Author: Ron Hoess

Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia’s Industrial Past, Part III

Post author By Ron Hoess
Post date April 8, 2010

We will begin the final part of our tour down Washington Avenue starting at Broad Street and working our way eastward towards the Delaware River. One of Philadelphia’s major industries, textiles, was well represented along Washington Avenue. By 1860, Philadelphia had as many people employed in the textile industry as the textile center of New England – Lowell, Massachusetts¹. The industry thrived through the early part of the 20th century, with large mills located primarily in the Kensington area of the city, but also scattered in various locations throughout the city. On Washington Avenue, textile mills included the Abraham Kirschbaum Co. located on the northeast corner of the intersection with Broad Street, which can be seen on the right side of the photograph across the street from the PW&B railroad station. A second large mill, the Caleb J. Milne factory, took up an entire city block on the north side between 10th and 11th Streets. Built in 1895 and added to in 1904, it housed spinning, weaving and finishing operations².

Another major industry along Washington Avenue was the Curtis Publishing Co., located between 11th and 12th Streets. Founded in 1883, it is principally remembered for its popular magazine publications The Ladies Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post³.

Ancillary to Curtis Publishing was the Columbian Carbon Co., manufacturers of printer’s ink, located one block west at 1223 Washington Avenue. The industries on Washington Avenue included a number of smaller companies as well. For instance, there was McCracken and Hall, “Manufacturers of Fancy Cabinet Ware,” located at 1124 Washington Ave. This rather ornately decorated building seems to have survived at least another 40 years, although minus its mansard roof and with a new tenant – the Frank A. England Co., also a furniture maker. Interestingly, after 10th Street, Washington Avenue takes on a much more residential character with no major industries until its intersection with Delaware Avenue. Coal dealerships like American Ice and Coal still appear, but for the most part, the tracks glide past the row homes of Southwark on their way to the river.

After looking at these archival photographs, it’s interesting to reflect on what remains today. The tracks themselves are now gone, last used in the 1980s. Perhaps symbolic of the fate of manufacturing in Philadelphia, there are very few manufacturers of any sort remaining along Washington Avenue. A perusal using Google Earth shows that many of the small coal yards are now parking lots. Many of the very large buildings such as those of the Kirschbaum Co. and Caleb Milne Co. have been demolished and are vacant lots. As Philadelphia, like many other urban centers, evolves away from being a nexus of industry, it is still useful to remember and appreciate its rich industrial heritage that made it a great city.

References:

[1] Scranton, Philip, (1992). Large Firms and Industrial Restructuring: The Philadelphia Region, 1900-1980. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 116, pp 419-465.

[2] Workshop of the World, Oliver Evans Press, Philadelphia (1990), pp. 1-11-1-12.

[3] Scranton, Philip, Walter Licht. Work Sights: Industrial Philadelphia, 1890-1950. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1986, p. 222.

Historic Sites

Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia’s Industrial Past, Part II

Post author By Ron Hoess
Post date January 25, 2010

We continue our tour down Washington Avenue at 17th Street heading east towards Broad Street. There are, of course, the ubiquitous coal yards along the way. These may seem strange to us today but were an essential feature in the first half of the 20th Century. Through World War II, nearly half of the railroad sidings along Washington Avenue were devoted to coal delivery. As we cross 17th Street looking north, we can see another element of Philadelphia’s industrial past, the Philadelphia rowhouse. Viewing this picture one sees an almost endless line of rowhouses, with trolley tracks running down the center of the street. Most workers lived close to the factories they worked in, but if they were not within walking distance, they took the trolley.

At the intersection with Chadwick Street stands the Southwark Plating Co. This is a reminder that while Philadelphia did have large companies that dominated the industrial landscape, such as Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia was also home to many smaller specialty firms that formed a productive network with neighboring industries.¹ Just across Chadwick Street, extending to the corner of 16th and Carpenter Streets, was a series of public delivery tracks, allowing industries not directly on Washington Ave. to load and ship by rail. On the west side of 16th Street, a branch office of Berger Manufacturing turned out sheet metal products even after the company was assimilated into Republic Steel in 1930. ²

At the intersection of Washington Avenue and Broad Street, there were a number of important buildings. The northwest quadrant was the site of the original passenger station built by the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad in 1852. This was the first passenger station where locomotives were able to bring passengers directly into the city. The station boasted a 400′ long train shed that housed 8 tracks.³ During the Civil War, the station was an important departure point for Union troops headed south. It was also a stopping point for the Lincoln funeral train on its journey to Illinois.⁴ With the Centennial Exposition of 1876, the railroad expanded its terminal facilities, including the addition of a separate enclosed freight shed.³ Once under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the station was closed for passenger service in January of 1882, coincident with the opening of the railroad’s Broad Street Station.

On the southwest side of the intersection was the Marine Quartermaster’s Depot. This massive building was later expanded and served as an important source for war materials during both World Wars. Uniforms were manufactured here, drawing on the expertise of the local Philadelphia textile industry. Its location along Washington Avenue proved expeditious for shipping materials via rail.⁴

In the next part of our trip down Washington Avenue, we will continue our tour east of Broad Street and look at some representatives of major industrial categories that were part of the Philadelphia landscape.

References:

[1] Scranton, Philip, (1992). “Large Firms and Industrial Restructuring: The Philadelphia Region, 1900-1980.” Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 116, pp 419–465.

[2] http://glassian.org/Prism/Berger/index.html

[3] Roberts, Charles S. and David W. Messer (2003). Triumph VI: Philadelphia, Columbia, Harrisburg to Baltimore and Washington DC 1827-2003. Baltimore, Maryland: Barnard, Roberts & Co. p. 50.

[4] “Workshop of the World At War: The USMC Quartermaster Depot.” September 19, 2006. http://ruins.wordpress.com/2006/09/19/workshop-of-the-world-at-war-the-usmc-quartermaster-depot/

Historic Sites

Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia’s Industrial Past, Background History

Post author By Ron Hoess
Post date December 18, 2009

Philadelphia was once a major industrial center in the late 1900’s and the first part of the 20th century, deservedly earning the title “workshop to the world”. Unlike other cities that were centered around a single industry, i.e. Pittsburgh and steel or Detroit and automobiles, Philadelphia had a spectrum of different industries. There were knitting mills in Kensington, steel mills in Nicetown and breweries in Brewerytown to name a few representatives.¹ Today much of the manufacturing activity in Philadelphia is gone. Competition from overseas and limited capability for expansion within the confines of an urban setting are some of the contributing factors that have led to this demise. While many of the buildings that housed these industries have either been demolished or lie vacant, photographs from the City Archives displayed by PhillyHistory.org serve as a wonderful reminder to us of what once was a thriving manufacturing city. To gain an appreciation of the diversity of Philadelphia’s industrial past, there is probably no better place to start than on Washington Avenue which runs east to west across the city.

Before commencing on our journey down Washington Avenue, a little history is in order as to why this became an industrial area for Philadelphia. In 1838, the Philadelphia Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) entered the city of Philadelphia via a railroad bridge at Grays Ferry and proceeded to lay track down Washington Avenue to Broad Street.² The ability to ship goods by rail, particularly to other major cities such as Baltimore, immediately attracted various industries who located adjacent to the railroad. Concomitant with industries locating along the line, housing for workers in the form of the Philadelphia rowhouse quickly sprang up in the surrounding area. Nice examples of this architecture can be found along Federal Street and other streets that ran parallel to Washington Avenue. By 1881, the rail line was absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad who had gained controlling interest of the PW&B. At about the same time, the rail line originally built by the Southwark Railroad running along Washington Avenue from Broad Street to the Delaware River was also absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad.³

As we begin our journey it is probably worth noting additional source material that is useful for identifying the industries along Washington Avenue. Of particular value are maps noting where various industries are located. Many of these maps can be viewed online by going to http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/index.cfm and clicking on Resource Browser. From there, one can access many useful maps including ones created by Bromley,⁴ Hexamer,⁵ and Baist⁶ as well as maps that date back to the turn of the century or earlier. More contemporary maps include the Land Use Maps of Philadelphia from 19427 and 1962.⁸ Perhaps the most accurate maps are the Sanborn Insurance Maps that can be viewed at the Free Library in Philadelphia. One other useful tool is a Pennsylvania Railroad publication called the CT1000. In these books, every railroad siding and the company that used the siding are listed. While not all industries have a railroad siding, many along Washington Avenue did. It should be remembered that industries along Washington Avenue were constantly changing; some would move to other locations and be replaced by yet other industries. In many ways the industrial flux on Washington Avenue very much reflected what was happening citywide.

For more information about industry on Washington Avenue, please read “Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia’s Industrial Past, Part I.”

References:

[1] Scranton, Philip, Walter Licht. Work Sights: Industrial Philadelphia, 1890-1950. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1986.

[2] Penrose, Robert L. (1988) “The PRR’s Delaware Avenue Branch”. The High Line (Philadelphia Chapter, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society) 9 (1), p. 7.

[3] Ibid., p. 8.

[4] Atlas of the City of Philadelphia, 1901. George W. & Walter S. Bromley, Civil Engineers. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

[5] Hexamer General Surveys, 1866-1896. Ernest Hexamer. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

[6] Baist’s Property Atlas of the City and County of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1895. G. Wm. Baist. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

[7] Philadelphia Land Use Map, 1942. Plans & Registry Division, Bureau of Engineering Surveys & Zoning, Department of Public Works, Federal Works Progress Administration for Pennsylvania. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

[8] Philadelphia Land Use Map, 1962. Plans & Registry Division, Bureau of Engineering Surveys & Zoning, Department of Public Works, Federal Works Progress Administration for Pennsylvania. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

Historic Sites

Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia’s Industrial Past, Part I

Post author By Ron Hoess
Post date December 18, 2009
1 Comment on Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia’s Industrial Past, Part I

For the historic background of Washington Avenue, please read “Washington Avenue: A Representative Example of Philadelphia’s Industrial Past, Background History.”

We will start our tour at 25th and Washington Avenue and make our way eastward. At the north east corner of 25th and Washington Avenue, we have the Robert Wilson Coal Yard.¹ There were numerous coal yards all along Washington Avenue. Not only was there a demand for coal by the surrounding factories, but it should also be remembered that at the turn of the century most of the rowhouses of the surrounding area were also heated by coal. Looking south between 25th and 24th, we see the William Wharton Jr. steel works. The company was the first to manufacture manganese steel for street railway tracks and later manganese steel frogs used in railroad switches. Despite the size of the complex as viewed in a 1930 photograph looking west from 24th Street, Wharton decided the company required larger facilities and in 1915 moved the company to Easton, PA.² This is an early example of an industry moving due to an inability to expand within the confines of its urban setting.

Not surprisingly the vacated buildings were then occupied by another steel company, The Philadelphia Roll and Machine Co., which already had a substantial operation on the north side of Washington Avenue between 24th and 23th Streets. Eventually this company left as well and, according to the 1942 Land Use Map, the Pennsylvania Range Boiler Co. had occupied at least some of the space. In the 1960 photograph the building looks the same as when it had William Wharton’s name painted on its side. Note also in this relatively late view the railroad boxcar “parked” right on Washington Avenue.

The manufacturing of steel and other metals was becoming a significant industry during this time period and Philadelphia had numerous small foundries. Between 23rd and 22nd Streets on the north side of Washington Avenue was the Belmont Iron Works. If one carefully examines the company sign, one can see that the company made structural steel for bridges. The other item to note from this 1916 photograph is that the railroad had as many as four tracks running down Washington Avenue with little space for other vehicular traffic. About this time the city proposed elevating the entire railroad but funds for this project never materialized and the railroad tracks remained in Washington Avenue for many years.³ Across the street from the Belmont Iron Works was the Phosphor Bronze Smelting Co. which had foundry buildings on either side of 22nd Street.

So as not to leave the impression that the only type of industry along Washington Avenue was metal manufacturing industries, we will end the first part of our tour in the 2100 block of Washington Avenue. On the north side was a large factory owned and operated by the retailer John Wanamaker.

Inspection of the Sanborn Insurance maps indicates that furniture was manufactured here with a rail siding from Washington Avenue used to deliver lumber. Across the street on the south side was the massive Continental Brewery built in 1879. A drawing of the building can be found in the Hexamer Survey of 1880 at the Free Library in Philadelphia. This was a very successful Philadelphia brewery and at its peak produced some 80,000 barrels of beer per year. Unfortunately like many of the breweries located in Brewerytown section of Philadelphia, Prohibition brought the demise of the business and even upon the repeal of Prohibition many breweries like Continental never reopened.

References:

[1] Atlas of the City of Philadelphia, 1901. George W. & Walter S. Bromley, Civil Engineers. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

[2] Maintenance of way cyclopedia: a reference book by E. T. Howson, E. R. Lewis, K. E. Kellenberger, American Railway Engineering Association, New York,Simons-Boardman, 1921.

[3] Messer, David W. (2000). Triumph III: Philadelphia Terminal 1838-2000. Baltimore, Maryland: Barnard, Roberts & Co. p. 287.

Additional Resources:

Scranton, Philip, Walter Licht. Work Sights: Industrial Philadelphia, 1890-1950. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1986.
Penrose, Robert L. (1988) “The PRR’s Delaware Avenue Branch”. The High Line (Philadelphia Chapter, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society) 9 (1), p. 7.
Ibid., p. 8.
Atlas of the City of Philadelphia, 1901. George W. & Walter S. Bromley, Civil Engineers. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/
Hexamer General Surveys, 1866-1896. Ernest Hexamer. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/
Baist’s Property Atlas of the City and County of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1895. G. Wm. Baist. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/
Philadelphia Land Use Map, 1942. Plans & Registry Division, Bureau of Engineering Surveys & Zoning, Department of Public Works, Federal Works Progress Administration for Pennsylvania. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/
Philadelphia Land Use Map, 1962. Plans & Registry Division, Bureau of Engineering Surveys & Zoning, Department of Public Works, Federal Works Progress Administration for Pennsylvania. http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/

Urban Planning

The Pennsylvania Railroads Philadelphia Improvements, Part II

Post author By Ron Hoess
Post date November 13, 2009

Last month we looked at the Pennsylvania Railroads Philadelphia Improvements starting with the construction of Suburban Station followed by construction of the north wing of 30th Street Station, which opened September 28, 1930. Despite the Depression, construction would continue on the remaining major portion of 30th Street Station. From the outset, the Pennsylvania Railroad intended the station to be a magnificent structure. After soliciting numerous design proposals, the railroad finally settled on the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White for their design of a Grecian style station built of structural steel and concrete faced with Alabama limestone.¹

Two aerial photographs and show the early stages of construction. It should be noted that the date of 1934 for these photographs is incorrect since the station was already in partial service by 1933.² By comparing numerous aerial photographs documenting the progress of the station’s construction, a more accurate date for the first photograph is February of 1931 and the second photograph would be late spring of 1931. The first aerial photograph shows the completed suburban wing of the station. Adjacent to the suburban wing (directly below it in the photograph) one can see that the tracks formerly used to enter Broad Street Station via the three railroad bridges have been removed. The second aerial photograph, taken a few months later, shows the area adjacent to the suburban wing as a white rectangular area. This represents the construction of the street level floor of the station.

Tracks entering the station are below this level. In order to accommodate the tracks a large amount of earth was first excavated from this area. This was not without incident, as it was discovered that the area was used as a burial site for 17th century Quakers and a number of coffins were unearthed and had to be relocated. After the earth had been excavated, securing the foundation required that 5000 pipes be driven into the ground some 80 feet deep to encounter bedrock. Once the pipes were filled with concrete, assembly of the structural steel could begin.³ Concomitant with work on the building, much of the site to the north and south of the building needed to be cleared for railroad tracks. In the aerial photographs, the buildings just north of the newly completed suburban wing were stockyards and an abattoir that had been razed for construction.

By the end of 1931, the structural steel framework of the building was near completion and the outer limestone walls were being erected. When completed the station was indeed magnificent. At each end of the concourse on the outside were porticoes, one facing 30th street the other the Schuylkill River and downtown Philadelphia. Each portico has ten Corinthian columns measuring 71 feet tall and 11 feet in diameter.⁴ Inside the station, the main concourse is 290 feet long and 135 feet wide. The ceiling towers some 95 feet above the Tennessee marble floor. Much of the ornamentation within the station represents a beautiful example of art deco design.⁵ Work continued on the station for the next two years, and the station was fully opened on December 15, 1933. The station remains active today and is Amtrak’s third busiest railroad station behind only Penn Station in New York and Union Station in Washington D.C.

While the station remains intact, a number of dramatic changes have occurred in the last few years. The most significant is the construction of the Cira Building just north of the suburban wing. A final note concerns the steam generation plant for 30th Street Station with its very tall smokestack visible in the aerial photographs and on the extreme left in the photograph of the portico. Built in 1929, it has apparently become expendable and is scheduled for implosion in November 2009, thus removing a familiar landmark from the West Philadelphia skyline.

References:

[1] Underkofler, Allen P. The Philadelphia Improvements Part II: 30th Street Station. The High Line, Vol. 3, Nos. 1 & 2 (Sep. 1980), p. 6

[2] Ibid., p. 11

[3] Ibid., p. 11

[4] Ibid., p. 7

[5] Ibid., p. 6

Urban Planning

The Pennsylvania Railroads Philadelphia Improvements, Part I

Post author By Ron Hoess
Post date October 15, 2009
1 Comment on The Pennsylvania Railroads Philadelphia Improvements, Part I

During the early 1920s, the Pennsylvania Railroad began planning for major changes to its infrastructure in the busy Philadelphia area, with the goal of expediting passenger traffic. While Broad Street Station presented an ideal location for the termination of inbound commuter traffic, a major drawback was its stub-ended design, which forced through trains destined for other cities to retrace their steps to West Philadelphia Station before continuing their journey.

To resolve this problem, the railroad planned two large construction projects.¹ The first part of the plan was to replace the company headquarters housed in Broad Street Station with a new building adjacent to the station, along what is now JFK Boulevard between 19th and 20th Streets. Beneath this building, a station would be constructed that would serve as the terminus for electric commuter cars coming in from the outlying areas of Philadelphia. This new station would be known as Broad Street Suburban Station or just “Suburban Station”.

Not wishing to retain the street-obstructing elevated trackage leading into Broad Street, often referred to as the “Chinese Wall”, the planner chose to have the tracks from West Philadelphia quickly descend below street level after they had crossed to the east bank of the Schuylkill River. In order to dig this subway, buildings between Filbert and Cuthbert Streets from 15th Street west to the Schuylkill River were demolished. The second part of the plan was to replace West Philadelphia Station with a large passenger station on the grand scale, similar to Penn Station or Grand Central Station in New York City.² The plans were approved by the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Board of Directors and agreed upon by the City in 1925. Major construction, however, did not begin until 1927.

The Suburban Station office building was completed in 1929. It represents an absolutely beautiful example of Art Deco design. The first two floors are polished black granite, while the remaining 20 floors are made of Alabama limestone and sandstone.³ Adorning the first floor is bronze work, complete with the familiar Pennsylvania Railroad keystone logo. The station below the building was opened on September 28, 1930. Commuter trains leaving Suburban Station crossed the Schuylkill River on a newly constructed stone arch bridge that would eventually serve as the replacement for the three separate railroad bridges that carried trains into Broad Street Station.⁴

Interestingly, the only portion of 30th Street Station that was constructed at the time Suburban Station was opened was the north wing, intended for commuter trains. Construction of the main portion of the station had only just been started, partly because of protracted negotiations with the city and the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT) regarding the Market Street Elevated Line that would run along the south side of the station.⁵ As originally planned, the elevated would have passed through a south wing of 30th Street, symmetrical with the suburban north wing of the station. However, the Pennsylvania Railroad felt that the bridges of the elevated line would detract from the appearance of the station and negotiated with the City and PRT to place the elevated line in a subway instead. Unfortunately, as this 1949 picture shows, it took many years for the City to do this and the railroad was left with the rather unsightly elevated line running by its magnificent station.

Next month, we will look at the construction of 30th Street Station. In retrospect, looking at the scale of these projects and the fact that the nation was now at the height of its worst economic depression, it is a tribute to the Pennsylvania Railroad that it was able to complete them under such dire circumstances.

References:

[1] Underkofler, Allen P. The Philadelphia Improvements Part I: The Idea & Projects East of the Schuylkill River. The High Line, Vol. 2, Nos. 2 & 3 (May 1979).

[2] Underkofler, Allen P. The Philadelphia Improvements Part II: 30th Street Station. The High Line, Vol. 3, Nos. 1 & 2 (Sep. 1980).

[3] Messer, David W. Triumph III: Philadelphia Terminal 1838-2000. Baltimore, MD: Barnard, Roberts & Co., 2000, p 52.

[4] Ibid., p. 64.

[5] Ibid., p. 65.

Urban Planning

The Reading Railroad’s Turn of the Century Big Dig, Part Two

Post author By Ron Hoess
Post date June 10, 2009

Last month, we discussed the Reading Railroad’s ambitious plans for placing their City Branch below ground level. One part was the construction of a tunnel beneath Pennsylvania Avenue. The tunnel was to be 2888 feet long and of sufficient width to hold four tracks, two for the main line into the city and two for storage.¹ At the time, steam power still ruled the rails, so providing suitable ventilation for a tunnel of this length was not a trivial engineering problem. Extensive correspondence over the issue survives in the Reading archives. Ultimately, the problem was solved by placing a series of ventilating grates down the median of Pennsylvania Avenue above, much like Park Avenue in New York City.

A recent featured photograph shows the setting of the keystone at the east portal of the tunnel in 1898 and the completed tunnel in 1900. Construction of the tunnel was not done by boring underground but rather by using the “cut and fill” technique in which the earth is first excavated and retaining walls and roof constructed, after which earth is backfilled on the roof.

Beyond the tunnel, the remainder of the line was an open subway of almost equal length stretching from 20th Street down to 13th Street. At the turn of the century, this was still one of the key manufacturing areas of Philadelphia, and the industries there depended on railroad access. Alongside the tracks that constituted the mainline, the Reading constructed additional sidings and storage yards that served these industries. The unquestionably dominant industry along the City Branch was the Baldwin Locomotive Works, which by 1905 was the largest employer in the region with a workforce of over 15,500 individuals.² Adjacent to Baldwin Locomotive Works was the plant of William Sellers & Co. at 16th Street. While not as large as Baldwin, the company’s owner designed and successfully campaigned for the use of the first U.S. standard screw thread, which had a major impact on standardization in manufacturing practices.³ The complex trackage in the area allowed Reading switchers to shove freight cars from their subway up an incline to street level and then cross back over the subway tracks on an angled girder bridge into the factory.

Along with the tracks leading into the Baldwin plant between 15th Street and Broad Street, the railroad also built a substantial freight yard on either side of Broad Street. In later years, the air space over these yards would be utilized by constructing buildings over the tracks. The Inquirer Building (actually the Elverson Building, named after the owners) was constructed in 1925 between 15th Street and Broad Street and supplied the Reading Railroad with another customer requiring shipments of newsprint.⁴

On the east side of Broad Street, the Reading would, in 1930, construct its own multistory warehouse over the tracks, replacing the rather modest one-story freight sheds which had previously occupied the site. The Terminal Commerce Building, as it was called, still stands today and is a beautiful example of Art Deco architecture. While the tracks and many of the industrial buildings are gone today, the pictures remind us of Philadelphia’s rich industrial history that earned it the name of “Workshop of the World”.

References:

[1] Engineering department notes, Reading Company Collection, Hagley Museum and Library.

[2] Scranton, P. & Licht, W. Work Sights. Temple University Press, Philadelphia (1986), p. 182.

[3] #234 The United States Standard Screw Threads (1864) American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Accessed May 25, 2009.

[4] Workshop of the World. Oliver Evans Press, Philadelphia (1990), pp. 5-43–5-44.

Urban Planning

The Reading Railroad’s Turn of the Century Big Dig, Part I

Post author By Ron Hoess
Post date May 7, 2009

If one were to explore the neighborhood just north of Callowhill Street between 20th and Broad Street, the casual observer might be perplexed by what appears to be a sunken urban greenway running parallel to Callowhill Street. This trench, some 40 feet wide and 20 feet deep, is now overgrown with trees and littered with trash. While it is hard to imagine, this was once a busy railroad thoroughfare belonging to the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad. The origins of this portion of the railroad date back more than a century and represented an important route for the Reading to deliver goods into Center City. In the mid 1800’s, the Reading, whose main terminal was at Port Richmond, was looking for access to the heart of Philadelphia. Its chance came in 1850, when it bought the old Philadelphia and Columbia line between Peter’s Island in the Schuylkill (Belmont) and Broad and Vine Streets.¹

By 1893 the volume of railroad traffic along this line, which the Reading referred to as its City Branch,¹ had become so great that the city fathers felt it necessary to intervene.² At this time, all the railroad trackage was at street level, which meant numerous grade crossings as the railroad traversed the grid of Philadelphia streets. A nice example is at Broad and Noble Streets, where at least three tracks crossed the intersection, complete with crossing gates and watchman’s shanty. In addition to the traffic problems this arrangement created, the city fathers were sensitive to the fact that as the railroad traveled south along the east bank of the Schuylkill River, it ran right in front of the entrance to Fairmount Park, a less than pleasing spectacle. As part of an agreement to allow the Reading to build its new passenger terminal at 12th and Market Street, the railroad was also required to find some solution to the problem of street trackage.²

After numerous plans it was finally decided that the tracks would be placed below street level, an interesting departure from the usual railroad strategy. Both the Reading Railroad and its rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad, typically opted for grade elevation rather than lowering the track, a prime example being the Pennsylvania Railroad’s elevated trackage into Broad Street Station, later nicknamed the “Chinese Wall”. The project would consist of two major parts. The first was along Pennsylvania Avenue from Taney Street east to 21st and Hamilton. Four tracks would be placed in a tunnel running underneath Pennsylvania Avenue. The second part was an open subway from 21st Street to 13th and Callowhill.²

Work began in 1897 and the magnitude of it cannot be overstated. There was an enormous amount of earth to be excavated. In addition, there was the logistical nightmare of doing construction without disrupting service to various industries along the line, so temporary track needed to be laid. Since the track was going below street level, various sewer lines had to be rerouted, and bridges needed to be constructed to keep through streets open. Even the railroad’s own engine servicing facilities would be demolished so that the tracks could be lowered.

Despite the immense scope of the project, much of the work was completed within two to three years. By 1900 the line was fully functional and connected to the Reading Passenger Terminal at its eastern terminus. The line remained active for nearly 100 years. In 1984, the Reading Terminal closed, and by 1997, the last remaining freight customer along the line closed, marking the end of rail service.³ While little remains today of what was once a key industrial section of Philadelphia, we will look in Part II at a number of places along the line during construction and see the importance of the railroad and the industries it served.

References:

[1] Pennsylvania Railroad Company. “Inspection of Physical Property by Board of Directors, November 10-11-12, 1948.” http://www.railsandtrails.com/PRR/BOD1948/history.html

[2] Webster, George S. and Wagner, Samuel T. “History of the Pensylvania Avenue Subway, Philadelphia, and Sewer Construction Connected Therewith.” Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, v. XLIV (Dec. 1900), pp. 1–33.

[3] Castelli, Douglas, Hill, Erin, Johnson, Michael & Jones, Dayle. “Innovative Rail Technologies Cross-Town Rail Line: Final Report.” Appendix B. (2003) http://hdl.handle.net/1860/116

Historic Sites Urban Planning

Broad Street Station

While intercity travel today primarily involves the automobile or airplane, a century ago the passenger train represented the principal mode of long distance travel. The increasing volume of rail passengers in the late 1800’s required railroads to find efficient ways of delivering passengers to their destinations. In Philadelphia, the problem for the Pennsylvania Railroad was the lack of a station that would deliver passengers directly into Center City Philadelphia. In 1879, the railroad devised a plan to construct a large passenger station at Broad and Market Streets, directly opposite City Hall. The station would be connected by multiple tracks to the Pennsylvania Railroad station located in West Philadelphia, across the Schuylkill River¹. The extension would have required numerous street crossings, starting at 23^rd St. and going eastward towards Broad Street. To avoid both the safety hazard of street crossings and the potential bottleneck they would create for the numerous passenger trains, it was decided to construct the tracks on an elevated embankment. Large granite blocks were used to enclose the embankment and over time the structure was often referred to as the “Chinese Wall” because of its resemblance to the Great Wall of China². In later years this structure would become the bane of city planners because it was viewed as an impediment to development of the area north of Market Street³.

Broad Street Station was officially opened on December 5, 1881⁴. The brick station was of Gothic design with a rather ornate Victorian appearance. Behind the station were four train sheds to protect passengers from the elements. The station was an immediate success, boasting 160 daily trains⁵. The volume of passenger traffic steadily increased, so that by 1886, the number of passengers using the station averaged a million per month⁶. As a consequence, in 1892, a mere eleven years after its opening, plans were submitted for the enlargement of the station. An office building that would serve as the Pennsylvania Railroad’s headquarters was designed by noted architect Frank Furness and added to the existing station⁷. The smaller train sheds were replaced by one massive train shed 306 feet wide and 591 feet long. The roof, made of wood and glass, was at its highest point 100 feet above the tracks⁸.

Already by 1910, the 16 tracks of the station saw 578 arrivals and departures daily⁹. At the same time, the success of Broad Street Station brought with it a number of problems. While it served well as a final stop for commuter traffic into Center City, it was inconvenient and time consuming for through trains because they were required to retrace their steps to West Philadelphia Station before continuing on their journey. The stub-ended design of Broad Street required arriving locomotives to back up and be turned on a turntable before they could depart, creating additional congestion. A partial solution was provided by the railroad’s electrification, allowing the use of multiple-unit commuter trains which could operate in either direction.

On June 11, 1923, a fire broke out below the station platforms and quickly spread to the train shed, engulfing the entire structure in flames. Within hours of the fire, the Pennsylvania Railroad marshaled a work force of some 3500 men to begin repairing the station. Within five days, all tracks and platforms were restored. The weakened train shed was dismantled and replaced with umbrella shelters¹⁰. However, the handwriting was on the wall for Broad Street Station.

Within two years, the Pennsylvania Railroad started drawing up an ambitious plan, referred to as the “Philadelphia Improvements,” that called for the construction of 30^th Street Station as the railroad’s main passenger station in Philadelphia, replacing the West Philadelphia station¹¹. The plan also called for the elimination of Broad Street Station, replacing it with an underground station for commuter trains, known as Broad Street Suburban Station (but usually referred to simply as Suburban Station). By 1929, the excavation for the trackwork leading to Suburban Station had begun, parallel to the north side of the Chinese Wall. A year later, the construction of 30^th Street Station across the Schuylkill River began, and Broad Street Station’s days were numbered. Surprisingly, the station was used for two more decades before finally closing on April 27, 1952. Aboard the last train from the station rode the Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Eugene Ormandy conducting a rendition of “Auld Lange Syne”¹². Within a year, the station was demolished, making way for Penn Plaza and a series of high rise office buildings.

[1] Pennypacker, Bert (December 1983). “The Grandest Railway Terminal in America”. Trains (Kalmbach Publishing Co.): 40-57. ISSN 0041-0934.

[2] Albrecht, Harry P. [1972] (1976). Broad Street Station. Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania: Harry P. Albrecht. p. 3.

[3] Underkofler, Allen P (1987). “The Philadelphia Improvements, Part I”. The High Line (Philadelphia Chapter, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society) 2 (2 & 3). p. 5.

[4] Albrecht, p. 3.

[5] Pennypacker, p. 44.

[6] Ibid., p. 45.

[7] Messer, David W. (2000). Triumph III: Philadelphia Terminal 1838-2000. Baltimore, Maryland: Barnard, Roberts & Co. ISBN 0-934118-25-6

[8] Pennypacker, pp. 46-47.

[9] Ibid., p. 49.

[10] Ibid., pp. 51-52.

[11] Underkofler, pp. 6-15.

[12] Pennypacker, p. 57.