Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Center City Philadelphia
    Center City Philadelphia
    Center City Philadelphia
    Ebook208 pages24 minutes

    Center City Philadelphia

    By Gus Spector

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Center City Philadelphia is a visual tour of the area s major thoroughfares, with a concentration on the legacy of its architecture and its historical importance in the growth and development of our nation. From the teeming frontage of Delaware Avenue to the bustling crowds on Market Street, from the wealthy mansions of Rittenhouse Square to the construction of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, these vintage postcards provide elusive and seldom-seen views of Philadelphia during the first half of the 20th century, well before the present age of modern technology.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateOct 29, 2007
    ISBN9781439619926
    Center City Philadelphia
    Author

    Gus Spector

    Gus Spector, a native of Philadelphia, is a graduate of South Philadelphia High School and Temple University. Spector is a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia, and the American Philatelic Society. He is the author of Philadelphia: Historic Exteriors and Interiors and Center City Philadelphia.

    Read more from Gus Spector

    Related to Center City Philadelphia

    Related ebooks

    Photography For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Hatching The Impossible

      May 17, 2021

      Hatching The Impossible
      13 min read

    • Article

      A Mile Of Shopping

      Apr 1, 2020

      A Mile Of Shopping
      7 min read

    • Article

      No Bones About It

      Feb 5, 2020

      No Bones About It
      3 min read

    • Article

      Word On The Street

      Jan 3, 2020

      Word On The Street
      5 min read

    • Article

      Historic Streets ROSE STREET

      Feb 18, 2022

      Hidden behind Princes Street in Edinburgh’s city centre, Scotland’s ‘Amber Mile’ has a deep and winding history. Home to many bars (and bar brawls pre-Covid), Rose Street has long been a haunting ground of poets, punters, and even princes, all lookin

      3 min read

    • Article

      Washington Danced Here

      Jan 22, 2019

      Washington Danced Here
      3 min read

    • Article

      From Riches To Rags

      May 14, 2020

      From Riches To Rags
      7 min read

    • Article

      Portals To The Past

      Oct 9, 2020

      On a quiet Chelsea street between the River Thames and the bustling King’s Road, the odd passer-by pauses to ponder two small blue plaques set into the red-brick walls of numbers 30 and 34. Once home to the composer Philip Arnold Heseltine and wit an

      4 min read

    • Article

      Going, Going, Gone

      Nov 15, 2023

      Going, Going, Gone
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Midwest Main Street

      Apr 5, 2022

      The Midwest Main Street
      5 min read

    • Article

      Gene Autry in Oklahoma

      Mar 5, 2024

      Gene Autry in Oklahoma
      6 min read

    • Article

      Coal Mining and Toll Scrip

      Sep 5, 2023

      Coal Mining and Toll Scrip
      5 min read

    • Article

      New York National Bank Tour Continues with Forestville, Fredonia

      Jan 4, 2022

      Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a family function in Chautauqua County, N.Y., a subdivision in the far western corner of the state bordering on Lake Erie. I had never been to this part of Upstate New York before, and while I did not have mu

      4 min read

    • Article

      Sign Language

      Oct 28, 2020

      BOLD and bright, swaying gently in the wind high above our heads, illustrated inn signs are as ubiquitous as they are often unnoticed. Part navigational aid, part advertising billboard and part street art, they’ve been guiding drinkers to the pub doo

      4 min read

    • Article

      Garden of Plenty

      Jan 8, 2021

      Garden of Plenty
      5 min read

    • Article

      Frio Town, Texas

      Sep 24, 2019

      Frio Town, Texas
      3 min read

    • Article

      TV & RADIO

      Mar 10, 2020

      TV & RADIO
      3 min read

    • Article

      Keeping It In The Family

      Feb 17, 2021

      Keeping It In The Family
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Jefferson Nickel

      Jun 25, 2020

      The Jefferson Nickel
      5 min read

    • Article

      The First Collecting Boom

      Jun 9, 2023

      t is generally accepted that the first large-scale collecting of United States coins came in the mid- to late 1850s, but it is not so well known that there were a number of avid numismatists in this country well before this time. Regular coinage bega

      9 min read

    • Article

      Draped Bust Cents, 1796-1807

      Jan 18, 2021

      WHEN COIN COLLECTING became a national hobby in the 1850s, the first coins to be saved were the old large cents struck before 1857. And then, as now, the most popular series was the Draped Bust design made from 1796 through 1807. Despite their fame a

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of Making It

      Apr 5, 2018

      The Art Of Making It
      14 min read

    • Article

      Carolina Queen

      Dec 12, 2023

      Carolina Queen
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Center City Philadelphia

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Center City Philadelphia - Gus Spector

      computer.

      INTRODUCTION

      Billy Penn was most certainly a brilliant and organized fellow. His dream of Philadelphia as a Greene Country Towne envisioned a city built with geometric precision. It would be unlike those of England or the European continent. There would be no narrow, rambling, serpentine lanes crowded with squalid houses overhanging the streets forever blocking out the sunlight. Instead his surveyor, Thomas Holme, planned a series of streets extending from the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River, a distance of 2.15 miles. These streets would be named according to the custom of English towns, the main thoroughfare being High Street (later Market Street). The named streets, running east and west, would be intersected at right angles with numbered streets, running north and south. The low numbers of the named streets would begin closest to the Delaware River. The northern boundary would be Vine Street, and Cedar Street (now called South Street) the southernmost. A larger boulevard parallel to the north-south streets would be named Broad Street, and would actually be equivalent to Fourteenth Street. The original oblong tract consisted of 1,280 acres. There would be spacious public squares and Friends Meeting Houses interspersed within this grid.

      Penn’s legendary treaty purportedly occurred in 1682, paving the way for more affable relations with the neighboring Native Americans. Philadelphia’s first housing shortage began after 1682 when countless hoards of immigrants descended upon its docks. Philadelphia literally became a tent city, while others suffered through their first winter as cave dwellers. Needless to say, the rigorous climate was too much for many an elderly immigrant.

      Areas outside of the city proper were called the Liberties. The Northern Liberties lay north of the city, and the Western Liberties were to the west of the Schuylkill River. Individuals could petition for and purchase parcels of land in these undeveloped, untamed woodlands.

      The city continued to grow in an exponential fashion. In April 1845, the legislature passed a new police act requiring the city of Philadelphia and outlying districts of Spring Garden, Northern Liberties, Kensington, Penn, Southwark, and the township of Moyamensing to maintain police forces that could be called upon to suppress possible public riots. Any or all of these militias could be summoned at a given time.

      The city of Philadelphia was incorporated in 1854. Prior to that time and dating back to 1790, houses were given consecutive numbers. This meant that buildings on the north side of Market Street (and its parallel streets) were assigned odd numbers (one, three, five, seven, and so on), while those on the south side of the street received even numbers. The building numbers might continue ad infinitum and did not take into account their positions between the numerically named streets (Second Street, Third Street, and so on).

      After the consolidation of 1854, the building numbers were reconstituted to correspond to their location between two numerically named streets. In the new scheme, 502 Market Street could be situated only between Fifth and Sixth Streets on Market Street, and 622 Chestnut Street lay between Sixth and Seventh Streets on Chestnut Street. It might be thought that this was confusing to the postmen during this interim period of time, but a John H. Smith might still have received letters with the minimal address of John H. Smith, City!

      Growing up in Philadelphia, my interest has always been piqued by Philadelphia’s Center City, especially its myriad buildings. As a youngster wandering around downtown, I was enthralled by the area but had no concept of its history and the importance of its architecture. This book attempts to provide both the social and architectural history of this vital part of the city through postcards from my personal collection dating from 1900 to 1947 (arranged geographically, not chronologically).

      For purposes of this book, I have chosen postcard views of Center City from Market Street and the several named streets to the north and south of it, namely Arch, Race, Vine, Chestnut, Walnut, Locust, Spruce, and Pine Streets, and from the Delaware River to the environs of the art museum. Various locations on Broad Street have either been included within the individual chapters of the named streets or in Chapter 8, which specifically highlights Broad Street.

      Although I realize that the portion of the city considered the Rittenhouse Square area is quite large, the reader will find a separate chapter describing the actual environs of the square named after the brilliant first Colonial director of the United States Mint, David Rittenhouse.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1