washington Square 195
Old Swedes' Church 201
Independence Hall: The Original Desk on Which the Declaration of Independence was Signed and the Chair Used by the President of Congress, John Hancock, in 1776 207
Philadelphia from Belmont 211
The Dining Room, Stenton 217
Down the Aisle at Christ Church 223
The Bridge Across Market Street from Broad Street Station 229
State House Yard 235
The Penitentiary 247
On the Reading, at Sixteenth Street 251
Locust Street East from Broad Street 255
Broad Street, Looking South from above Arch Street 261
Clinton Street, with the Pennsylvania Hospital at its End 265
The Cherry Street Stairs Near the River 269
The Morris House on Eighth Street 273
The Old Coaching-Inn Yard 279
Franklin's Grave 285
Arch Street Meeting 291
Cliveden, the Chew House 295
Bartram's 295
Carpenter's Hall, Interior 305
Main Street, Germantown 311
Arch Street Meeting—Interior 317
Front and Callowhill 321
The Elevated at Market Street Wharf 327
Dr. Furness's House, West Washington Square, Just Before it was Pulled Down 333
The Germantown Academy 339
The State House from Independence Square 345
"The Little Street of Clubs," Camac Street Above Spruce Street 349
Down Sansom Street from Eighth Street. The Low Houses at Seventh Street Have Since Been Torn Down and the Western End of the Curtis Building Now Occupies Their Place 353
The Double Stairway in the Pennsylvania Hospital 359
Carpenter's Hall, Built 1771 365
Independence Hall—Lengthwise View 369
Girard College 377
Upsala, Germantown 383
The Hall at Cliveden, the Chew House 387
The Old Water-Works, Fairmount Park 391
The Stairway, State House 397
Upper Room, Stenton 403
Wyck—The Doorway from Within 409
The Philadelphia Dispensary from Independence Square 415
Morris House, Germantown 419
The State House Colonnade 425
The Smith Memorial, West Fairmount Park 431
The Basin, Old Water-Works 435
Girard Street 441
The Union League, from Broad and Chestnut Streets 445
Broad Street Station 453
Wanamaker's 457
St. Peter's Churchyard 461
City Hall from the Schuylkill 465
Chestnut Street Bridge 469
The Narrow Street 475
The Market Street Elevated at the Delaware End 479
The Railroad Bridges at Falls of Schuylkill 483
The Parkway Pergolas 487
Market Street West of the Schuylkill 491
Manheim Cricket Ground 497
Dock Street and the Exchange 501
The Locomotive Yard, West Philadelphia 507
The Girakd Trust Company 511
Twelfth Street Meeting House 515
Wyck 519
The Massed Sky-scrapers Above the Housetops 523
Sunset. Philadelphia from Across the Delaware 527
The Union League Between the Sky-scrapers 531
Up Broad Street from League Island 535
From Gray's Ferry 539


This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1936, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 87 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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