History of Philadelphia

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The history of Philadelphia goes back to when the city was founded by William Penn in 1682. Before then, the area was inhabited by the Lenape (Delaware) Indians and European settlers who first arrived in the area in the early 1600s. Philadelphia quickly grew into an important colonial city and during the American Revolution was the site of the First and Second Continental Congresses. After the Revolution the city became the temporary capital of the United States. In the 19th Century Philadelphia became one of the first industrial centers in the United States. Starting after American Civil War Philadelphia's government was controlled by a corrupt political machine that lasted until the 1950s. In the latter half of the 20th Century crime and homelessness plagued the city. The 1990s saw a revitalization of many areas of Philadelphia and a residential boom in the Center City district.

Contents 1 Founding 2 Early growth 3 Revolution 3.1 Temporary capital 4 Industrial growth 5 Late 19th century 6 Early 20th century 7 1930s to 21st Century 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External link

[edit] Founding

Before Philadelphia was founded, the area was inhabited by the Lenape (Delaware) Indians. Europeans arrived in the Delaware Valley in the early 1600s, with the first settlements being founded by the Dutch, British and Swedish. The Philadelphia area was largely under control by the Swedes before the Dutch declared the area was part of New Netherland in 1655. Close to a decade later, the area was claimed by the British.^[1] By 1682 the area of modern Philadelphia was inhabited by about fifty Europeans, mostly subsistence farmers.^[2]

In 1681, as part of a repayment of a debt, Charles II of England granted William Penn a charter for what would become the Pennsylvania colony. Shortly after receiving the charter, Penn said he would lay out "a large Towne of Citty in the most Convenient place upon the [Delaware] River for health & Navigation." Penn wanted the city to live peacefully in the area, without a fortress or walls, so he bought the land from the Lenape. The legend is that Penn made a treaty of friendship with Lenape chief Tammany under an elm tree at Shackamaxon, in what is now Kensington.^[3] Penn envisioned a city where all people regardless of religion could worship freely and live together. Having been a Quaker, Penn had experienced persecution because of his religion. He also planned that the city's streets would be set up in a grid, with the idea that the city would be more like the rural towns of England than like its crowded cities. The homes would be spread far apart surrounded by gardens and orchards. The city would grant the first purchasers, the landowners who first bought land in the colony, land along the river for their homes. The city, which he named Philadelphia, would have a commercial center for a market, state house and other key buildings.

Penn sent three commissioners to supervise the settlement and to set aside 10,000 acres for the city. The commissioners bought land from Swedes at the settlement of Wicaco and from there began to lay out the city towards the north. The area went about a mile along the Delaware River between modern South and Vine Streets. William Penn arrived in Philadelphia in October 1682. Penn felt the area was too cramped and expanded the city west to the bank of the Schuylkill River, making the city a total of 1,200 acres. Philadelphia's streets were laid out in a gridiron system. Except for the two widest streets, High (now Market) and Broad, the streets were named after prominent landowners who owned adjacent lots. The streets were later renamed in 1684. The ones going east and west were renamed after local trees and the ones going north and south were numbered. Within the area, four squares (now named Rittenhouse, Logan, Washington and Franklin) were set up as parks open for everyone. Penn designed a central square at the intersection of Broad and what is now Market Street that would be surrounded public buildings.^[4]

Some of the first settlers lived in caves dug out of the river bank, but the city grew with construction of homes, churches and wharves. The new landowners didn't share in Penn's vision of a non-congested city. Most people bought land along the Delaware River instead of spreading across the area towards the Schuylkill. The lots they bought were subdivided into smaller lots and resold with smaller streets constructed between them. Before 1704 few people lived west of Fourth Street.^[5]

[edit] Early growth

Philadelphia grew from a few hundred inhabitants in 1683 to over 2,500 in 1701. The population was mostly English, Welsh, Irish, Germans, Swedes, Finns, Dutch and African slaves. Before William Penn left Philadelphia for the last time on October 25, 1701 he issued the Charter of 1701. The charter established Philadelphia as a city and gave the mayor, aldermen and councilmen the authority to issue laws and ordinances and regulate markets and fairs.^[6]

As Philadelphia became established it gradually became an important trading center. Initially the city's main source of trade was with the West Indies. However Queen Anne's War, which lasted between 1702 and 1713, cut off trade and hurt Philadelphia financially. The end of the war brought brief prosperity to all of the British territories, but a depression in the 1720s stunted Philadelphia's growth. The 1720s and 30s saw immigration from mostly Germany and Northern Ireland to Philadelphia and the surrounding countryside. The countryside around Philadelphia was soon turned into farmland and exports of breadstuffs, along with lumber products and flaxseeds, to Europe and elsewhere in the American colonies helped bring Philadelphia out of the depression.^[7]

Philadelphia's pledge of religious tolerance attracted many other religions beside Quakers. Mennonites, Pietists, Anglicans, Catholics and Jews had moved to the city and soon Quakers were a minority although were still powerful politically. However, there were still political tensions between and within the religious groups. A series of riots in 1741 and 1742, whose causes ranged between bread prices and drunken sailors, climaxed in October 1742. The "Bloody Election" riots had sailors attack Quakers and pacifist Germans whose peace politics were strained by the War of Jenkins' Ear.^[8] The city was also plagued by pickpockets and other petty criminals. Working in the city government had such a poor reputation that fines were imposed on citizens who refused to serve an office after being chosen. One man fled Philadelphia to avoid serving as mayor.^[9]

In the first half the 18th Century, the city was dirty, with garbage and animals littering the streets. The roads were unpaved and in some cases impassable. Early attempts to improve quality of life were ineffective as laws were poorly enforced.^[10] However, by the 1750s, Philadelphia was turning into a major city. Structures such as the Christ Church and the Pennsylvania State House, better known as Independence Hall, were giving the city a skyline. Streets were paved and illuminated with gas lights.^[11] Philadelphia's first newspaper, Andrew Bradford's American Weekly Mercury, began publishing on December 22, 1719.^[12]

The city also developed culturally and scientifically. Schools, libraries and theaters were founded. James Logan arrived in Philadelphia in 1701 as a secretary for William Penn. He was the first to help establish Philadelphia as a place of culture and learning.^[13] Logan, who was the mayor of Philadelphia in the early 1720s, created one of the largest libraries in the colonies. He also helped guide other prominent Philadelphia residents, which included botanist John Bartram and Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia in October 1723 and would play a large part in the city's development. To help protect the city from fire, Franklin founded the Union Fire Company.^[14] In the 1750s Franklin was named one of the city's post master generals and he established postal routes between Philadelphia, New York, Boston and elsewhere. He helped raise money to build the American colonies first hospital, which opened in 1752. That same year the College of Philadelphia, another project Franklin led, received its charter of incorporation.^[13] Threatened by French and Spanish privateers, Franklin and others set up a volunteer group for defense and built two batteries. When the French and Indian War began Franklin was able to allow the creation of militias. During the war, the city became home to many refugees from the west. During Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763, refugees again fled into the city, including a group of Native Americans hiding from other Native Americans angry at their pacifism and violent white frontiersmen. A group called the Paxton Boys attempted to enter Philadelphia and kill the Native Americans, but was prevented by the city's militia and Franklin who convinced them to leave.^[15]

[edit] Revolution

In the 1760s the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts, combined with other frustrations, were causing anger against England in the colonies, Philadelphia included. Both the Stamp and Townshend Acts led to boycotts of the importation of British goods. After the Tea Act in 1773, there were threats against anyone who would store tea and any ships which brought tea up the Delaware. In December, after the Boston Tea Party, a shipment of tea had arrived on the ship the Polly. The captain left after a committee told him to leave without dropping off his cargo.^[16]

A series of acts in 1774 further angered the colonies and there was a call for a general congress. The Massachusetts Assembly of June 17, 1774 suggested the general congress meeting be held in Philadelphia. The First Continental Congress was held in September in Carpenter's Hall. The American Revolutionary War began after the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April, 1775 and the Second Continental Congress met the next month at the Pennsylvania State House where they would sign the Declaration of Independence more than a year later. Besides being the location of the Continental Congress, Philadelphia was important to the war effort, as Robert Morris described "You will consider Philadelphia, from its centrical situation, the extent of its commerce, the number of its artificers, manufactures and other circumstances, to be to the United States what the heart is to the human body in circulating the blood."^[17]

Philadelphia was vulnerable to attack by the British. There were efforts to help protect the city from invasion from Delaware Bay and to recruit more soldiers, but there was no serious defense for the city. In March 1776 two British frigates began a blockade of the mouth of Delaware Bay and the British were moving south through New Jersey. In December the fear that the city was about to be invaded led to half of Philadelphia's population fleeing the city, including the Continental Congress which had fled to Baltimore.^[18] General George Washington pushed back the British advance at the Battles of Princeton and Trenton and the refugees and Congress returned. In September 1777 the British invaded Philadelphia from the south. General George Washington intercepted them at the Battle of Brandywine but was driven back. Thousands fled north into Pennsylvania and east into New Jersey; Congress fled to Lancaster then to York. As in other places Philadelphians were split between Loyalists and Patriots. British troops marched into the half-empty Philadelphia on September 23 to cheering Loyalist crowds.^[19]

The occupation lasted ten months; with the French now helping the Americans, the last British troops pulled out of Philadelphia on June 18, 1778 to help defend New York City. The American troops arrived the same day and began reoccupying the city under supervision of Major General Benedict Arnold, who had been appointed the city's military commander. The city government returned a week later and the Continental Congress in early July. While no longer under serious threat by the British, Philadelphia was experiencing serious inflation issues, with the poor suffering the worst. This led to unrest in 1779, with people blaming the upper class and Loyalists. One riot in January which had sailors striking for higher wages ended up dismantling ships. The Fort Wilson Riot on October 4 had a group of men target James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence but accused of being a Loyalist sympathizer. Soldiers broke up the riot, but five people had died and seventeen were injured.^[20]

[edit] Temporary capital

After the war ended the U.S. Congress had moved out of Philadelphia, eventually settling in New York City. Besides the Constitutional Convention in May 1787, United States politics was no longer centered in Philadelphia. Philadelphians tried to lobby and petition the Congress to move back to Philadelphia or southeastern Pennsylvania. However, a permanent capital was selected to be along the Potomac River and Philadelphia was selected to be the temporary United States capital for ten years starting in 1790. Congress occupied the Philadelphia County Courthouse and the Supreme Court worked at City Hall. Robert Morris donated his home on Walnut Street to be the residence for President Washington.^[21]

With the end of the war the city began cleaning up the damage and after 1887 the city's economy experienced accelerated growth. The growth was interrupted by yellow fever outbreaks in the 1790s. Benjamin Rush identified the first outbreak in August 1793. Fear of contracting the disease caused thousands to flee the city and trade virtually stopped as people were fearful of coming to the city or interacting with its inhabitants. The fever abated at the end of October with the onset of colder weather. The death toll is believed to be more than 5,000, about a tenth of the population. Yellow fever continued to resurface over the next few decades with none as bad as the one in 1793. The closest came in 1798 where again thousands fled the city and led to the deaths of an estimated 1,292.^[22]

[edit] Industrial growth

At the time the United States government left Philadelphia in 1800, the city had become one of the United States' busiest ports and the country's largest city with 67,787 people living in Philadelphia and its contiguous suburbs.^[23] Philadelphia's maritime trade was interrupted by the Embargo Act of 1807 and then the War of 1812. After the war, Philadelphia's shipping industry never returned to its pre-embargo status and New York City would soon become the United States' busiest port and largest city.^[24]

The embargo and lack of foreign trade helped establish factories in and around Philadelphia to make goods no longer available from foreign markets. Manufacturing plants and foundries were built and Philadelphia became an important center of paper-related industries and the leather, shoe and boot industries.^[25] Coal and iron mines, and the construction of new roads, canals and railroads helped Philadelphia's manufacturing power grow and the city became the United States' first major industrial city.^[26] Major industrial projects included the Waterworks, iron water pipes, a gasworks and the U.S. Naval Yard. Along with its industrial power, Philadelphia was also the financial center of the country. Along with chartered, private banks, the city was the home of the First and Second Banks of the United States and the first U.S. Mint.^[27] Cultural institutions such as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Athenaeum and the Franklin Institute also developed. Public education became available after the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed the Free School Law of 1834.^[28]

Immigrants, mostly from Germany and Ireland, streamed into the city, swelling the population of Philadelphia and its suburbs.^[29] In Philadelphia, as the rich moved west of 7th Street, the poor moved into the upper class' former homes, now converted into tenements and boarding houses. Many small row houses crowded alleyways and small streets, and these areas were filthy, filled with garbage and the smell of manure from animal pens. During the 1840s and 1850s, hundreds died each year in Philadelphia and the surrounding districts from diseases like malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, and cholera, with the poor being affected the worst.^[30]

Along with sanitation, violence was a serious problem. Gangs like the Moyamensing Killers and the Blood Tubs controlled various neighborhoods. During the 1840s and early 1850s when volunteer fire companies, some of which were infiltrated by gangs, responded to a fire, fights with other fire companies would usually break out. The lawlessness among fire companies virtually ended in 1853 and 1854 when the city took more control over their operations.^[31] The 1840s and 50s also saw a lot of violence directed against immigrants. Nativists had a strong presence in the city and often held mostly anti-Catholic, anti-Irish meetings. Violence against immigrants also occurred, the worst being the nativist riots in 1844. Violence against African Americans was also common during the 1830s, 40s and 50s. Deadly race riots led to African American homes and churches being burned. In 1841, Joseph Sturge commented "...there is probably no city in the known world where dislike, amounting to the hatred of the coloured population, prevails more than in the city of brotherly love!"^[32] Despite the formation of several anti-slavery societies, and being a major stop on the Underground Railroad, much of Philadelphia was against the abolitionist movement. Abolitionists were also the target of violence which included several of their meetinghouses being burned.

The lawlessness and the difficulty in controlling it, along with a large population shift just north of Philadelphia, led to the Act of Consolidation in 1854. The act passed on February 2, made Philadelphia's borders coterminous with Philadelphia County, incorporating various districts, boroughs, townships and any other unincorporated communities within the county.^[33]

Once the American Civil War began in 1860, Philadelphia's southern leanings changed and hostility moved from abolitionists to southern sympathizers. Mobs threatened a secessionist newspaper and the homes of suspected sympathizers and were only turned away by the police and Mayor Alexander Henry.^[34] Philadelphia supported the war with soldiers, ammunition, war ships and was a main source of army uniforms. Philadelphia was also a major receiving place of the wounded, with more then 157,000 soldiers and sailors treated within the city. Philadelphia began preparing for invasion in 1863, but the southern army was repelled at Gettysburg.^[35]

[edit] Late 19th century

In the years following the Civil War Philadelphia's population continued to grow. The population grew from 565,529 in 1860 to 674,000 in 1870. By 1876 the city's population stood at 817,000. The dense population areas were not only growing north and south along the Delaware River, but also moving westward across the Schuylkill River.^[36] A large portion of the growth came from immigrants, still mostly German and Irish. In 1870 twenty-seven percent of Philadelphia's population was born outside the United States. By the 1880s immigration from Russia, Eastern Europe and Italy started rivaling immigration from Western Europe. Much of the immigration from Russia and Eastern Europe were Jews. In 1881 there were around 5,000 Jews in the city and by 1905 there were around 100,000. Philadelphia's Italian population grew from around 300 in 1870 to around 18,000 in 1900, with the majority settling in South Philadelphia. Along with foreign immigration, internal immigration from African Americans gave Philadelphia the largest African American population of a Northern U.S. city. In 1876 there were around 25,000 African Americans living in Philadelphia and by 1890 the population was near 40,000.^[37] While immigrants moved into the city Philadelphia's rich emptied out. During the 1880s much of Philadelphia's upper class moved into the growing suburbs along the Pennsylvania Railroad's Main Line west of the city.^[38]

Politically the city was dominated by one party, the Republican Party, and a political machine. The Republicans dominated the post-war elections and corrupt officials made their way into the government and continued to control the city through voter fraud and intimidation. The Gas Trust was the hub of the city’s political machine. The trust controlled the gas company which supplied gas for lighting to the city. The board came under complete control by Republicans in 1865, and they used their power to award contracts and perks for themselves and their interests. Some government reform did occur during this time. The police department was reorganized and volunteer fire companies were eliminated and was replaced by a paid fire department.^[39] Education was reformed as well with a compulsory school act passed in 1895 and the Public School Reorganization Act which freed the city's education from the city's political machine. Higher education changed as well. The University of Pennsylvania moved to West Philadelphia and reorganized to its modern form and Temple University, Drexel University and the Free Library were founded.^[40]

One of the biggest projects of the time was the Centennial Exposition, a World's Fair that celebrated the United States Centennial. The Exposition was held in Fairmount Park and exhibits included Alexander Graham Bell's telephone and the Corliss Steam Engine. The Exposition began on May 10, 1876 and when the fair ended on November 10 over nine million people had visited the fair.^[41] Another project was the construction of a new city hall. Construction of Philadelphia City Hall was graft-ridden and it took twenty-three years to complete. The building was completed in 1884 and was the tallest building in Philadelphia until the 1980s.^[42]

Philadelphia's major industries of the era were the Baldwin Locomotive Works, William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Westward expansion of the Pennsylvania Railroad helped Philadelphia keep up with nearby New York City in domestic commerce as both cities fought for dominance in transporting iron and coal resources from Pennsylvania. Along with the Pennsylvania Railroad, Philadelphia's other local railroad was the Reading Railroad, but after a series of bankruptcies it came under control of New Yorkers. However the Panic of 1873, which occurred when the New York City branch of the Philadelphia bank Jay Cooke and Company failed, and another panic in the 1890s hampered Philadelphia's economic growth.^[43] While the depressions hurt the city, the depressions’ effect on Philadelphia was less serious than it was in other cities because of the variety of industries that inhabited the city. There were numerous iron and steel-related manufacturers, including Philadelphian-owned iron and steel works outside the city, most notably the Bethlehem Iron Company. The largest industry in Philadelphia was textiles. Philadelphia produced more textiles than any other U.S. city and in 1904 textiles employed more than 35 percent of the city's workers. The cigar, sugar and oil industries also made an impact on the city.^[44] During this time the major department stores, Wanamaker's, Gimbels, Strawbridge and Clothier, and Lit Brothers, sprung up along Market Street.^[45]

[edit] Early 20th century

In the beginning of the 20th century Philadelphia had taken on a poor reputation. People both inside and outside of the city commented that Philadelphia and its citizens were dull and contented with its lack of change. Harper's Magazine commented that "The one thing unforgivable in Philadelphia is to be new, to be different from what has been."^[46] Along with the city's "dullness" Philadelphia was known for its corruption. The Republican controlled political machine, run by Israel Durham, permeated all parts of city government. One official estimated that US$5 million was wasted every year from graft in the city's infrastructure programs. The majority of Philadelphians were staunchly Republican, but voter fraud and bribery were still common. Reformers had some success, the first in 1905 when election reforms such as the providing of personal voter registration and the establishment of primaries for all city offices was enacted. However, Philadelphians quickly became complacent and the reforms did not prevent control from the city's political bosses and the city government went back to its characteristic corruption. After 1907 Boss Durham retired and his successor, James McNichol, never controlled much outside North Philadelphia. The Vare brothers, George, Edwin, and William had created their own organization in South Philadelphia and, in the lack of central authority, Senator Boies Penrose took charge. Reformers saw success again in 1910 when infighting between McNichol and the Vares allowed reform candidate Rudolph Blankenburg to be elected mayor. During Blankenburg's time as mayor there were numerous cost-cutting measures and improvements to city services, but Blankenburg only served one term and the machine again gained control.^[47]

The policies of Woodrow Wilson's administration reunited reformers with the city's Republican Party and World War I temporarily halted the reform movement. In 1917 the murder of George Eppley, a police officer defending City Council primary candidate James Carey, ignited the reformers again and led to the shrinking of the City Council from two houses to just one, and gave council members an annual salary.^[48] With the death of McNichol in 1917 and Penrose in 1921, William Vare became the city's political boss. In the 1920s the public flaunting of Prohibition laws, mob violence, and police involvement in illegal activities led Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick to appoint Brigadier General Smedley Butler of the U.S. Marine Corps as director of public safety. Butler cracked down on bars and speakeasies and tried to stop corruption within the police force, but political pressure made the job difficult and Butler saw little success. After two years, Butler left in January 1926 and most of his police reforms were repealed. On August 1, 1928 Boss Vare suffered a stroke and two weeks later a grand jury investigation into the city's mob violence and other crimes began. Numerous police officers were dismissed or arrested as a result of the investigation, but the investigation provided no permanent change.^[49] However 1928 was a turning point for the city's Republican Party when strong support for Presidential Democratic candidate Al Smith among some Philadelphians marked the city's first movement away from the Republican Party in the 20th century.^[50]

During this time Philadelphia continued to grow with immigrants coming from Eastern Europe and Italy and African Americans from the South.^[51] Foreign immigration was briefly interrupted by World War I when the city's factories, including the new U.S. Naval Yard at Hog Island, constructed ships, trains, and other items needed in the war effort. In September 1918 the influenza pandemic arrived at the Naval Yard and began to spread. Some days saw several hundred people die and by the time the pandemic began to subside in October, over 12,000 people had died.^[52] The rising popularity of automobiles led to widening of roads and creation of Northeast (Roosevelt) Boulevard in 1914, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 1918, the changing of many existing streets to one-way streets in the early 1920s, and the Delaware River (Benjamin Franklin) Bridge in 1926. Philadelphia began to modernize with the ever more frequent construction of steel and concrete skyscrapers, the wiring of old buildings for electricity and the city's first commercial radio station.^[53] Other projects included the city's first subway constructed in 1907, the less than successful Sesqui-Centennial Exposition in South Philadelphia, and the opening of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1928.^[54][55]

[edit] 1930s to 21st Century

During the post-World War II years, the city began to fall victim to many of the trends experienced by older, east coast cities at the time, including suburbanization and white flight. The city's core industries, especially textile and garment manufacturing, began an exodus to other regions, especially the Piedmont South and the Caribbean. The advent of containerized shipping significantly reduced traffic to Philadelphia's port. And the decline of the railroads, with the advent of the automobile and commercial trucking, affected Philadelphia's most important business enterprise. Mitigating the effects of decentralization was an ambitious "industrial renewal" program beginning in the 1950s that retained and attracted many manufacturing firms, especially to sections of the city's northeastern section.

In 1964, the area around West Columbia Avenue in North Philadelphia exploded in riot. Confrontations between police and the group MOVE escalated in 1985 when, trying to remove MOVE members from a house, police dropped a bag of explosives on the house. The resulting fire burned out of control and killed eleven MOVE members and destroyed sixty-one houses.^[56]

During the 1990s Philadelphia's downtown area, known as Center City, was greatly redeveloped with new commercial and residential development. Many areas of the city have experienced gentrification, including Society Hill, Old City, Manayunk, West Philadelphia, Northern Liberties, Fishtown, Fairmount, Brewerytown, Francisville, and Lower Kensington. Despite this progress, however, other areas remain in poverty.

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Brookes, Karin; John Gattuso, Lou Harry, Edward Jardim, Donald Kraybill, Susan Lewis, Dave Nelson and Carol Turkington (2005). in Zoë Ross: Insight Guides: Philadelphia and Surroundings, Second Edition (Updated), APA Publications. ISBN 1585730262. 
• Wainwright, Nicholas; Russell Weigley and Edwin Wolf (1982). Philadelphia: A 300-Year History. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-01610-2. 

[edit] External link

• PhillyHistory.org