The necessity for increased room becoming yearly more pressing, a lot at the northwest corner of Broad and Sansom Streets was bought on the twenty-second of April, 1839, for $13,333. On Saturday the twentieth of May, the corner-stone of a new building was laid with the usual ceremonies by Vice-Presidents William Hembel and John Price Wetherill. An eloquent address was made on the occasion by Walter R. Johnson[1] who had been one of the most active members of the society since his election in 1827. He had been a Curator in 1836 and 1837 and subsequently served as Corresponding Secretary from 1841 to 1848. The building was forty-five feet front on Broad Street by eighty-five feet deep on Sansom with an elevation of fifty-five feet. It at first consisted of a single saloon with two ranges of galleries, beneath which, in the basement, was a lecture room to accommodate five hundred people. The value of the premises at the corner of Twelfth and Sansom Streets had appreciated and the property was sold to William E. Hanson for $10,950. The means for the erection of the new hall were, however, chiefly derived from William Maclure who subscribed toward the object $20,000. The building fund was largely augmented by liberal subscriptions from members and others interested in science.
The transfer of the collections and library was made at a cost of $34, several of the members giving their time and strength to the service so as to lower the expense and save time. One of the most active in this work and in the accumulation of the building fund was William S. Vaux who had been elected a member in 1834. During the rest of his life he gave devoted attention to the economic interests of the Academy, serving continuously as Curator from 1838, and as Vice-President from 1860, with a brief interval, until his death in 1882. He also rendered indispensable service as a member of the Publication Committee from 1840 and as treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Building Fund from its organization in January, 1867.
The books and specimens were placed in the saloon on the second floor and here the first meeting was held on the 18th of February, 1840.
- ↑ Nat. Encycl. of Am. Biogr., xii, 260. Barnard's Am. Journ. Education, Dec., 1858.
