PhillyHistory Blog

 

Throughout Philadelphia’s history, photographers have enjoyed taking pictures from the upper levels of City Hall. This photo shows the hustle and bustle of Broad Street in the late 1920s. These kind of shots are helpful for seeing just how “broad” Broad Street really is, as well as for demonstrating traffic patterns during the period. In the center of the street is a pile of wood and other construction materials. What was being built? Possibly, workers used them to build the south extension of the Broad Street Subway. They completed the first section a month after this photo was taken in 1928, although the line only ran from City Hall north to Olney Avenue. The southern section was not completed until two years later. It extended the line to South Street and later to Snyder Avenue.

 

The images found in the Department of City Transit record group are about so much more than simply recording the construction of subways and trolley lines. This photo, taken in 1919 around 10th and Arch Streets is a prime example. Yes, a trolley car and tracks can be seen in the picture, but we also see examples of World War I propaganda and other forms of period advertising, as well as the historic Trocadero Theatre.

The theatre, seen here on the right hand side, was first built in 1870. It was damaged by several fires in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The theatre became known as the Trocadero in 1896, at which time it opened as a burlesque theatre. It remains the oldest burlesque house in Philadelphia. At the time this photo was taken, the acts being advertised included one called The Grown Up Babies. The venue continued operations as a burlesque theatre until sometime after World War II. Then the Trocadero, or “the Troc,” led a few short lives as a pornographic theatre and as a Chinese cinema. It was renovated back to its nineteenth-century appearance in the late 1970s. Its owners again transformed it in 1986, this time into a concert venue.

References:

• “National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form.” 27 February 1978. ARCH: Pennsylvania’s Historic Architecture and Archaeology. http://www.arch.state.pa.us/pdfs/H001320_01B.pdf (24 March 2006).
• “Trocadero Theatre.” 8 March 2006. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trocadero_Theatre (assessed 24 March 2006).