Chapter I: 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 fore-fathers, 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 INTO 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 301

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 415

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 GIRARD 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

OUR PHILADELPHIA