PHILADELPHIA

a virtual fieldtrip - by Alan A. Lew

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Pennsylvania was inhabited by the Delaware, Shawnee and Susquehanna Indian tribes, among others, when it was first settled by Swedes in 1643.  It came under Dutch control in 1655 and English governance in 1664, and was given to William Penn by King Of England to address the growing religious conflicts between Quakers and the English crown. Penn, a leading Quaker activist, arrived in 1681 to establish a Quaker colony.

William Penn's Philadelphia Plan

In 1683 William Penn selected a site between the Delaware River and  the Schuylkill River for the city of Philadelphia (the city of 'brotherly love').  According to his plans, the city was to have:

1. Orderly numbered gridiron street pattern, using numbered streets (second street, third street, etc.) crossed by alphabet streets
2. Streets that are 50 to 100 ft wide
3. Central square with smaller squares at each corner.

This street layout made the sale of property very easy and William Penn became the first great real estate agent of the new world, marketing Philadelphia and Pennsylvania throughout Europe.  By 1760, Philadelphia had 18,000 people and had surpassed Boston as the largest city in the English colonies.  By 1774, Philadelphia had become the second largest English-speaking city in the world, after London.

Because Philadelphia was the principal port of entry for most new arrivals to the colonies (until 1820 when New York City came to prominence), the "Philadelphia Plan" was soon replicated in settlements further to the west.   This included the street naming conventions, which in addition the numbers and letters, included a High or Market Street as the main commercial street and a Front Street facing the principal transportation access (water or rail). (Note: The street naming format was actually first used in New Haven, CT a couple of decades before Philadelphia.)

Washington Square (below) was originally Southeast Square in the 1776 map (above).

INDEPENDENCE HALL

As the largest city in the colonies, Philadelphia became a hotbed of revolutionary activity in the late 1700s.  The first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia's Carpenters Hall in 1774 to write-up a list of grievances against King George, the primary one being excess taxation.  In 1775, a frustrated Benjamin Franklin returned from England after having unsuccessfully lobbied King George for five years, and battles broke out in Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts.

Independence Hall (above) was the county courthouse for Philadelphia, and in 1776 was the site of the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence (in the room below). Philadelphia was among the early capital cities of the US, during a period when the colonial delegates often changed locations for their meetings. (Click Here for a list early U.S. Capital Cities.) In 1787, the U.S. Constitution was written and signed by 37 of the 42 representatives present in the same room, below. (New York City became the first capital city of the US following the enactment of the U.S. Constitution.)  

THE LIBERTY BELL

The Liberty Bell (below) originally hung in Independence Hall, but is now situated in a special building nearby. It was originally cast in England in 1751, and was rung on July 8, 1776 to celebrate the proclamation of the Declaration of Independence.  The bell was removed in 1777 to hide it from British capture, and was subsequently rung every 4th of July from 1778 to 1853 when the crack appeared while being rung for the death of Chief Justice John Marshall. (By 2003 the visitors could no longer touch the bell and in that year it was moved to a new building located where the trees are on the right side of this photo.)

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts, the 15th child in a family of 17 children. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1723 after an argument with his publisher brother, James.  In 1727 he founded the American Philosophical Society, and in 1729 (at 23 years old) he bought the Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper.  In 1731 he founded the Philadelphia Library, the first public library in the US.   In 1737 he appointed deputy postmaster and was in charge of the Philadelphia Post Office (below).

His house once stood behind the post office.  It is no longer there, although you can see its foundations, and a museum dedicated to his life is adjacent to the site.  Among his other accomplishments were:

• Organized Philadelphia's first Fire Dept.
• Introduced improved methods of Street Lighting and Paving
• Started an academy that later became the University of Pennsylvania
• 1744 - invented the Franklin Stove
• 1747 - theorized that lightening was a form of electricity in a publication that described his famous kite experiment (he did not actually do this experiment until others tried in England and France -- based on this publication)
• 1754 - He proposed a federation of the colonies to deal with the threatened French and Indian War - his proposal was rejected as not possible at the time
• 1776 - became one of a committee of 5 to write the Declaration of Independence
• 1778 - he negotiated a treaty of commerce and defensive alliance with France, which was a major turning point in favor of the colonies of the Revolutionary War
• He Remained as the US ambassador to France until 1785 (79 years old)
• 1787 - he was a delegate to the writing of the US Constitution
• 1790 - he was made President of the Philadelphia Abolitionist Movement (to abolish slavery)

Benjamin Franklin also attended Christ Church (Church of England or Anglican), which can partially be seen behind this historic marker.  He also organized the first Lottery in the US to help pay for its construction.

PHILADELPHIA TODAY

Today, Philadelphia has a population of some 1.75 million people.  It is located near the confluence of the Delaware River and Schuylkill river.  In the infrared satellite image (above), everything that is red is vegetation (which give off infrared heat), while the blue and black areas are either water (rivers) or pavement and buildings.  Philadelphia can be seen to lie on the west side of the Delaware River, as it extends westward into the rolling foothills of the Piedmont.  The Piedmont area has large portions of forests hill slopes, which have the deepest red in this image.  In the far northwest corner one enters the Amish agricultural region. To the east of the Delaware River is New Jersey, comprising suburbs of Philadelphia, small, but growing towns, and agricultural land uses (lighter shades of red and white).

Revitalizing Old Philly

Much of older Philadelphia has undergone 'gentrification' -- the return of the middle class (the 'gentry') to the inner city.  Older, dilapidated buildings are purchased at low prices, their residents are moved out (some ending up on the streets), and the buildings are renovated into offices (above) or more expensive residences.  While visually attractive, this process also tends to reduce the amount of affordable housing for low income people.

The Benjamin Franklin Bridge (above) crosses the Delaware River into New Jersey.  

Some of the old Federal-style Townhouses on 'Society Hill' (below) are among oldest residential houses in Philadelphia, dating back some 300 years.  This area is today one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the city.

200+ year-old Commercial Center of Philadelphia
 

The old and new, and everything in between, can be seen in the architecture of downtown Philadelphia (above and below).  The building with the flag on it (below) was the first 'department store' in the US.
 

Philadelphia is located near the richest farm lands in the Mid-Atlantic region.  These farmlands grow expensive and perishable truck vegetables and fruits for the large urban populations of Megalopolis.  One of the largest urban  'farmers markets' in the US is situated near downtown Philadelphia in the Reading Terminal Market (below).
 

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