{"id":13087,"date":"2019-01-27T18:24:34","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T23:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/?p=13087"},"modified":"2019-01-28T16:32:21","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T21:32:21","slug":"figuring-out-a-photograph-the-first-st-francis-xavier-and-its-long-gone-neighborhood-at-fairmount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/2019\/01\/figuring-out-a-photograph-the-first-st-francis-xavier-and-its-long-gone-neighborhood-at-fairmount\/","title":{"rendered":"Figuring Out a Photograph: the First St. Francis Xavier and its Long-Gone Neighborhood at Fairmount"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Fairmount Bridge – East Approach, 1874 (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The date, 1874, seems reasonable enough. So does the photograph\u2019s title \u201cFairmount Bridge \u2013 East Approach.\u201d But the buildings don\u2019t seem to match the given address: \u201cN. 25th<\/sup> St and Fairmount Ave.\u201d And so we turn to the online version of G. M. Hopkins 1875\u00a0 Atlas<\/a> at The Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network<\/a> to figure it out. The curve of the road, the stone wall and the steep slope on the left side of the image rather suggest we\u2019re looking at the southeastern edge of the Fairmount Reservoir, what is now the site of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Today, the scene would be looking across Eakins Oval.<\/p>\n

A closer look at the atlas yields a solid hint as to precisely where. \u201cApproach to the upper deck of the bridge,\u201d it says. And just above the word \u201capproach\u201d we especially like that a bend in the road that matches a bend in the masonry wall visible in the photograph. Now, oriented to that spot on the map, we are certain it\u2019s a view to the northwest, toward what was once 25th<\/sup> and Spring Garden Streets.<\/p>\n

Zooming in on the photograph, there\u2019s a sign for the \u201cNew Bridge Hotel,\u201d a short row of brick houses, and then a substantial domed church. And a thought occurs: we never knew of a church there. The Atlas tells us the church property is owned by James F. Wood. Hmmm. That\u2019s<\/em> not very helpful. But with the click of a box on the Interactive Map Viewer<\/a> we switch to Smedley\u2019s 1862 Philadelphia Atlas<\/a> and we\u2019re treated to some welcome information. At the northwest corner of 25th<\/sup> and Biddle Streets, just south of where Spring Garden Street runs into the foot of Fairmount, the word \u201cChurch\u201d is plainly there in a rectangle. No name, no denomination\u2014for that we\u2019ll have to look elsewhere. And just one more click of a box away, we find what we\u2019re looking for: The church is \u201cSt. Francis Xavier R. Cath. Church.\u201d A small archival victory.<\/p>\n

Where to turn to learn more?<\/p>\n

The Callowhill Street Bridge, as they called it, did<\/em> have an upper deck, as confirmed by PhillyHistory images \u00a0here<\/a> and here<\/a>. In fact, it was new in 1874, which explains the construction debris in the curved road as well as the sign \u201cNew Bridge Hotel.\u201d A double-decker bridge replaced the previous bridge, the \u201cWire Bridge at Fairmount<\/a>\u201d of 1842. And, if you want to go all the way back, the first bridge there “The Upper Ferry Bridge<\/a>,\u201d opened in 1812. It earned a distinctive nickname: \u201cThe Colossus\u201d for the record-breaking size of its single wooden truss.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Detail – Fairmount Bridge – East Approach, 1874 (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
San Carlo al Corso, Rome. Pietro da Cortona, 1668. (RomeArtLover)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Biddle Street became Buttonwood in 1897 a fact that\u2019s confirmed by G. W. Bromley\u2019s 1910 Philadelphia Atlas<\/a>. By then, however, the church is gone and a bath house stands in its place. What happened? The B. & O. Railroad\u2019s Schuylkill River East Side Rail Road tunnel under 25th<\/sup> Street underwent expansion in the mid-1880s. In the process, blasting resulted in \u201csignificant damage to both the church and the adjacent rectory.\u201d<\/p>\n

What more can we read into the photograph? Off to the left, partially hidden in the distance, is a multi-story mill building. In 1875, that would be Fairmount Worsted Mills<\/a> (formerly J.& W. Yewdale’s Worsted Goods Manufactory) occupying much of the south side of the 2400 block of Spring Garden between Osprey and Taylor Streets.<\/p>\n

On the northeast corner of 25th<\/sup> and Biddle is a one-story mill identified as \u201cCotton Manufactory\u201d by Hexamer & Locher on their 1858-60 Atlas<\/a>. By 1895, that building has become part of S. B. Fleisher\u2019s mill. Adjacent to it is Fleisher\u2019s Star Braid Works<\/a> and dye house. Within a few short blocks one would find an ice factory, several soap works, a carriage bolt works, machine tool manufacturers and factories making everything from carpets to iron roofing. All places of employment in the burgeoning neighborhood along the Schuylkill.<\/p>\n

Is there anything to uncover about the church, which, we read on the 1895 Atlas<\/a>, is \u201cSt. Francis Cath. Ch.\u201d?<\/p>\n

Luckily, one copy of a lithograph of the church building dating from 1880 (or so) survives at the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center. The compilers of the comprehensive Philadelphia on Stone<\/a> at the Library Company included an entry for it<\/a> in their catalogue. But other than informing us that \u201cthe church relocated to a new building at 24th and Green streets in 1898,\u201d we remain in the dark as to who designed it and when its dome joined the city\u2019s skyline.<\/p>\n

The extant St. Francis Xavier Church a few blocks away on the 2300 block of Green Street is the work of architect Edwin Forrest Durang<\/a>. But his extensive list of projects<\/a> identifies only one St. Francis Xavier, not two.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, 18th and Parkway, 1970 – detail of dome (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We turn to a book entitled Cathlocity in Philadelphia,<\/em> which happens to be word-searchable at archive.org<\/a>. There, on pages 293 and 294 is an entry for St. Francis Xavier\u2019s Church which provides some useful background. In 1839, Bishop Francis Kendrick recognized the need for new parishes in the western sections of the city proper. He noted the growth of \u201cthe coal-shipping industry, the wharves of which stretched alongside the east bank of the Schuylkill River\u201d and new, largely Irish Catholic settlements known “The Village\u201d and “Out Schuylkill.\u201d Kendrick created two new parishes: St. Patrick based at 20th<\/sup> and Rittenhouse and St. Francis Xavier at 25th<\/sup> and Biddle. The community came together to dedicate a church at the former on June 1, 1841. \u00a0The corner-stone of St. Francis Xavier\u2019s was laid June 1, 1839 and that church, still without a dome, was dedicated on Sunday, June 6, 1841.<\/p>\n

We learn that St. Patrick\u2019s was \u201cbuilt under the direction of [architect] Napoleon LeBrun.<\/a>\u201d No mention of an architect for St. Francis Xavier.<\/p>\n

But we take away a clue that is subsequently confirmed in Roger Moss’s\u00a0Historic Sacred Places in Philadelphia<\/em>. The dome, which Moss suggests may date to 1866, appears to be an echo of Pietro da Cortona\u2019s San Carlo al Corso in Rome, which has often been cited as the source for the dome of the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul<\/a>\u00a0on Logan Square. LeBrun also contributed designs for the Cathedral. Could this church at 25th<\/sup> and Biddle be another iteration of the same idea by LeBrun?\u00a0Take a look at San Carlo\u2019s dome<\/a> and consider the possibilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The date, 1874, seems reasonable enough. So does the photograph\u2019s title \u201cFairmount Bridge \u2013 East Approach.\u201d But the buildings don\u2019t seem to match the given address: \u201cN. 25th St and Fairmount Ave.\u201d And so we turn to the online version of G. M. Hopkins 1875\u00a0 Atlas at The Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network to figure it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}