3 April 2008 The Rest is History
Rev. George Chandler (1790-1860), Minister of First Presbyterian Church of Kensington
Back in June of 2006, I wrote about the Rev. John A. Goodfellow. The Rev. Goodfellow was the minister of The Church of Emmanuel and the Good Shepherd, an Episcopalian church that closed in 2006. The church still stands at Collins and Cumberland Streets and is now for sale. When researching the Rev. Goodfellow I found it amazing that he was the minister of the church from 1872 to 1933, an astonishing sixty-one years of continuous ministry at the same church.
This long continuous ministry of Goodfellow had me take a look at other local churches that may have had long time ministers, as today you really have to consider yourself lucky if you find a minister staying put for more then ten years. The next longest I found for Kensington was the Reverend George Chandler, the original pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Kensington, who became the pastor in 1815 and continued his ministry until he died in 1860, about forty-five continuous years (If there are any other longer continuous ministries by a minister in the neighborhood I’d like to know about it).
The Reverend George Chandler was born April 29th, 1790, at New Haven, CT. He was the eighth child (out of nine) of John Chandler and Sarah Whittlesey. He was originally bound out to a shoemaker, but did not like mechanical pursuits, ran away, and took up the study of the ministry. On February 6th, 1815, Chandler became the first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Kensington, soon after the church’s establishment and the receiving of its initial charter.
Chandler married a local woman by the name of Catherine Rice, the daughter of John Philip Rice and Elizabeth Hill, two old fishing families of Fishtown. John Rice was one of the original founding fathers of the church and the church secretary for a number of years. Many of the early church meetings, before the church was erected, were held at the home of "John and Elizabeth Rice" or at the Chandler's home.
The Rev. George Chandler appears to have lived on Richmond Street during his forty-five years in Kensington. In the 1820 he was found living next to Jacob Cramp, a member of the famous Cramp shipbuilding family, of which William Cramp came from and was an important person in the church's history (The Rice and Cramp family were related). During the 1840’s, Chandler was listed on Queen near and below Palmer. By 1850 numbers were given to the street and his address was 160 Queen, below Palmer, but by 1859 he was listed at 428 Richmond Street. Not only did the name of the street change from Queen to the more familiar Richmond, but also the numbering system also changed as the city began unifying its streets and addresses due to the consolidation of Philadelphia County into the City of Philadelphia in 1854.
Because Rev. George Chandler was pastor of the church for so long (1815 to 1860), the church was often called "Chandler's Church". He was very instrumental in building the congregation, the Sunday School, as well as the new building (the present church). It was here in this building on May 22nd, 1859, at the dedication of the building, where Chandler gave one of his "final powerful sermons." After this date he seldom preached. His last presence in the church was the first Sunday in January of 1860, when he attended the morning service and the afternoon Sunday School, after which he went home and became ill. On February 14th, 1860, he died.
The Rev. Chandler’s grandson described his grandfather's funeral as such: “the day of his [Chandler's] burial and the services are never to be forgotten and were attended by Protestant and Catholic clergy from all parts of the city; and all denominations of Protestant clergy. The entire populace of the [Kensington] district was in attendance and it was with difficulty that the services could be drawn to a close in time to get to, and return from the cemetery before dark.”
He was laid to rest in Laurel Hill Cemetery. There was a marble monument erected, but as the famous Dr. Brainerd added, “Rev. Chandler’s monument is the church which was built by his efforts”
An historian for the church stated that the Rev. George Chandler “[was] a faithful man, a pure Christian, an earnest and powerful preacher, a devoted pastor, the father of this church, the apostle of this community, a patriarch among the people he loved, and wept over as such, and laid in his grave amidst the praises and benedictions of all who knew him.”
10 April 2008 The Rest is History
Wharf Building in Kensington circa 1809
If you were to step back in time about two hundred years, to the year 1809, you might see a bustling Fishtown and Northern Liberties waterfront looking much the way we see it today. While today we have condo towers and other developments going up along the river, back in the first and second decades of the 19th Century, we would have seen a dizzying amount of wharves and piers being erected or extended out into the Delaware River as Kensington shipbuilders built or expanded their shipyards.
From 1790 to 1826, there were at least twenty-seven wharves or piers either built, or extended. By far the busiest year was 1809, when there were no less then seven licenses given out to erect wharves and another three licenses given out to folks to extend their already existing wharves.
The time period of 1809 for this activity is significant. Locally, it was the time when the break up of the great Masters’ family estate was taking place and much of what used to be called Point Pleasant, the waterfront from Shackamaxon Street south to Popular Street, was being divided and built up upon. Internationally, the Napoleonic Wars were devastating Europe and there was a need for a neutral shipbuilder, thus American shipyards, many located at Kensington, were doing a booming business.
While there was some development at Point Pleasant during colonial times, with William Masters’ distillery, his Tide Mill, the “Three Stores,” Batchelor’s Hall, and several shipyards, the big bustle of activity was the first decades of the 19th Century. The Philadelphia City Directory of 1805 shows Point Pleasant being populated by shipwrights, shipbuilders, tavern keepers, laborers, ship-carpenters, wharf-builders, ship joiners, caulkers, blacksmiths, and lumberyards, or just about every trade one would need for shipbuilding enterprises.
Some of those licenses that were granted for wharves to be built, or extended in the year 1809, were given out to men who were either building or expanding their shipyards, people like Samuel Bowers, Isaac Eyre, and the Grice family of Joseph and Samuel Grice.
Samuel Bower’s shipyard was 190 feet north of Laurel Street, on the east side of Penn Street, in the middle of the SugarHouse site. When he started to build his wharf in 1809, his workers were literally bringing up shovel fulls of American Indian artifacts and dumping them back into the river. Is it no wonder that SugarHouse archaeologists discovered 3500 year old Native American artifacts only four inches under the earth when they excavated just a small portion of the site.
Samuel S.D. Bower, the shipyard owner’s son, wrote a biography of his father in 1858 and mentions this event, which took place soon after receiving the license to build the wharf on May 4, 1809:
“Permission having been thus granted, as soon after this rising eminence gave way to the action of the shovel, spade and pick, whose constant inroads brought to light many Indian implements which no doubt, to the rising race, be curious to behold, while its crumbled form was carried by the barrow and cast into the water below.”
Isaac Eyre had the property next to Samuel Bower, also on the SugarHouse site. He appears to have been related to the other Kensington shipbuilders of the same name. Below Isaac Eyre was Samuel Grice’s shipyard, at the first wharf above Maiden Street (today’s Laurel Street, also on the SugarHouse site). The other Grice family members had their shipyard just below the SugarHouse site.
Knowing the history of these early shipyards appears to be even more significant now that the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission (the state agency working with the Army Corps of Engineers overseeing the archaeology dig at the SugarHouse site) has recently released a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers (March 26, 2008), recommending a more thorough archaeological investigation to be conducted on the SugarHouse Casino site, in order “to gain a better understanding of the location of the historic shoreline and to further assess the potential for any maritime-related archaeological resources and any other buried historic or prehistoric ground surfaces.”
Finding this original shoreline also appears to be of interest to several Pennsylvania state politicians, as fixing the original shoreline will also help to determine just how much of the SugarHouse site actually falls under riparian rights land, land that they say only the state legislature can give rights to develop. The more land that can be determined to have been filled in, the more land that falls into riparian rights land. Riparian rights land is land that belongs to the public (you and me) and is held in trust by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for her citizens.
17 April 2008 The Rest is History
Kensington Shipbuilder John Vaughan (1786-1846)
Last week I chronicled the development of the neighborhood’s waterfront in the early decades of the 19th Century, particularly the area known as Point Pleasant, from Shackamaxon Street down to Poplar Street, or where SugarHouse proposes to build a casino. This week we will take a look at local shipbuilder, John Vaughan, whose early 19th Century shipyard’s beginnings was a result of the Napoleonic Wars, mentioned last week as a catalyst for our local waterfront development two hundred years ago.
An interesting point found while researching the neighborhood’s waterfront, is that many of the shipyards founded in Kensington in the late 18th Century and early 19th Century were founded by men who either served in the Revolutionary War, or whose fathers served in that war and John Vaughan was no different. He was born on 31 October 1786, the third son of Kensington’s Revolutionary War militiaman, Thomas Vaughan (1757-1842) and Mary Bryan (d.1855). Thomas Vaughan fought at the Battle of Trenton and served under local Kensingtonians Captain John Hewson and Colonel Benjamin G. Eyre. Both the Hewson and Eyre families are honored with streets named after them in Fishtown. Thomas Vaughan died in 1842 and his “remains now repose on a hillock in the Palmer Burial Grounds, near Montgomery Avenue and Memphis Street.”
John Vaughan’s parents first purchased property in Kensington from John & Eleanor Chevalier. Eleanor Chevalier was the granddaughter of Kensington founder Anthony Palmer. Thomas Vaughan was the son of Griffith Vaughan, who was the son of William Vaughan. All of these Vaughans were shipwrights. Griffith Vaughan’s wife, Elizabeth Betson Norris, was the sister-in-law to another early Kensingtonian, William Rice, whose family were related to the famed Kensington shipbuilding family of William Cramp. Elizabeth Betson Norris’ father, John Norris, was likewise a shipwright.
With all the shipwrights in the family, it was no accident then that John Vaughan would eventually open a shipyard and according to Rich Remer of the Kensington History Project, “John Vaughan began his shipyard during the boom in shipbuilding created by the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. His original shipyard at the foot of Shackamaxon Street and his second yard at the foot of Palmer Street (later Cramp's drydock), saw their zenith during the years of steamboats and the first transatlantic packet ships.”
Vaughan established his yard about 1810 and continued it under his name until 1833. His Shackamaxon Street shipyard is said to have constructed most of the trading fleet of Stephen Girard, America’s first big merchant marine fleet. Girard was one of the richest men in America during his lifetime (if not the richest) and it is his name that graces Girard Avenue.
Thomas Vaughan brought his son Jacob Keen Vaughan into the business and the name of the firm became John Vaughan & Son and lasted from 1833 to John’s death in 1846. After John Vaughan’s death his son took on Matthew Lynn as a partner and the business was called Vaughan & Lynn and lasted from 1847-1858, failing after the financial panic of 1857.
John Vaughan was a member of Kensington Methodist Episcopal “Old Brick” Church, and served in varying layman capacities until his death in 1846, which at that time he was the President of the Board of Trustees of the church and its burial grounds. He was a class leader as early as 1810 and one of the founders and original trustees starting back in 1809. Vaughan was also a member of the local Temperance Society and the Friends of the Bible; as well he was a one-time Commissioner for the District of Kensington and a director of the Kensington National Bank.
John Vaughan is said to have had a close association with the Kensington Soup Society, which might mean that he was one of the original organizers that helped to found it. The fact that he died in 1846 would be the reason that he was not on the early lists of incorporators of 1853 and 1854. It might also be added that Vaughan was one of the founders of Kensington Methodist Episcopal “Old Brick” Church, which has been shown to played a major role in the founding of the Kensington Soup Society
When John Vaughan died on 19 February 1846, he was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery, as was his wife Anna Maria Stout. He had married Anna at Old Brick Church on 26 March 1808. On the Saturday previous to Vaughan’s burial, all of the “shipping in the Port of Philadelphia displayed their flags at half-mast as a testimonial of respect to his memory.”
24 April 2008 The Rest is History
Another in a Series on the History of Penn Treaty Park
Even though it was not until 1892 that the City of Philadelphia finally purchased the property to create Penn Treaty Park, it was actually much earlier when the first efforts began to save the history of that memorable place.
In a previous column I wrote about the founding of the Penn Society, the group that was responsible for placing the original obelisk that marked the spot where the Treaty Elm once stood. That Society was founded in 1824 when Lafayette made a return visit to Philadelphia and stirred the historical conscious of Philadelphians back to the time of the American Revolution.
It is said that the famed architect John Haviland created the original obelisk that was designed for the Penn Society, but it proved too costly for the newly formed group to erect and thus a simpler model was substituted for it. The monument was placed on the grounds of the Penn Treaty Wharf, at the spot where the Treaty Tree stood. This obelisk was the first public monument erected in the city of Philadelphia.
When the Penn Treaty Memorial was erected it was looked upon as a “temporary affair” as the Penn Society proposed to establish a much larger monument at a later date, but they were never able to do this.
The two decades (1827-1847) following the original erection of the Penn Treaty Memorial in 1827 saw a decline in the upkeep and care of the monument, as many of the original founders of the Penn Society died and interest waned. Roberts Vaux, the real impetus for the erection of the monument died in 1836, followed by the Penn Treaty researcher Peter S. du Ponceau at the age of 88 in 1844. John Fanning Watson lived until 1860, however, the Penn Treaty Memorial was more Vaux’s idea: Watson was getting on in age and lived out in Germantown, a considerable distance from the Memorial.
The task of caring for the obelisk seems to have passed from the downtown elites who first erected the memorial into the hands of the local Kensingtonians who lived near the Monument. One newspaper reporter, writing in 1845, stated that:
"The monument in Kensington on the site of the old elm tree, in commemoration of the celebrated Penn Treaty, ought at present to attract attention. It seems that very little regard is paid to it generally, the care for some time past taken having been bestowed by several citizens of the neighborhood, and perhaps one or two others who have felt an interest in the preservation of the memento and its appearances. We learn that at the present time the fencing around it is in a dilapidated condition, and that a part of it has been thrown down. - Something should be done by our authorities or public institutions [to] secure the ground upon which the monument is erected, and to preserve the whole from injury."
The very next year (December 29,1846) workmen employed to excavate the site of the Treaty grounds in Kensington dug up a large number of roots of the old Elm Tree. This circumstance caused “much of a stir among the denizens of the District and others, all of whom were anxious to carry off some portion of the precious relic, to keep as a remembrance of a scene celebrated in the history of the founding and settlement of Pennsylvania.”
One problem, however, that arose and is noted in the Journal of the County Board of 1848, is that “‘The Penn Society did not, neither as buyer nor renter, secure a right to the occupancy of one foot of the soil covered by the “monument,” hence the monument remains where it is upon mere sufferance and may be moved and the space cleared whenever the order to do so shall be given.”
In this 1848 report, the County Board, recommended "in strong language" the acquisition of this property, stating, “The failure to act would cause unceasing regret for an irreparable loss.” The fact that they argued so strongly in 1848 to purchase the property on which the Penn Treaty Monument was erected, in order to save it from oblivion, is rather startling when one thinks that the City did not actually acquire the property until over 40 years later.
It was only through long concerted efforts by local residents that the city was finally convinced to purchase the land where the Memorial stood and create Penn Treaty Park. This chapter of our neighborhood’s history is very inspirational for today’s civic-minded residents who are advocating for responsible development along our waterfront. Hard work and determination ultimately paid off and we have Penn Treaty Park today.
1 May 2008 The Rest is History
John Clouds (1808-1896), District of Kensington Alderman
In previous columns I have written about Kensington in her self-governing years (1820-1854) and how those early Presidents and Commissioners of the District of Kensington were the same as what we would call today mayors and councilmen. These men were the leading citizens of the community and many of those early Presidents and Commissioners were the great manufacturers of the district, however there were some, like John Clouds, who were ordinary citizens, but yet equally important in the history of the community.
John Clouds was born in 1808 and died in 1896. He lived to be 88 years old and saw many changes to the community as well as his beloved First Presbyterian Church of Kensington.
Clouds was listed as being on the "rolls of members" of First Presbyterian as early as 1823, only nine years after the church was founded and during a time in the early 1820's when the church membership was rising quickly. He lived through the pastoral care of the great Rev. George Chandler from 1815 to 1860, and was active in the church during the pastoral care of the Rev. William Eva in the 1860's (whom he helped to pick as the pastor) and into the pastoral care of the Rev. Harvey Beale, which went through the end of the 19th Century.
John Clouds first appears in the city directory for 1840 as a combmaker, living at Marlborough near Prince (Girard Ave.). Clouds was listed variously in the directories at different addresses on Marlborough street, but all seemingly the same house, 1125 Marlborough Street, but different addresses due to street name changes and the number addressing systems being changed.
By 1844 John Clouds is listed as an alderman, or what we would call today, a councilman, for the District of Kensington. This was the time (1820 and 1854) when Kensington was a self-governing district. Clouds continued to be listed as an alderman through at least until 1860.
Clouds and his wife, Elizabeth Kirpatrick, had at least three sons and one daughter. Eventually the sons would start an umbrella company and various family members appear to have come together to help run that enterprise.
By 1880, John Clouds was listed as a gentleman, meaning retired, and a widower, his wife having died 25 years previously. We find out from the 1880 Census that Clouds was the son of an English immigrant.
John Clouds activity at First Presbyterian Church of Kensington was great. He was part of the committee that was elected to rewrite the constitution of the church in the mid 1820's. As well, he was a pew-holder, elder, served on the board of trustees of the church, was a one time superintendent of the Sunday School, and served on the building committee for the new church.
Clouds was also a member of the Choral Society of the church, made up of three violins, three bass violins, cornet, flute and other wind instruments. There were many Saturday nights when the old galleries of the church were said to be filled with people from all over the city.
While working with the Sabbath School, Clouds acted as a teacher for the female class, as well as on the recruitment committee for adults and children. He also served as the Sabbath School’s vice-president and president in its formative years.
In a bit of controversy, John Clouds, long an elder and a trustee, and for some time President of the Board of Trustees, resigned from the Board along with the treasurer Alpheus Wilt (Wilt Street). The controversy centered on their unwillingness to continue to proceed to fund some missionary work (the mission that would become Beacon Presbyterian Church at Cumberland & Cedar Streets) because they felt the church being in debt could not afford it.
Apparently Clouds and Wilt were under the assumption that the final vote of the congregation for funding the mission was suppose to come in January of 1871, but another meeting was called the October before and the decision was made to fund the mission against their objections.
It must have broke Clouds' heart when he resigned from the church over this controversy, as at this point of his life he had been an active member of the church for almost fifty years. He did make amends though and rejoined the church several years later.
The historical record shows that John Clouds was an outstanding member of the Kensington community and the stainglass window in the church that honors him goes to prove his invaluable service to First Presbyterian Church of Kensington.
8 May 2008 The Rest is History
Early Locations of the Kensington Soup Society
Many old-time residents know about the Kensington Soup Society, the ancient soup house down on the 1000 block of Crease Street. However, it’s early locations are not as well known.
The first location for the Kensington Soup Society when it was founded in 1844 was supposed to have been 208 Allen Street, but the evidence that exists can only take us back to this address to the year 1859. This place was located at the corner of Allen and Brewster’s Court, slightly north of Shackamaxon Street. Brewster’s, or Brustar’s Court was later called Stoy Avenue, and then in 1898 changed its name to Day Street, which now doesn’t exist.
Due to the smallness of the 208 Allen Street Soup House, the managers of the Society often had their annual meetings at the Kensington M. E. “Old Brick” Church. This fact is evidenced in several election notices in Philadelphia newspapers dated between 1859 and 1863.
While the address of the Soup House was 208 Allen, the 1860 Philadelphia City Directory, the first directory that the Kensington Soup Society is listed in, lists the Soup House at “Shackamaxon Street.” Since Shackamaxon was more known then Allen, or Brewster’s Court, then perhaps it was advertised as such to better help direct people to the location.
The Soup Society was again advertised as being at “Shackamaxon Street” in the 1861 city directory, but in 1862 the address was finally given more completely as “208 Allen Street.” The city directories for the years 1863 thru 1867 all list the Soup Society at this Allen Street address, even though evidence shows that the Society moved their location of the Soup House to 247 Allen Street by at least January of 1864.
A Philadelphia Inquirer notice of 12 January 1864 states that the Kensington Soup House was on Allen Street, above Marlborough, indicating that the Society moved to the 247 Allen Street address. In another Philadelphia Inquirer article, this time on 28 December 1865, it states the Society would be holding their annual contributors meeting at the Soup House at 247 Allen Street. Besides the obvious new address of 247 Allen, the fact that the annual contributors meeting was being held at the Soup House and not at the Kensington M. E. “Old Brick” Church, is another sign that the Soup House moved from the smaller 208 Allen location to a larger space at 247 Allen.
A couple of months later (Feb 1866) the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Kensington Soup Society has been distributing soup from 247 Allen Street, near Marlborough, for the past 45 days. This would meant then that the Soup House was at 247 Allen Street for the winter of 1866-67 as well.
These various articles from the Philadelphia Inquirer would all seem to indicate that regardless of what the Philadelphia City Directories stated, the Kensington Soup Society moved from 208 Allen Street to 247 Allen Street, by at least January of 1864, and probably a little earlier, for the start of the 1863-64 season.
The Philadelphia City Directory finally lists the Kensington Soup Society at 247 Allen Street in the 1869 directory. The earlier entries in the directories for the years 1865 thru 1868 would appear to be errors, perhaps being a lazy compiler repeating the same address rather then checking with the Society or actually pounding the pavements for his compilation.
These 1860’s newspaper notices and city directories show that the Kensington Soup Society at least from late 1859 (when the 1860 City Directory would have been compiled) to February of 1862, was located at the 208 Allen Street address. The Sop House then moved to 247 Allen Street sometime between 10 February 1862 and January of 1864. Most likely the Soup Society was still at the 208 Allen Street address later then the 10 February 1862 time frame, but the evidence that has been uncovered thus far gives at least this time period. While tradition states the Society was at 208 Allen Street previous to 1861, there is no paper record showing it, except for the 1860 city directory that states its address as Shackamaxon Street.
The Soup Society’s place at 208 Allen was eventually found to be inadequate for the business of the Society as the demand for soup was great once the Civil War broke out in the early 1860’s. The Society looked around and secured a larger place and moved to 247 Allen Street, near Marlborough Street, where they remained until the end of the 1860’s. At that point they were able to raise the funds to purchase a lot in 1870 and build the present Soup House at 1036 Crease Street where it still stands.
15 May 2008 The Rest is History
The History Press - Publishers of Local History
Regular readers of the Star will probably know I had a book published. The Star’s editor Brian Radaemaekers wrote a full-page review of the book last week. The book is called Remembering Kensington & Fishtown and was published this month by The History Press, of Charleston, South Carolina. The book consists of about forty-five of my “Rest is History” columns written since February of 2006 when the column first began.
The publisher of my book has carved out a nice little niche for their selves. They specialize in local and regional history and travel the country or troll the Internet looking for folks like me, local historians or antiquarian types, who might have a manuscript to publish, or a story to tell about their hometown. Since most folks, even those folks who don’t read much, like reading about their local history, the market The History Press has carved out satisfies the local history reading public.
The company has a second office in Salem, Massachusetts, thus they have offices in two key historic towns. With the company anchored in New England and down South, they may have been looking to build their local history catalogue for the Middle Atlantic States and perhaps the reason for contacting me. An editor read my columns on the Internet and called me about publishing the columns in book form. Of course I agreed and I was also about as shocked as most anybody who knew me as a knucklehead hanging out on street corners back in the 1970’s might be.
Reading through the company’s book catalogue, you find there are only 9 titles for Pennsylvania and only 34 titles for all of the Middle Atlantic States.
If you look at their New England titles you see that they have 67 titles in print and as one would expect with the company based in South Carolina, that state is represented with a whopping 100 titles alone and a total of 248 titles in all for the South. Overall, the company’s has 365 titles in its catalogue. So it does appear that they were looking to build up their Middle Atlantic States section.
The publishing of my local history column is another step towards what the Kensington historians over the years have wanted. Every generation in Kensington since the beginning of the 20th Century has had someone who has come forward to document the community’s history, but that documentation tended to be in newspaper columns and with newspapers being ephemeral, they were generally thrown away. However, with this new book of mine, perhaps something will be left in the library for future generations.
With the exception of a couple of specialized studies by Philip Scranton on the textile industry, Kensington over the last century was basically left to be studied by its residents who tended to be more history buffs, then scholars.
Charles Cramp, of Cramp Shipyard, in the early 20th Century wrote up his memories in the Philadelphia Public Ledger and Joseph Jackson who wrote the column “Men and Things” for the Philadelphia Bulletin in the late 1920’s, sometimes-featured Kensington and Fishtown. There were also articles regularly in the Philadelphia Record that would feature the neighborhood, however by the time of World War One (1914-1918), most upper class residents of Kensington had moved to the new neighborhood of North Broad Street, or to the emerging suburbs, and Kensington history started to disappear from the mainstream press. Kensington history was left to the local folks and newspapers that still lived and operated in the neighborhood.
History has shown that it has been only through our own local homegrown historians that Kensington’s history has been recorded. People like George W. Baker, perhaps the first who really got serious about our history. A friend of Baker’s was J. Hampton Hock, who also wrote articles on the neighborhood and began talking up the idea of publishing a history of Kensington. James Smart also wrote and took an interest in the neighborhood’s history. Finally, Joseph S. Molmer wrote articles on the neighborhood in the old Penn Treaty Gazette, a precursor to today’s Fishtown Star. These local historians, Baker, Hock, Smart, and Molmer, helped to keep Kensington and Fishtown’s history from fading. From the 1940’s through to the 1980’s, these men kept the spirit of neighborhood pride going and it is their legacy that I hope to continue with the publication of this book.
If you haven’t picked up a copy, I’ll be selling and signing copies at tonight’s Fishtown Neighborhood Association meeting at 7 PM and at this Saturday’s Trenton Avenue Arts Festival from 12 PM to 5 PM.
22 May 2008 The Rest is History
Fishtown Star's 30th Anniversity - A History of Kensington's Community Newspapers
This year the Fishtown Star is celebrating their 30th Year Anniversary. The editor of the Star has been asking folks to share their memories with him. What the neighborhood was like thirty years ago? How has it changed? Does anyone have old issues from back when it started?
The Star plays a crucial role for the community. It helps to disseminate information that would otherwise be very troublesome to come by. All of the local social services agencies, the churches, and now the cultural groups, advertise their events and programs in the Star. You can even find out when there is a crime wave in your area, so you can take the proper precautions.
It’s hard to believe that the Philadelphia Inquirer or Daily News would cover any of the events that go on in these parts, unless it’s some senseless homicide. Heck, it’s hard to enough to get those papers to follow what is going on with the SugarHouse Casino and the important archaeological work being conducted there. The dig started up again this past week amidst more controversy. The consulting parties were not even aware that the archaeologists were back out their digging until after they started. Except for Plan Philly and the Star, who else is writing about it?
Previous to the Star the neighborhood got their local news from the Penn Treaty Gazette. The Penn Treaty Gazette started about the year 1960 and ran until 1978, when the Fishtown Star took over covering the neighborhood. The Gazette was delivered to “10,000 Penn Treaty homes, including Old Fishtown and Lower Kensington communities.” It was originally published by “Ocker Publishers” but over its lifetime seen a couple of different publishers. There is an incomplete run of this paper at the newspaper room of the Main Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library.
Previous to the Penn Treaty Gazette there may have been a local paper in Fishtown that was put out by the 18th Ward Committee. I recall seeing in my travels old issues of a publication that had a title associated with this group. Perhaps a reader might know what paper predated the Penn Treaty Gazette? Since I was only born in 1959, I personally only remember the Star and Gazette.
The Kensington Guide was published in my time. That paper went out of business not too long ago, perhaps seven or eight years ago. A fellow named Jacobs, up on Allegheny Avenue published the Guide at the end. That paper dated itself back to at least 1948 when R.E. Mitosky was publishing it. A similar title paper and perhaps the same one went back further to 1939. This paper originally appears to have been perhaps a publication that was in part at least supported by the Kensington Business Men’s Association, as a way to get out advertising for the businesses along Kensington, Frankford, and Allegheny Avenues.
There is a great little book, published back in 1944 as part of the Federal Writers Works Projects; the title is A Checklist of Pennsylvania Newspapers, Volume 1, Philadelphia County. This little book lists all sorts of newspapers that were published at one time or another in Kensington.
The Greater Philadelphia Kensington Bulletin was a weekly paper in 1944. It appears to have been the descendant of an earlier Kensington Bulletin (1921-1938). This paper had various publishers some of whom were Kensington Bulletin, Inc., James A. K. Sinnot, John C. Moss, Peerless Publishing Co., and Herbert Peterson, until winding up as the Greater Philadelphia Kensington Bulletin and being published by E. L. Wagner.
There was a local paper that was the voice of the Republicans. It was called the Kensington Critic. It was founded in 1894 and was still being published in 1944. From 1903-1929, a fellow by the name of Fred Baumgaertel was the publisher and editor, then for a year (1929-1930) James Pitts ran the show, before somebody else picked it up.
Two other Republican weeklies, the Kensington Press (1899-1905), published and edited by J. B. Farra and the Kensington Sun (1886-1889), published and edited by Sun Printing Co., are two papers that have no known holdings. These two papers were later consolidated. From 1887-1889, J. B. Haslam ran the show for the Kensington Sun and later in 1890 changed the name to Kensington Sun and Enterprise when he merged the papers and went under the name of Haslam Printing Company.
A paper called the Kensington Local was supposed to have existed from 1890-1920, but no copies appear to exist. It was an Independent weekly. J.C. Davis & Theo. P. Stoll published it from 1899-1910, and then Stoll took it over for the years 1911-1920,
The Kensington News (1934-1944) was a weekly that was published and edited by John M. Doyle at first, then taken over by A.D. Graham. The Kensingtonian (1884), a weekly, with no known holdings, was published and edited by James H. Griffes. Another paper called the Kensingtonian (1902-1922) was also a weekly, and it too has no known copies. The Kensington Board of Trade published it. It appears that this paper may have then been taken over by H. Raymond Morse, who continued publishing under the same name until at least 1936.
The amount of neighborhood papers that once existed for the time from the 1880s to the 1940s is astonishing, but this was before the age television and the Internet, a time when a newspaper was the only medium to get your news (as well in time the radio). The Fishtown Star helps to continue the long newspaper history of Kensington and Fishtown.
29 May 2008 The Rest is History
Some Sources for Kensington & Fishtown History
Back on May 17th the Trenton Avenue Art Festival took place. My publisher bought a booth for me at the fair so I could sign copies of my new book, Remembering Kensington & Fishtown; Philadelphia’s Riverward Neighborhoods. One of the best parts about the festival was that I was able to get to meet and talk with many of the readers of my column. It was a great experience and it was also good to see that so many folks enjoy the column and are interested in local history.
One of the recurring themes that was mentioned to me was where could folks go for other sources of the neighborhood’s history. I thought to take today’s column and try to point folks in that direction.
Back in 2002 when the Kensington History Project (Torben Jenk, Rich Remer, and I) collaborated with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on the Pennsylvania Legacies magazine (November 2002), we also helped to put together a bibliography of Kensington history. My website www.kennethwmilano.com has this full bibliography listed.
There are several general histories of the neighborhood, one of them being Kensington History: Stories and Memories, edited by Jamie Catrambone and published in 1996. This book, which the Kensington History Project collaborated on, has factual as well as oral histories of Kensington. The old Fishtown Civic Association also published a general history, Fishtown - A Slice of Life: 300 Years in Philadelphia, 1682-1982 (1982). Another general history of early Kensington is local chronicler Joseph S. Molmer’s, Kensington: From the Beginning to Consolidation. 1854 (c1968) and Jean Seder’s Voices of Kensington: Vanishing Mills, Vanishing Neighborhoods. (1982), is a great oral history book of the neighborhood.
One of the sons of William Cramp, the famous Kensington shipbuilder, took it upon himself to write about Kensington’s history. Charles Cramp’s Memoirs of Churches in Old Kensington: Shipbuilders Paramount in Numbers and Influence in the “Old Brick” and “Chandler’s” is one such piece. He also wrote Five Notable Vaughan Families. These two pieces as well as Old Kensington District and Its Memories: Numerous European Settlers Before the English Occupation appeared in the Public Ledger newspaper in the early part of the 20th century (c1906-1909).
If your interested in the history of shipbuilding in Kensington then Cramp’s Shipyard: The William Cramp & Son’s Ship & Engine Building Company, 1830; the I.P. Morris Company, 1928; the Kensington Shipyard Company, 1900 (1910) might be a good place to start. As well, David W. Gauer wrote a genealogy of the Vaughan shipbuilding family, who were related to just about every shipbuilder in Kensington in the late 18th Century to the mid 19th Century. His book Vaughan Shipwrights of Kensington, Philadelphia: Their Van Hook & Norris Lineages and Combined Progeny (1982) is probably the best genealogy for early Kensington families and contains lots of biographies.
If your interested in the history of William Penn’s Treaty with the Indians, then Peter S. Du Ponceau, piece titled, Memoir on the History of the Celebrated Treaty made by William Penn, is a good old-timer to read. It was published in 1836 and is perhaps the most complete discussion on the plausibility of the Treaty Tree legend. There is also John Connor’s www.penntreatymuseum.org website, which is loaded with the history of Penn’s Treaty.
There are several scholarly books that touch on the history of Kensington due to their focus on different manufacturing sectors. Thomas R. Heinrich’s Ships for the Seven Seas (shipbuilding) and Philip Scranton two books on the textile history of Philadelphia, are some of these sorts of books, as well there are also books from the antique collector’s viewpoint, books on Stetson Hats, or Schoenhutt’s Dolls, both old-time Kensington manufacturers. The www.workshopoftheworld.com website is also loaded with Kensington manufacturing history.
The old churches in the neighborhood all have histories that were published in years’ past. Ernest Feind’s A History of the First Presbyterian Church of Kensington (1939) and William Swindells’ Annals of the Kensington Methodist Episcopal Church (1893) are two such books.
A great look at Kensington’s small businesses along Girard and Frankford Avenues, as well as elsewhere, is Kensington: A City Within a City, Historical and Industrial Review published in 1891. It contains lots of business biographies.
One of my favorite books is Sarah Alcock’s book, A Brief History of the Revolution with a Sketch of the Life of John Hewson, published in1843. Alcock was the daughter of Kensington’s Revolutionary War hero John Hewson, who was also America’s first calico printer of fabrics.
There are a number of other very good books on the history of Kensington and Fishtown. Visit my website for the complete bibliography that we have compiled.
5 June 2008 The Rest is History
A History of the Kensington Riots - Part 1 of 8
The date was Monday, May 6th, 1844, and it was the early moments of the infamous Kensington Anti-Irish Catholic Riots when a young man of 19 years of age was shot and killed. His name was George Shiffler, the eldest son of a widow, which helped to dramatize the tragedy. He was shot at the intersection of Germantown Road and Master Street, several buckshot lodging in his right side, one entering under his right arm and the charge of the piece fired entered his chest piercing his heart.
It has been romanticized that Shiffler was clutching the American flag, keeping it from touching the ground and defending it from a supposed Irish-Catholic mob intent on destroying it. This symbolism helped him to become a martyr and a hero of the Native American cause, a political movement that was anti-immigrant in nature and anti-Catholic by design.
George Shiffler appears to have been the possible son of George Shiffler and Rebecca Vaughan. The elder George Shiffler was a tobacconist and lived on St. John’s Street, a few doors below Beaver Street, the same intersection where the martyred George Shiffler was supposed to have lived with his widowed mother. Today St. John’s Street is called American Street and Beaver Street is today’s Wildey Street.
An article in the Public Ledger of 12 December 1842 states that the elder George Shiffler committed suicide about a year and a half before his son was shot and killed:
“ Suicide: A man named George Shiffler, a tobacconist, about 40 years of age, committed suicide yesterday afternoon in St. John’s Street, a few doors below Beaver Street, by cutting his throat. He has left a wife and three or four children.”
A death notice for the elder George Shiffler was published in the Public Ledger the following day. It stated that the elder George Shiffler was 44 years old. His funeral was held at his home on St. John’s Street, below Beaver and he was buried at the Kensington Methodist Cemetery. This church’s cemetery was one of the three cemeteries that made up the old Hanover Burial Ground, today’s Hetzel’s Playground at Columbia Avenue & Thompson Streets.
Rebecca Vaughan, the wife of the George Shiffler who committed suicide and the mother of the George Shiffler who was the first to be killed in the Riots of 1844, was the daughter of Thomas Vaughan (1757-1842) and Mary Bryan (d.1843). During the Revolutionary War, Thomas Vaughan served in the Philadelphia Militia under Captain John Hewson, a local Kensington Revolutionary War Hero and the person to whom Fishtown’s Hewson Street is named for. Both Thomas Vaughan and John Hewson are buried in Palmer Cemetery.
The Vaughan family were a fairly famous Kensington shipbuilding family, running shipyards and wharf-building enterprises throughout most of the 19th Century on the Kensington waterfront.
After young George Shiffler was shot at the opening moments of the riots, his body was carried to George Bower’s Drugstore, at the corner of Germantown Road and St. John’s Street where he died a few moments later. Many relatives and friends attended his funeral and there was a large crowd of Native Americans who followed his remains to the old Hanover Burial Ground where he was laid to rest.
After her son George’s death, Rebecca Vaughan Shiffler took her two younger children and moved to Southwark. Her eldest daughter stayed in Kensington living with her uncle, the shipcarpenter Matthias Creamer (c1788-1860), who had married Margaret Vaughan, Rebecca’s sister.
The family history states that Rebecca Vaughan and George Shiffler had about ten children and indeed a George Shiffler was found in the 1840 Census living in Kensington’s 2nd Ward (where the intersection of St. John’s & Beaver is located) with a possible nine children in the house. However, besides the probable martyred George Shiffler, there is only evidence for three of Rebecca’s supposed ten children.
While there is no evidence that has been found to date that the martyr of the Kensington Riots, George Shiffler was indeed the son of Rebecca Vaughan and the George Shiffler who committed suicide in 1842, the fact that the elder George Shiffler has the same name as the martyr and the fact that both the elder George Shiffler and the martyred George Shiffler were buried at the same cemetery and lived at the same intersection (St. John’s and Beaver Street), would appear to be very good evidence that they were indeed the same family. Also there is the fact that the martyred George Shiffler was said to be fatherless, which would match Rebecca Vaughan’s circumstances after the suicide of her husband in 1842.
In all, the three days of rioting in Kensington are supposed to have killed 14 and wounded 39.
12 June 2008 The Rest is History
The History of the Kensington Riots - Part 2 of 8
A number of folks told me they found the column last week on George Shiffler to be interesting, since when they usually come across information on the Kensington Riots it is not locally oriented to the neighborhood, but more national in scope, or what the riots tell us about America’s history. I thought to follow that theme then and give a little more close up look at the participants in the riots and perhaps continue it for a couple of weeks.
The rioting started in Kensington on May 6th, 1844, and lasted several days. The Native American Party was a political party who, while having many issues, their main issue appeared to be its opposition to the Irish-Catholic immigrants and their wanting to read the Catholic Bible in school rather then the Protestant Bible.
The Nativists as the Native American Party members were called wanted to hold a rally in Kensington. The place the Nativists picked to hold their rally was in the parish of St. Michael’s. St. Michael’s was founded in 1831 and was the center of Irish Catholic life in Kensington. The rally was to be held on an empty lot, at what would then be the southeast corner of Cadwallader & Master Streets, a block or so from St. Michael’s.
The Nativists having a rally in South Kensington would be like the Klu Klux Klan having a rally in the middle of North Philadelphia. The folks in North Philly wouldn’t put up with the Klan and the Irish-Catholics in 1844 wouldn’t stand for the Nativists either.
The original rally by the Nativists was on May 3rd, 1844, a Friday. This rally was broken up with some haranguing from the audience’s Irish-Catholics, as well as a number of rocks being thrown. The Nativists, outnumbered, retreated back to the Northern Liberties, Fishtown, and Southwark. They rallied their supporters and came back in numbers to Kensington on Monday, May 6th, 1844, to finish their speeches and spew their hate. This time they were armed and looking for a conflict.
A rainstorm interrupted the Monday rally. The Nativists and their supporters retreated to the Nanny Goat Market, a market house that ran along the middle of American Street, just north of Master. Naturally when the audience was forced into tight quarters under the shed of the market house, tensions rose even higher. As the hate speeches started up again, a group of men, about 12 to 15 in number, ran out of west side of the market house with about the same number of men chasing them.
The two groups met and a fight ensued. Two “desperate fellows” were said to “clinch each other, one armed with a brick, and the other a club, and exchanged a dozen blows, any one of which seemed severe enough to kill an ordinary man.”
Stones and bricks began to be thrown by both sides and persons on both sides fired several pistol shots. When the guns were heard, members of the audience immediately began to disperse and flee the market house area, while some Nativists took position at the south end of the market and hoisted the American Flag.
Several stones were thrown at the Hibernia Hose Company, an Irish-Catholic fire company on Cadwallader Street, just north of Master, west of the market. A Nativist crowd chased some fellows west on Master Street and attacked a house there just west of Cadwallader, smashing the doors and windows. Two other houses on Cadwallader suffered the same fate.
At this point two or three muskets were fired by the Irish-Catholics in their retreat, as they attempted a rally to fight back. The men who had raised the American Flag at the south end of the Market House still held their ground even though volleys of bricks and stones were continually being sent upon them. A number of Irish-Catholics rallied at Germantown and Master, and came down Master Street at a brisk pace upon the Nativists with stones and several guns. The Nativists retreated, but maintained a fire with stones and pistols themselves. Several Nativists were killed at this point and the rioters became furious. The Nativists again rallied and recovered a temporary advantage, but finally retreated, “under sharp fire of every kind of missiles, and two or three discharges of a musket carried by a gray-headed Irishman who wore a seal-skin cap.”
With the Nativists in retreat the first of many violent confrontations of the Kensington Riots came to an end. George Shiffler, the 19 year-old Nativist, died of his wounds, the first to die in the Kensington Riots of May of 1844.
19 June 2008 The Rest is History
The History of the Kensington Riots - Part 3 of 8
Last week’s column was the second of a short continuing series of pieces on the famous Kensington Riots. That column ended with the beginning outburst of the Riots and with the Nativists in retreat. George Shiffler, the 19 year-old Nativist was the first to be killed in the riots.
Also on that first afternoon’s outbreak (May 6th, 1844), Henry Temper who worked for Mr. Lee, a barber on Frankford Avenue received a shot in his side, which glanced off his hipbone, producing only a flesh wound. Another man, Thomas Ford, was shot in the head with a “spent ball,” which injured him only slightly. Joseph Cox had his hip seriously injured and died the next day, while Patrick Fisher, a “late constable of the ward” was shot in the face, but lived. He is said to have been the first person to actually be wounded in the rioting, when it first broke out in the Nanny Goat Market House (American St north of Master St).
When the rioting started that Monday afternoon and as the contested heated up, the Irish-Catholics took positions to the west of the Market House and the Nativists on the eastern side. While a party of Irish was being chased south on Cadwallader Street below Master a man stumbled and fell into the doorway of the home of Edward Develin. Develin pulled the man into his house and closed the door. At that point the house was “assailed by the pursuing party with brickbats and stones,” some as heavy as 7 to 8 pounds. The mob destroyed his home assaulting Develin with a gutter pipe. His wife and two children escaped without injury.
John Lafferty’s home on Germantown, above Master was attacked and “battered with missiles and the interior injured.” The widow Brady occupied the house next-door. The panels of the front door were knocked out, the windows broken, large stones thrown into the parlor, destroying the “looking-glasses, tables,” and other pieces of furniture. The mob came into the house taking the furniture and piece by piece destroyed it. It is said that the widow Brady’s home was attacked because a man the Nativist mob was chasing ran into her alleyway.
The house of Michael Quinn on Master, west of Cadwallader, was attacked, battered, and had some of the furniture destroyed. At the time Quinn’s house was attacked his wife was sitting in the room with her child on her lap. The house of John Lavary, next to Quinn’s house, was attacked at the front and at the rear, the doors and windows completely destroyed. Lavary would later be arrested for participating in the riots.
Other houses, including the Hibernia Hose Company, were slightly injured by bullets and stones.
While the Irish-Catholics were driven to retreat on a several occasions, they took to the offense as well. They were said to be in “a dreadful state of excitement” and “even women and boys joined in the affray” with some women actually joining in to throw stones at the Nativists. Upon the retreats of the Irish, they would come back armed armed with guns, often shooting randomly into the crowd of Nativists, with some taking particular aim at individuals who were engaged in the fighting.
Many of the Irish women who were not throwing stones, “incited the men to vigorous action, pointing out where they could operate with more effect,” as well as “cheering on and rallying them to a renewal of conflict” when it looked as if their “spirits fell” or they were in retreat. A number of the rioters were small boys who fought with as much energy and excitement as the men.
The altercation that precipitated the afternoon’s rioting started when the rainstorm forced the Nativists to have their rally under the Market House. Two men named Fields and McLaughlin got into a heated argument as the rally started up again. This argument was interceded by several others and threats were made. A young man pulled out a pair of pistols and threatened to shoot the first person that touched him. One man stepped out of the western side of the Market House and dared the young man to shoot him. The young man fired at him, which in turn led others to pull guns and open fire. This is when ex-constable Fisher received the shot to the face becoming the first to be wounded in the riots.
This first afternoon of rioting on May 6th, 1844 (covered here and in last week’s column) took about an hour to play out. Both sides then retreated and waited for darkness to come. Next week we will take a look at the evening’s events of the first day (of three) day of rioting in Kensington.
26 June 2008 The Rest is History
The History of the Kensington Riots - Part 4 of 8
Last week we left off at the ending of the first afternoon of rioting on May 6th, 1844. In all, the fighting took about an hour and pitted the Protestants from East Kensington (Fishtown), the Northern Liberties, and Southwark (aligned with the Nativist Party Movement) against the Irish-Catholics of St. Michael’s Parish.
That first one-hour of the Kensington Riots saw one Nativist shot and killed (Shiffler), four other Nativists shot (one died the next day), and five Irish-Catholic houses destroyed in the area of Master & Cadwallader Streets and Germantown Avenue. Other homes in the immediate area were also slightly damaged, including the Hibernia Fire Hose Company, an Irish-Catholic fire company.
After that initial battle in the afternoon, the groups retreated to wait for the cover of dark. When the evening arrived, a Nativist mob began to form at the intersection of today’s 2nd Street & Girard Avenue. The mob moved north on 2nd Street attacking the homes of Irish-Catholics on both sides of the street. Nativist sympathizers and non-Catholics hung American Flags in their windows to keep the mob from destroying their house. The crowd broke the windows and knocked down the doors of the Irish-Catholics and went into the houses destroying the furniture. The inhabitants of the homes fled from the ruthlessness of the mob.
A cry of “go to the nunnery” went up and the mob proceeded to 2nd & Thompson Streets, and was about to set fire to the nunnery, formerly occupied by the Sisters of Charity. The fence was lit, but the mob was stopped when from the rooftops, a “volley of ball and buckshot” was fired upon the rioters. Several other volleys of shot followed and the crowd was sent scattering. A number of people were shot, some falling to the street seriously wounded.
The shots were apparently fired from the rooftop of Mr. Corr’s temperance grocery store, at the northeast corner of 2nd & Thompson Streets. Corr’s store would later be riddled and completely destroyed by the mob. The fact that the shots came from Corr’s building was enough for the crowd to devastate the property.
A young man by the name of Nathan Ramsey, a blindmaker on 3rd Street, above Brown, was shot through the breastbone, perforating his lungs. He was carried to an apothecary store on 2nd Street above Germantown. He is believed to have lived.
Another young man, John W. Wright, the son of Northern Liberties salt merchant was killed instantly with a shot through his head. He was not participating in the riot, but was talking with a friend about sixty yards south of the nunnery. He was carried to the same apothecary as Nathan Ramsey as were three others who were wounded that day.
Others, upwards to twelve people, were shot and wounded, with some falling at the rear of the nunnery, but since it was too dangerous to retrieve them, they were left lying where they fell.
Bonfires were lit throughout the area by the mobs, but by whom it was not known.
For a second time the Nativists were routed by the gunfire of the Irish-Catholics. The neighborhood being the home of the Catholics, they benefited by being able to hide in the houses, buildings, and alleyways, while the Nativists were forced to fight without cover. However, this advantage would soon change once the Nativists began to burn down the neighborhood on the second day of the rioting.
A rumor had been spread that the Nativist mob intended to fire St. Michael’s Church. Many Irish-Catholic men retreated to the church, armed, and prepared to defend it.
Crowds of armed men on both sides roamed the neighborhood’s streets with occasional gunshots ringing out from homes, alleys, and from behind fences. By twelve midnight the crowds started to disperse and the days activities seem to have ended. However, many were still afraid to walk home thinking they could be shot down at any moment. By one thirty in the morning things had quieted down and the first full day of the Kensington Riots had come to and end.
At least one man, John McAleer, was arrested rather quickly. McAleer was one of the men on the rooftop of Corr’s grocery who fired into the Nativist crowd. It appears that the gun he fired had a piece that burst off and tore off one of his thumbs. He needed to go to the hospital and while there was arrested by Alderman Redman. McAleer had reason for wanting to shoot the Nativists, he had two of his brick houses burnt to the ground by mob.