A rather dry subject, but one which is interesting, is the medical history of Kensington. You might not have been aware of it, but Kensington has a fairly unique history when it comes to medicine and medical practitioners. One such story is an individual by the name of Dr. Howard Atwood Kelly.

Kelly was born in 1858, the son of Henry Kuhl Kelly. His father was a native Philadelphian who had a distinguished Civil War career with a highpoint as being present at Appomattox Courthouse and assisting in receiving the Confederate arms & colors on when General Lee surrendered in 1865.

Dr. Kelly's paternal grandmother, Margaret Kuhl was the granddaughter of Michael Hillegas, II, and Henrietta Boude. Oddly enough, both the Hillegas and Boude families were early landowners in Kensington, having purchased property from Anthony Palmer when he first set up his town in the 1730's.

Dr. Kelly attended Faires' Classical Institute and afterwards the University of Pennsylvania where he studied the classics, graduating in 1877. He then entered the Medical School at Penn, taking his medical degree in 1882.

After a residency (1882-1883) at Kensington's Episcopal Hospital at Front & Lehigh, he decided to stay local and began a practice among Kensington's mill workers In about 1883 he "defied tradition" and established "his" private hospital, the Kensington Hospital for Women, the first women's only hospital in Philadelphia.

Such medical luminaries as William Osler, D. Hayes Agnew, and Horatio Wood came to Kensington Women's Hospital as consultants. The Kensington Women's Hospital incorporated 4 years later and became a large & flourishing institution.

While in Kensington, Kelly lived for a time at 2516 N. Front Street. The hospital that he founded was located at 130-136 Diamond Street and had a 100-bed capacity, offering surgical, obstetrical, x-ray, outpatient, laboratory, and gynecological services. It also had connected with it, a Nurses' Training School, which was accredited and had been organized in 1888.

Dr. Kelly originally organized the Kensington Hospital for Women in February of 1883. At first it was located at 2821 C Street, in the house of Mrs. Kate Wood, who Kelly had previously operated on. Mrs. Wood helped Kelly look after his patients, which consisted of three women when he first started. His success was almost immediate, as this was Philadelphia's first hospital that was devoted exclusively to the care of women.

Kelly was forced to move to larger quarters three times, once in 1885 and then again in 1886, until finally he moved to the Diamond Street location in 1890. The hospital was incorporated that year, with the charter having been granted back in 1887.

Kelly sat on the original Board of Directors for the hospital, with another local fellow by the name of John B. Stetson. Stetson of course is known the world over as the founder of the Kensington hat-making firm, "the hat that won the west."

After founding the hospital, securing a charter and a large enough facility, and helping to set up its incorporation, Kelly felt confident enough to let the hospital grow on its own. It was at this point that Kelly resigned and moved on to Johns Hopkins Hospital and University, at Baltimore, Maryland, where his fame continued and he established himself as a leading authority in gynecology and surgery.

Besides Kelly, there were other famous surgeons and doctors associated with the Kensington Hospital for Women, including William W. Keen (1837-1932), who in 1887, only a couple of blocks away at St. Mary's Hospital (now Neumann Medical Center), performed the first successful removal of a brain tumor in the United States. Earlier, in 1876, also at St. Mary's, Keen was the first surgeon in Philadelphia to adopt Lister's principles of antisepsis, which was a carbolic acid wash and disinfectant that helped stop infections during surgery.

Kelly's desire to study gynecology took him to Europe on several occasions, to the famous medical learning institutions of England, Scotland, France, and Germany. When he returned he took a position as associate professor of obstetrics at the University of PA for the years 1888-89, before moving on to Johns Hopkins University.

Kelly joined the faculty of the then famed Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, in association with the equally famous William Osler, who had recruited him. He held the chair of gynecology and obstetrics until 1899 when he gave up obstetrics to continue as professor of gynecology. He became emeritus professor in 1919 and was associated with Johns Hopkins until his death in 1943. Kelly also had a large private practice that he attended.

During the course of his lifetime Dr. Kelly became a leading world authority in operative and medical gynecology, as well as abdominal surgery. He published numerous books and articles upon various scientific, surgical, and medical topics and helped to establish gynecology as a specialty in the field of medicine.

10 August 2006 The Rest is History

Last week we took a look at the Kensington Women's Hospital, founded by Dr. Howard Atwood Kelly, a renowned world authority in the fields of surgery and gynecology. The hospital was located on the 100 block of Diamond Street, on the south side of Norris Square.

In the late 19th and early 20th Century, the Norris Square area was considered a prominent address. The park was set-aside by the Norris family, owners of the Fairhill Estate. Fairhill Estate ran from Germantown Avenue on the west, to Frankford Avenue on the east, to about Lehigh Avenue on the north, to Norris Street on the south.

The Norris family allowed the Fairhill Estate to be incorporated into the District of Kensington in 1848, when Kensington was still a self-governing district, but not before setting aside Norris Square as a green public space, to be enjoyed by future residents.

As the area around Norris Square developed and with a nice park already in place, large townhouses were built on the streets bordering the park. The Square (Diamond Street on the south, Susquehanna Avenue on the north, Howard Street on the east and Hancock Street on the west) attracted a number of local wealthy families.

The Bromley carpet mill family, the Harbison Dairy family, and the Firth brothers dye manufacturers, were some of the families that inhabited the homes around the square in the 19th Century. The square was a short walk to the large Kensington businesses that were owned and operated by these families.

Besides Kensington Women's Hospital, St. Boniface Church also anchored the south side of Norris Square. The church predates Kelly's hospital having been founded in 1866. It was closed only this year (2006). St. Boniface was a German Catholic church and with the nearby St. Peter's Church (5th & Girard) ministered to the numerous German Catholics in the area who hailed mainly from Bavaria and Baden-Wurtemberg.

While these two institutions (Kensington Women's Hospital & St. Boniface Church) were on the south side of the square, the north side of the square once housed the Kensington Dispensary for the Treatment of Tuberculosis. While not so common today, the early 20th century had many cases of TB.

The dispensary was founded in 1905 by a group of German Lutheran women in the area. These women tended to be the wives of the local German businessmen and manufacturers. The Dispensary was founded for "the purpose of assisting suffering from Tuberculosis." At first it was located on the southwest corner of Trenton & Susquehanna. Later, in 1908, they moved to the northeast corner of Hancock & Susquehanna where they remained until at least 1937.

In 1937, Mrs. Theodore C. Schoenhut was president and Miss Caroline Schoenhut was on the Board of Managers. The Schoenhut family, founders of the world famous Schoenhut Toy Company, seem to have taken an active interest in this institution, as four members of the family were life members. The family's toy factory use to be located where today's Hackett School's schoolyard is located (southeast corner of Sepviva & Hagert Streets).

In order to raise the funds for this institution there were fourteen women's auxiliaries' set up around the city (two in Kensington), with membership dues and fundraising activities going to support the dispensary. The group had 2,000 members as well as corporate & business sponsors.

One can imagine a very densely populated factory district like Kensington with folks living in substandard housing conditions. These conditions created a nice breeding ground for a disease like TB. During its first twenty-five years (1905-1930) the Kensington Dispensary gave over 90,000 treatments, with another 7,400 in home treatments. They also gave away close to 175,000 quarts of milk.

If a person was too ill to come into the dispensary, then a physician was available for home visits. Nurses were also available to train the family how to deal with the TB patient. Dr. Louis Herman, another Norris Square resident, was the dentist for the dispensary.

Later, in 1913, the Kensington Dispensary offered a "Preventorium" called River Crest that was located at Mount Clare, PA. At this facility children with TB, or children whose parents had TB, could be taken and have the opportunity for "medical supervision, fresh air, nourishing food," and "kindly care," all which helped to rebuild the "wasted tissue," and helped in "gaining weight" and all around "happy improvements." The facility allowed the TB patients to be taken out of the crowded polluted environment of the factory district so that might have a better chance to recover.

With Kelly's Kensington Women's Hospital and the Kensington Dispensary, the Norris Square neighborhood sure seems to have had a lot of help with its medical needs.

17 August 2006 The Rest is History

One important aspect of researching your family history is to locate the marriage records of your ancestors. Marriage records are important as they connect families, give maiden names of the women, and hopefully give information about places of birth and the parents of the couple getting married.

For Philadelphia, centralization of marriage records began in July of 1860. For the most part, previous to July of 1860, if you want to try and find your ancestor's marriage records, you need to seek out what church they belonged to for the possible marriage record.

In July of 1860 Philadelphia began to have the ministers send in their "marriage returns," and thus the centralization of marriage records began. For the older marriage records (1860-1884) you have to visit Philadelphia's City Archives (31st & Market) where you can view microfilm indexes of brides & grooms. When you find a possible candidate for your ancestor, then you check the microfilm of the marriage register books and if it's correct, you can make a copy.

The early marriage records give you basically the name of the bride and groom, the date they were married, and where they were born. However, usually this place of birth is a generic term like "Ireland" and not the exact town or parish. The early records will also give you the ages of the couple getting married as well as the occupation of the male and female if she was working. The final item the register will give will be the minister who married them and the "type of ceremony." This last clue can lead to possible other church records for the couple and their families, as you can research the minister to see what church he belonged.

After 1885 the marriage records become more informative. For these later records, 1885 to present, you need to go to the Clerk of the Orphans' Court, at City Hall, Room 415. Here they have indexes of marriages in Philadelphia between 1885 to the present.

The1885 Marriage Application provides the following information on the bride & groom: place of marriage: county, state; names; place of births (sometimes giving a town of origin from abroad); date of births; address of residences; occupations; If they are related by blood or not; If they have ever been married before; If they were married before is the marriage dissolved and how was it dissolved (dissolved by death or if dissolved by divorce state when, where, and on what grounds divorced was obtained); and the date when the application was filed.

There are sometimes three parts to a marriage record. The marriage application itself, the return from the minister, or judge, and the consent form if the bride or groom was a minor.

While the application might "ask" for all of the above information, there is no guarantee that all of the blanks on the application will be completed.

I did a survey of the marriage records at City Hall (see my website) and it would appear that sometime between the years 1912 and 1915, the marriage application changed. Starting about 1915 the applications began to ask a lot of additional questions about the parents of the bride and groom and the mental health of the couple to be married, with an additional question to the husband if he was physically able to support a family. The marriage application stayed the same until at least 1945.

Looking at these two examples of marriage applications for 1885 and 1915, you immediately see that the 1915 application has a whole host of additional pieces of information that the bride and groom needed to supply, with most of this additional information being about the parents of the couple. The authorities now seem to want to know almost the exact information from the parents, as they wanted to know about the prospective bride and groom. The only other additional information that you find out about the man and woman who are going to be married (discounting the new information on their parents), are the questions that concern the couples state of mind (are they imbeciles, epileptics, of unsound mind, or drunkards, or on drugs, etc.).

The marriage records of the Orphans' Court are open to the public. You can research your family, or even be nosy about your neighbors. You are able, for free, to have three records pulled and view them. However, if you want more then three records pulled at one time, you have to pay $5.00 per record over the original three. You cannot photocopy the records unless you are willing to pay $20.00 per record. Oh and remember, since the office is on the 4th floor and the records are on the 9th floor, it takes five business days to retrieve them.

24 August 2006 The Rest is History

I recently got a letter from Sherri Basham who was having trouble finding her Bridesburg family in the census (1790-1840) and wanted to know why?

Folks need to remember when researching Philadelphia that the boundaries of the City did not reach their current shape until the County was consolidated into the City in 1854. Previously, the City was simply what we would call today, "Center City" (Vine to South, from River to River).

If you are conducting research on families outside of the core center of the city, you need to look at what borough, district, or township they resided.

To use Bridesburg as an example for the period of 1790 to 1850, it might depend if you were talking about Bridesburg today, or Bridesburg of yesteryear. Today the old part of Bridesburg, the part that was self governing between the years 1848 to 1854, would have sat south of Frankford Creek, on the Delaware River, but today most of what folks would call Bridesburg sits north of the creek.

North of Frankford Creek would have been Oxford Township, south of Frankford Creek would have been Northern Liberties Township. However, the boundaries were fairly large, particularly Northern Liberties and thus it might be best to try and find a "known" prominent person of Bridesburg and thus you could be sure you were in the right area of the Northern Liberties Township.

For the Census of 1790 you would need check both townships. In 1790 the Northern Liberties Township's borders ran from the Schuylkill to the Delaware, and roughly Vine Street up to Frankford, Tacony, & Wingohockin Creeks and Township Line. Oxford Township's borders would have been Cottman, the Delaware River, Frankford and Tacony Creek, to Hasbrook and back up to Cottman.

If you are not sure if the ancestor was north or south of Frankford Creek, you need to check both townships. If you find them in 1790 in one or the other, you can "assume" they will be in that particular township for the censuses of 1800-1850.

In 1800 Frankford Borough was erected from Oxford Township, so Oxford shrunk some, but Northern Liberties Township stayed the same, so you should still check both of these townships, particularly if you did not find them in1790.

In 1808 Penn Township was erected out of Northern Liberties Township and thus Northern Liberties was cut almost in half. The western boundary was now Germantown Avenue down to 6th Street.

On the 1810 Census the borders were the same for Oxford and Northern Liberties Township, but since Penn Township was erected in 1808, there will be less people to search for in Northern Liberties.

In 1813, Spring Garden District was formed out of Northern Liberties Township, on the southern end next to the Northern Liberties District. It had a northern border of Fairmount, so that would not have affected Bridesburg, but would give a smaller area to search.

In March of 1820, the District of Kensington was erected out of Northern Liberties Township and thus Northern Liberties shrunk more, as now the southern border for the township would have been Norris Street. You'll still have to check either Northern Liberties or Oxford Township.

The 1830 census would have had no changes so check the same two townships.

Frankford was enlarged in 1831 so Oxford Township would have shrunk some by the next census. The 1840 Census still had Bridesburg as being in either Oxford or Northern Liberties Township.

In February 1847, the Richmond District was erected out of Northern Liberties Township, thus the township shrunk. Richmond was bordered on the south by Kensington District, east by the Delaware River, on the west roughly by Frankford Avenue, and at the north by Westmoreland, later to be changed at parts to Tioga.

On April 1st, 1848, Bridesburg finally became self-governing, made into a Borough, erected out of the Northern Liberties Township. The Delaware River was its eastern boundary, the Frankford Creek the northern, the District of Richmond its southern, and an undetermined western boundary, but no more west then the District of Richmond western border (it was a property line that does not show up the well on the political maps). Eventually that western boundary became Kerbaugh Street.

Since Bridesburg was erected out of Northern Liberties Township, one can assume that folks calling themselves "from Bridesburg" would have meant that they were from this area of Northern Liberties Township, and thus searching Oxford Township might not be necessary. Perhaps it would be best to search Northern Liberties first, leaving Oxford for later.

The early censuses taken for Northern Liberties Township divided it into "East" and "West." If you see that, then of course you should check the "East" section of the Township.

The best guide for this sort of research is a book entitled, "Philadelphia Map, 1682-1982: Townships-Districts-Wards." (Philadelphia: GSP, 1996)

31 August 2006 The Rest is History

If you happen to notice several regiments of French soldiers marching through Kensington & Fishtown this coming Sunday, down Frankford Avenue, don't worry, they aren't U.N. troops lost from their deployment on the border of Israel & Lebanon, although I'm sure they would rather be here then over there. The soldiers are actually friendly troops, re-enactors.

I recently received word from Torben Jenk, a fellow founding member of the Kensington History Project, that the French Army will be marching through Kensington as part of a celebration for the 225th Anniversary of the historic Revolutionary War march that took them from Rhode Island to Yorktown, Virginia, and which eventually helped to end the Revolutionary War. Jenk stated:

"On Sunday afternoon, September 3, Revolutionary War re-enactors will march down Frankford Avenue, through Holmesburg, Tacony, Frankford, Kensington, and Fishtown, then cross over Laurel Street to Second Street in Northern Liberties, down to Market Street, then west to their campsite along the Schuylkill River near Market Street.

In the fall of 1781 General Washington led the Continental Army and General Rochambeau led the French Army from Rhode Island, across Connecticut to the Hudson and thence through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland to Virginia and victory over the British at Yorktown, ending the Revolutionary War.

In early September, 1781, these 8,000 troops crossed the Delaware at Trenton, marched through Bristol to a camp at Red Lion (near Holy Family University, at Grant and Frankford avenues), then down Frankford Road (Avenue)."

The French Army appeared to have liked what they saw of Kensington, then a suburb of Philadelphia, as Jenk mentioned that according to the Journal of Jean-Francois-Louis, comte de Clermont-Crevecoeur (The American Campaign's of Rochambeau's Army, 1780-1783. Princeton University Press, 1972):

"We passed through some pretty villages that were thickly settled. This country shows signs of being near a large city because of the density of the population and the manner in which it is cultivated. When we came within sight of the city, the army halted and the troops spruced up. With drums beating and flags unfurled, we entered it at a walk in the following order: The cavalry of the Legion led the march, followed by its infantry. Next came the artillery of the Bourbonnais Regiment followed by the regiment, then the artillery of the Royal Deux-Ponts followed by the regiment. The artillery of the park, escorted by pickets of cavalry and infantry, brought up the rear. The streets and the line of march were crowded with people who were absolutely amazed to see such a fine army. The prejudices the English had aroused in them against our country were soon dispelled, for they saw superb men. They could not conceive how, after a long and tiring march over frightful roads, we could be in such good condition, or how we could possibly have brought so much artillery in our train; foe we had with us sixteen 4-pounders, six 6-inch howitzers, eight 12-pounders, and 200 rounds of ammunition per piece in the caissons."

"It took us an hour and a half to cross this large and beautiful city. We passed the State House [Independence Hall] where the members of Congress were assembled on the front steps. We saluted them, then passed the house of the Chevalier de La Luzerne, the ambassador of France to Congress, where the quality of the town was assembled. We then went to camp on the Schuylkill River a mile from the town..."

Mr. Jenk stated that, "To honor the 225th anniversary of this heroic march, Revolutionary War re-enactors are following this entire 600-mile route, connecting communities to our shared past in an effort known as the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route (W3R). On Monday morning, September 4, the re-enactors will take a boat across the Schuylkill to Bartram's Garden and continue their route on foot past the Blue Bell Tavern and on to Chester, Wilmington, and on to Yorktown, Virginia.

The troops are suppose to be at the Frankford Historical Society between 2-3 PM this coming Sunday for tea, a reception, and to view a colonial artifact exhibition that is being coordinated by the society for the 225th Anniversary celebrations. I'm guessing then that it shouldn't be too long after 3 PM, that the troops should be marching through our neighborhoods. They shouldn't be too hard to miss, they'll be the bunch of guys wearing the funny outfits carrying guns....humm...maybe I'm wrong about that, they might blend in.

If you would like to know more about this historic anniversary and all the activities that are being coordinated around it, visit the website http://www.marchtoyorktown.org/ of "America's March to Yorktown," where you can read the daily blog that is being kept as well as all the other details of this event.

7 September 2006 The Rest is History

Before there was Fishtown, or Port Richmond, or even Kensington, there was Shackamaxon. Shackamaxon was a 1600-acre plot with borders that stretched from the old Cohocksink Creek (today’s Canal Street, Laurel, Bodine, & Cambridge Streets) on the south, to the Frankford Creek on the north, from the Delaware River on the east, to an as yet unidentifiable western border. Its western border did have the western most branch of the Cohocksink Creek as it’s southwestern border, and presumably Frankford Avenue as it’s northwestern border, but the central western border was less defined, as it was a property line and not a road or creek, which is more identifiable.

The name of Shackamaxon is said to mean “place where the chief’s meet.” The mouth of Gunnar’s Run, where the creek emptied into the Delaware River (at about today’s Dyott & the Delaware), was an area where the local Leni Lenape tribes would come to fish and hunt in the summer months. It was here where the Native Americans’ council would have been held. It is no coincidence then that William Penn held council here with the local Lenape leaders, at the place we call Penn Treaty Park today.

The first Europeans to own land and live in Shackamaxon were descendants of some of the original Swedish settlers that colonized the Delaware Valley for the King of Sweden. The Swedes first settled the Delaware Valley in the 1630’s. The Swedes lost their colony to the Dutch and the Dutch in turn lost the colony to the English, and such William Penn eventually came into the land that would become Pennsylvania.

Property records show that six Swedish families patented the land that made up Shackamaxon. The names on the deed of 1676 were Lasse Cock, Eric Cock, Michael Nilsson Lyckan, Otto Ernest Cock, Gunnar Rambo, and Peter Nilsson Lyckan.

Historian Dr. Peter Craig researches and writes on the early Swedes. He has written a small piece on Shackamaxon, where he informs us of who actually lived at Shackamaxon in 1671, in those early years before William Penn arrived.

Gunnar Rambo was one inhabitant. He was the brother-in-law to Lasse Cock, another person who is mentioned as living at Shackamaxon. Lasse married Martha Ashman and they had at least two children living with them at Shackamaxon.

Craig also tells us that Lasse Cock was the nephew of Michael & Peter Nilsson Lyckan, who joined Lasse at Shackamaxon, and in a genealogy compiled of the Cock family, we find that Eric Cock and Lasse Cock were brothers, with Eric also living at Shackamaxon.

Lasse Cock sold his interest in Shackamaxon to Elizabeth Kinsey in 1676 and moved to Passyunk. Otto Ernest Cock, a relict to Lasse Cock & the Lyckans, never lived at Shackamaxon and appears to have given his share to the Lyckans. The Lyckans appear to have been brothers. The Lyckans and Gunnar Rambo in turn gave some land to Jacob Young, the sexton of Gloria Dei Church (Old Swedes).

When William Penn arrived in the 1680’s, only the Lyckan families, Eric Cock’s family, and Gunnar Rambo’s family, as well as the sexton, Jacob Young’s family, were living at Shackamaxon. 

By the 1690’s Michael Lyckan and Eric Cock moved to West Jersey and Gunnar Rambo moved to Upper Merion Township. Sexton Jacob Young died at Shackamaxon in 1682 as did Peter Lyckan in 1692.

The outward movement by the old Swedish families from Shackamaxon was precipitated by the founding of William Penn’s colony of Pennsylvania. Penn offered good incentives for the old-time settlers to move because he wanted the land that they had originally settled, the land that would become Philadelphia.

People like Thomas Fairman, Samuel Carpenter, John Bowyer, and Robert Turner show up as being landowners on a map of Shackamaxon that was compiled in 1681. The little family village of Swedes at Shackamaxon was turning English and the Swedes were moving out.

Thomas Fairman through his wife Elizabeth Kinsey acquired 300 acres of Shackamaxon from Lasse Cock. It was a portion of this plot that Anthony Palmer would eventually come into and found his town of Kensington in the 1730’s. 

Samuel Carpenter acquired 100 acres from Gunnar Rambo, his plot would eventually be acquired by Isaac Norris and become part of the Sepviva Plantation of the Norris family.

The shipwright, John Bowyer, acquired his 100 acres also from Gunnar Rambo. Bowyer’s plot was on the old creek that runs under today’s Aramingo Avenue, that creek was appropriately named “Gunnar’s Run,” after the original Swede, Gunnar Rambo, whose property bordered the creek. Bowyer is believed to be the first shipwright in the area that would eventually become part of Kensington, a place that would go on to become quite famous for its shipyard and shipbuilding.

14 September 2006 The Rest is History

   [This colume did not make it into the Star Newspapers. I was told there was a "error" and that it did not run in the Fishtown Star, but did run in the other editions of the Star. However, when I checked the North Star and the Port Richmond Star, it was not in those editions either. I was then told that there was a "mistake" and it did not run at all,  and could be run the following week, but by then Michaelmas was upon us, so, since folks missed out on this column, I give it here. ]

The City Planning Commission put out a booklet called, Population and Housing, Philadelphia 1950. They compared the population of the city from the 1940 & 1950 Censuses, and it really shed light on some of the misconceptions of our history.

As I read it, I examined closely those wards that made up the historical geographic boundaries of Kensington, the 16th thru 19th, and 31st Wards. The booklet showed Kensington’s population declining by 5,800 during the 1940’s.  All areas of Kensington lost population, with the exception of Ward 19-A, which gained 200.

Ward 19-A gained population due to the influx of African-Americans.  In all, the African-American population in Kensington grew by 850 during this decade, but overall the population of Kensington shrunk by 5,800.  On the surface it looked like what academics call “white flight,” the movement of ethnic whites out of the city due to African-Americans moving in.  However, when I examined all the census tracts for Kensington, I noticed some interesting misconceptions.

 Fishtown and Kensington were always known as “white” neighborhoods and this booklet shows no African-Americans living in the 18th Ward (Fishtown) or the 31st Ward (New Kensington) in 1940 or 1950. However, in the 1940’s, these wards suffered a heavy loss of white residents (18th Ward lost 1,100 and the 31st Ward 2,600). Since no minorities were moving in at that time, the idea that whites fled their neighborhoods when African-Americans moved in, doesn’t appear to hold true for Fishtown and New Kensington during the 1940’s.

One reason for this population loss was that the foreign-born population was moving out. The foreign-born in Kensington in 1950 was approximately 11,000, with the 18th Ward and 31st Wards having a combined 3,600. The difference between 1940 & 1950 in foreign-born population was the greatest in Ward 19-C, where there was a foreign-born population decrease by 60 to 80%.  Another area with a great decrease of foreign-born population was Ward 31-A. Here, the foreign born population was down between 40 to 60%.

Wards 19-C and 31-A were also the wards that showed the greatest loss in population (1000 & 1100 respectively) between 1940 to 1950, so it would appear that many of those first generation immigrants moved up and out of the Kensington mill districts, which Ward 19-C and 31-A would have included. Ward 19-C and Ward 31-A saw no increase of African-Americans between 1940 to 1950, so it would appear that the foreign born populations were moving out for economic or other reasons and not because of “white flight.”

As I read this booklet, I was reminded of a book review I read. The book was Kenneth Durr’s, Behind the Backlash: White Working-Class Politics in Baltimore, 1940-1980. The author doesn’t believe in the notion that the “white backlash of the 1960’s and 1970’s was driven by increasing race resentment,” but more by their mistrust of “postwar liberalism in the face of urban decline.”

Liberal academics usually looked at the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. Board of Education (which ordered the desegregation of public schools) as the beginnings of “white flight,” but locally, the statistics show that many whites were already leaving Fishtown and Kensington before that 1954 Supreme Court case and even before African-American began moving into the area.

 The “de-industrialization of the economy, recession, and the rise of urban crime” were “legitimate economic, social, and political grievances” that convinced working-class whites to leave their neighborhoods, or the city. In the case of Fishtown and Kensington during the 1940’s, the closing of Cramp Shipyard after the war (1945) put thousands out of work and the closing of the textile mills in the western areas of New Kensington (Ward 31-A), precipitated the movement of people out of that area as well.

Durr’s book shows how white working class residents of Baltimore were more threatened by the actions of liberal policy makers then by any incursions that urban blacks were making upon them. In my experiences as a life long resident of the area, I might say the same for native Kensingtonians, after all, the social policy makers and social engineers are rarely effected by the policies they develop, as they either do not live in the city, or have middle or upper class incomes to shield them.

One final point that Durr’s book makes is that the Democratic Party appears to have lost touch with white working class voters, which certainly seems true in our neighborhoods, where John Taylor is a Republican state rep in a Democratic neighborhood, and someone like Ann Dicker in a recent state rep primary, pulled more votes then the Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate (Terry Graboyes), who by the way finished last in a three horse race.

21 September 2006 The Rest is History

On Sunday September 24, Cardinal Justin Rigali will visit St. Michael's Church, at 2nd & Jefferson Streets, as part of the yearlong celebration of the 175th Anniversary of St. Michael's Parish and Church.

St. Michael’s is the oldest Catholic Church in Kensington or Fishtown. Irish Catholics founded the church, with many of them being newly arrived immigrants. They were hand weavers that came to work in the emerging textile mill district that would eventually dominate the Kensington area. Of the five Irish clusters in 19th Century Philadelphia, Kensington’s Irish were considered the most skilled. Places like Southwark, Moyamensing, Passyunk, and Spring Garden, all had large Irish immigrant concentrations, but in those areas many of the Irish were forced to work unskilled jobs, such as laborers, carters, and coal heavers.

Founded in April of 1831, St. Michael’s was born a good ten years before St. Peter’s, the next oldest Catholic Church in the Kensington area, which was founded in 1842. While technically not in Kensington, St. Peter’s, a German Catholic Church, sits on the western bank of the old Cohocksink Creek, the former border of the then self-governing districts of Kensington and Northern Liberties. Many members of this church lived in Kensington, including my own mother’s family, who lived in Kensington since the 1840’s, but went to Church at St. Peter’s because they were German, not Irish, or they would have went to St. Michael’s.

St. Anne’s, the third oldest church in the area, was not founded until July of 1845. St. Anne’s would be the last church built in Kensington until after the Civil War. After the war, Kensington saw St. Edward the Confessor being built in 1865, followed by St. Boniface (German -1866), Immaculate Conception (1869), Visitation, B.V.M. (1873), St. Laurentius (Polish - 1882), and finally Holy Name in 1905.

Not long ago I had the opportunity to do some research that was indirectly related to St. Michael’s Church. I was researching a house’s history that is located on the 400 block of Master Street and in the history of this property it turned out that the land was once owned by one of Kensington’s richest men, Hugh Clarke, the famous alderman who played such a big role in the Anti-Irish Catholic Riots of May of 1844, which resulted in the torching of St. Michael’s Church. Being one of the leaders of the Irish Catholics, Clark’s house was sacked and burnt during the riots as well, as was his brother Patrick, whose house adjoined his brother at 4th & Master Streets.

Clarke bought the property from Turner Camac, the husband of Sarah Masters, who was the daughter of William Masters, where we get today’s Master Street. Sarah and her sister Mary Masters, wife of Richard Penn, grandson of William Penn, inherited their father’s estate. The Masters Estate would have made up most of what is South Kensington today, including the land that St. Michael’s Church sits on. It was through Turner Camac that the church appears to have acquired the land to build St. Michael’s.

Much has been written about St. Michael’s history and for those not knowing it’s grand history, you can visit the church’s website (http://www.saintmichael.catholicweb.com/) to learn of the “Awful Riots” against the Irish-Catholics, the great train wreck of 1856, and the church’s connection to the Sisters of Charity, BVM, and the Sisters of St. Joseph. My own website also has information on the riots as well as links where you can read the actual contemporary reports in full of the riots (www.kennethwmilano.com).

The folks at St. Michael’s have been working hard all year to celebrate their Anniversary and in the process have formed a committee, which will be publishing a history of the church. The committee is made up of Father Herbert Sperger, Brother Joe Grabenstein (Archivist at LaSalle University), Gerry Burns, Kathleen Chorlton, Tom and Ray Lederer, and Marge McTear (all of whose families have been involved with St. Michael's for ages, some dating back to the beginnings in1831). If you have any personal St. Michael's stories to share with the committee, they would be very happy to hear from you. Pictures or other ephemeral items would also be of interest, they would be copied and returned to you.

The whole parish will hopefully turn out to join Cardinal Justin Rigali to celebrate a bi-lingual mass on Michaelmas, the 24th of September, to honor the patron saint of St. Michael’s and the church’s original dedication The event with Cardinal starts at 10:00 A.M. and later (12:30-3:30 PM) there is to be a "Philly Food Fest,” where there is a small cost of $5.00. Reservations are a must and can be made by calling Nina at (215) 739-2358.

28 September 2006 The Rest is History

In a book entitled, “Stranger’s Guide to Philadelphia,” published by a fellow named Paxton, in the year 1811, we get an idea of what Kensington looked like 195 years ago.

In 1811, Kensington contained 869 buildings, of which 52 of them were newly built. Of the 869 buildings, 664 or 76%, were frame (wood) and only 205 were brick. There were 615 dwelling houses, 184 brick and 431 frame, having 70% of Kensington’s inhabitants living in wooden homes.

The business sector held 1 brick storehouse and 8 frame ones. For manufacturing, there were 5 brick and 5 frame structures. There were only 4 public buildings, with 1 being brick and the other 3 being frame. Presumably one of the public buildings would have been the Kensington Methodist Episcopal Church, the only church built in the area at that time.

Stables and workshops made up a much larger part of the business sector. There were 231 stables and workshops, with 14 of these being brick and the rest (217) being frame, which means of the 869 buildings in Kensington, 27% were stables and workshops. Since stables and workshops were lumped together, and since owning a horse in those times was difficult, we can assume that most of the structures in this category were workshops, and that Kensington would thus show strong small business beginnings.

With 10 buildings being classified as manufacturing, some of them would have undoubtedly been the shipyards on the river run by the Bowers, Eyre, Grice, Vaughan, and Van Dusen families, as well as the glassworks at the north end of Kensington at about Dyott Street and the Delaware River, which had been established before the Revolution. The old Governor’s Mill at about today’s 3rd & Girard was taken over in 1809 by a group of men head by Seth Craig, the same year that Charles B. Park opened his brass foundry in Kensington.

At this time Kensington could boast of the Kensington Beneficial Society, headed by John Snyder, James Shellingsford, and George Schoch, along with the Vanderslices, Jacob and Henry, and Enos Searles.

Medical needs would have been taken care of by several local midwives and nurses. The county physician for the poor, George Uhler, came up to Kensington from the District of the Northern Liberties, to administer to folks; otherwise you would have had to go into town for a doctor or hospital. There were no physicians listed in Kensington, nor were there any dentists, layers out of the dead, lechers, or bleeders.

Looking at maps of the period and street directories, we find that Kensington at this time had about thirty something streets, alleys, and roads. The streets of Kensington were mainly those that were laid out in the triangle created by Frankford Road, Norris Street, and the Delaware River. West of this area and north of Girard Avenue, was not much settled yet, the area belonging for the most part to the large estates of the Masters and Norris families, and not yet totally broken up, sold off, or developed. There was Mud Lane (Columbia), which went from Frankford Road to Germantown Road, and Timber Lane (Master), which could have been taken west from Frankford Road. As well, there would have been some settlement along Germantown Road.

Beech Street ran along the coast of the Delaware River, from the bridge at the Cohocksink Creek (Poplar Street) to Gunnar’s Run (Aramingo Avenue & Dyott Street). The river bank was lined with no less then a couple of dozen wharves, which included about a half a dozen shipyards, along with associated business like mast makers and lumberyards. The shipyards ran from Poplar Street up to about Palmer Street, at which point the area along the river north of Palmer would have been inhabited by the fishermen, this area being the original Fishtown.

Compared to other outlying districts, Kensington was about 1/5 the size of Northern Liberties (4,280 buildings) and 1/3 the size of Southwark (2,739 buildings). Of course Northern Liberties and Southwark both laid adjacent to the old city proper and thus one could have expected them to grow larger prior to Kensington’s emergence.

When you look at the Justices of the Peace, the Constables, and the County Commissioners, for the Northern Liberties Township, there are not any recognizable Kensingtonians, except perhaps Samuel Grice. At this time period in Kensington’s history, it was still under the control of the Northern Liberties Township, which was dominated by men from the District of the Northern Liberties. This was one of the main reasons that Kensington petitioned the state to be self-governing and in 1820 Kensington became a self-governed district, which lasted until 1854, when the whole of Philadelphia County, was incorporated into the city of Philadelphia.

5 October 2006 The Rest is History

An item attributed to Edgar Allan Poe by Clarence S. Brigham in his Edgar Allan Poe's Contributions to Alexander's Weekly Messenger, states that Poe wrote about the Kensington Railroad Riots in that publication on March 18th, 1840. In an article entitled, The Rail Road War, Poe gives us his interpretation of this often-overlooked Kensington event:

“During the last ten days, or thereabouts, the sober inhabitants of the District of Kensington have been all alive with a delightful little war of their own--a nice rough-and-tumble affair--none of your bloodhound business, or Bugaboo and Kickapoo campaigns. The Philadelphia and Trenton Rail-road Company had received permission, it seems, from one of our judicial tribunals, to lay their rails in Front street, but could not obtain the consent of the property holders of the region. For some time past the work has been going on, however, with much grumbling and many threats on the part of the Front-streeters, but with no overt act of resistance. On Monday morning, about ten o'clock, matters took the first serious turn. Quite a mob--men, women, and children--surrounded the laborers at the rails; replacing the paving-stones which had been displaced, and otherwise interrupting the work. The sheriff was sent for, arrived about 12, with his possee, and arrested Henry Rowan, John Craydon, and Francis Farley….The arrest of these persons intimidated the crowd for a time, but in the afternoon the riot again commenced. About 4 o'clock Hugh Lemon was arrested, taken before the Mayor, and bound over in the sum of $300.

On Tuesday and Wednesday the excitement still continued, and a great number of the gentle engaged in the melee. On Thursday the disorders increased. Mr. Naglee was violently assaulted with paving stones discharged from the fair hands of the damsels of Kensington, who also led away in triumph a wagon containing iron rails for the road, the laborers being fairly driven off the ground. Many arrests were made, but with no good effect. In the afternoon the Sheriff and his whole posse were routed, and the rioters, having beaten them off, proceeded to tear up that portion of the road which was the nearest to completion; disengaging not only the rails but the wooden frames, and filling up the excavations with dirt and stones. In the meantime placards were posted up calling upon the people to "put down the rail-road nuisance," and addressed especially to the firemen, draymen and carters-- who were invited to attend a meeting on Thursday evening, in the Commissioners Hall, Kensington. The meeting was accordingly held, and served, as a matter of course, to inflame the wrath of the mob, who adjourned to the scene of action, and set fire to the timber intended for the road. The Judges of the Court of Quarter Sessions now issued a general warrant, authorizing the Sheriff to command the service of every able-bodied citizen to aid in quelling the disturbances. This officer issued notices accordingly, and gave directions to the whole police force, as well as to all the watchmen, to meet at his office on Friday. But before the time appointed, the Rail-road Company had agreed to discontinue the laying of the rails until the decision of the Supreme Court could be obtained….An announcement of the Company's submission was duly made by the Sheriff to the mob, who first raised an uproarious shout of triumph, and then dispersed in high glee. Thus ended the great rail-road war.”

While Poe tells us the “great rail-road war” ended, in fact it dragged out until June of 1842, and there were outbursts at least “four different times between 2 March 1840 and 3 February 1841.” 

The residents along Front Street, between Girard & Montgomery, didn’t want a railroad down their street. The ashes and sparks of the railroad created a hazardous environment to wooden homes and stores, not to mention the danger to the neighborhood children. There was also the disruption of cross street traffic to the local drayman and carters. Every time the railroad’s workmen showed up they were driven off. Even Emery’s Tavern at Front & Phoenix (Thompson), the sheriff’s posse’s headquarters, was torched and burnt down. The building of the railroad became a struggle between “Popular Rights” and “Monopoly Capitalism,” and this time popular rights won out. The railroad gave up and the state legislature gave in, the railroad was not built. Ironically enough, eighty years later the EL was built down Front street.

12 October 2006 The Rest is History

Many long time Fishtowners remember the old Marlborough Inn, at Marlborough & Girard. Then in late 1990’s a fellow took over the historic structure and renamed it the Green Tree Tavern, which harkened back its original name. The building first emerged as the Green Tree Inn when it was under the ownership of Anthony Miskey in 1818.

Between 1818-1822, John Deveney, a shipwright, is listed at the "Green Tree Inn," at the corner of Prince (Girard) and Marlborough. Other shipwrights at this time were also listed as living at Prince and Marlborough, which means they could have been living at the inn, or nearby, it’s unclear. By 1823, after 5 years of  being listed at the inn, Deveney disappears from the records, as does the Green Tree. He could have been running the inn for Miskey.

In 1828, Frederick Peiffer, appears in the records as located at Prince & Marlborough.  Probably, after Deveney left, Miskey got together with Peiffer, who lived near him in the Northern Liberties. Peiffer was listed at the Inn until Miskey died in the mid 1830's.

In August of 1838, Miskey’s estate sold the property to Benjamin Singerly, printer, of the Northern Liberties, for $5,350.00. Obviously, the property had been some what improved by Miskey, as well as the fact that land values in Kensington were increasing.

Benjamin Singerly was the son of George Singerly who ran a tavern in the Northern Liberties and continued to run the tavern until 1837, the year before his son Benjamin buys the Green Tree property.

In July of 1843, Benjamin Singerly rented three parcels of his property to his brother, Joseph. Joseph was living at Crown (Creese) and Prince since 1841. The block between Marlborough and Crease seems to have been broken up into three lots. The one on the corner of Marlborough & Franklin where the Inn was, (the name Franklin replaced Prince around 1843, later to be replaced by Girard), the corner lot of Crown and Prince where Joseph Singerly was living, and the lot in between. Benjamin Singerly rented the Inn to his brother Joseph with the agreement that Joseph would pay all taxes and rents, plus that he would construct a substantial brick structure within a year's time, to secure the rent. It is guessed that the current building of the Green Tree Tavern was erected at this time (1843-1844), according to the deed agreement between the Singerly brothers.

Joseph Singerly continued to live at Crown and Franklin until 1855. By 1853, he began to list himself as an architect and builder.  By 1856 the Singerly's moved out of Kensington completely, but still held onto some properties, including the Green Tree Inn.   At the time of Joseph Singerly's death in 1878, he left an estate worth $1.2 million dollars, from investments in railroads and home construction, which was increased tremendously by his son William, who became the largest home contractor in the city, as well as owner of the Philadelphia Public Record newspaper.

During the ownership of the Green Tree by Joseph Singerly, Conrad V. Naumann, was one of the operators of the Green Tree Inn. Starting in 1849, which was probably just after Singerly built the new property, Naumann began to serve up his lager under the name of "Franklin Hall." The name of "Franklin Hall, " undoubtedly comes from the then recently renamed Prince (Girard) Street. By 1860, Naumann was advertising as a Hotel & Tavern. Naumann ran the tavern from 1849 to 1864.

Soon after Naumann gave up Franklin Hall, one Philip M. Mann took over the place. It isn't sure just yet if Mann gave it a new name, but he did run the place from 1867 to at least 1872. At this point the Green Tree history disappears and doesn't resurface until the estate of Joseph Singerly sells the property in 1898.

On March 28th, 1898, Thomas J. Sullivan, bought from Joseph Singerly's estate, and the inn would go through several more owners before coming into the hand of Sidney Mankind. Sidney and his cousin Aaron Vigderman bought the place on April 12th, 1946. They ran the place together until Sidney and his wife Adele, bought out their cousin on March 24th 1952. The Mankind's seemed to be the owners who named it the Marlborough Inn. Records of 1953 have it listed as the Marlborough Inn, under "Hotels," in the Philadelphia phone books. The Mankind's ran the place until Sidney died and his wife Adele sold it to the fellow who renamed in the Green Tree Tavern in the late 1990’s, after which the place ceased to operate.

19 October 2006 The Rest is History

Whenever we read about the history of Fishtown and Kensington we often come across the histories of some of the better-known long-standing institutions in the community. These institutions were started long before anyone living was around. Places like the Kensington Soup Society on Crease Street was established in 1844 to “distribute soup and bread to the deserving poor.”  Penn Home, formally the Penn Asylum for Indigent Widows and Single Women, was established soon after the Kensington Soup Society and like the Soup Society, is also still in business helping to make the transition to senior living a lot better for neighborhood folks.

An institution where yours truly once worked, the Lutheran Settlement House, also dates itself from over a century ago and still helps to support our neighborhoods with programming for senior citizens, immigrants, women, and working families.

Besides the three old timers, there were many other social service organizations in the neighborhood in previous years In a book titled, A Directory of the Charitable, Social Improvement, Educational and Religious Associations and Churches of Philadelphia, which was prepared by the Civic Club, in the year 1903, there were over seven hundred and fifty pages of organizations that one could turn to in Philadelphia. In those times, before the rise of the Welfare State and dependency on Uncle Sam, churches and private took care of the needs of folks.

Places like the Kensington Church of Disciples of Christ - Elhanan Institute, the Kensington Day Nursery, the Kensington Hospital for Women - Dispensary & Training School for Nurses, the Kensington Women’s and Girl’s Socials, the Kensington Branch of the Women’s Christian Association, and the Kensington Branch of the Y.M.C.A., were only a few of the many organizations that appeared for our neighborhoods.

The Kensington Church of the Disciples of Church (Front & Gurney) ran the Elhanan Institute at A and Selzer Streets. The school opened in 1896 and was a place for young working adults to get an education. They offered a number of courses: elementary, literature, musical instruments, sewing, office coursework, and the sciences. Office work classes and academics were $1.00 per month, with music courses $5.00 a month. The school could accommodate six hundred pupils.

The Kensington Day Nursery was established in 1880 at 2121-2123 E. Dauphin Street. They helped children under eight years old who had no support from their fathers. The fee was $0.05 and they averaged twenty-two children at their facility.

The Kensington Hospital for Women was a place I reported previously on, and besides its specialized practice of treating women’s medicine; it also had a dispensary and a nursing school at their facility on Norris Square.

The Girls’ Friendship Social, or Kensington Women’s and Girls’ Socials, was located at 152 W. Lehigh. Their activities included Mothers’ Meetings, physical culture, singing and cooking classes, as well as kitchen garden classes. There were also  “social evenings.” 

The Kensington Branch of the Women’s Christian Association of Philadelphia was at 2423 Frankford Avenue. They had evening classes in arithmetic, German, dressmaking, millinery and bookkeeping. The cost was $1.00 for 12 lessons. A guild met “fortnightly for study and sociability.”  They also had a library of 369 books.

The biggest asset in the area was the Kensington Branch of the Y.M.C.A., which was established in 1885 and located at 1854-58 Frankford Avenue, just below Norris Street. One of the main features was a branch of the Free Library, located within it, housing the library and reading room, featuring 18,000 volumes of books.

The Kensington Y.M.C.A. also had a game room, a gymnasium, swimming pool, athletic park, roof garden, and in the summer months, trips were taken to the “summer outing place,” at “Dwight Farms, on the Penn. R. R., 32 miles from Philadelphia,” where you could camp and play sports.

The Kensington W.M.C.A. also offered a common school and commercial classes, as well as classes in German art, mechanical drafting and textile designing.

Their Lyceum met twice a month with talks, debates, lectures, and entertainment by their orchestra. As was usual in those days, the Kensington Y.W.C.A. also had religious meetings and bible classes.

The building appears to have been open daily from at least 9 AM to 10 PM. In 1903 they had 849 members. The cost was $5.00 for the year for adults, $3.00 for kids under sixteen, but the kids had to be out of the building by 6 P.M. The memberships included baths as well.

Looking through this directory of charities and philanthropic institutions, it is hard to imagine how the work got done without the deep pockets of Uncle Sam, but it did. When there was a need an individual, a church, or an institution stepped forward and helped.

26 Oct 2006 The Rest is History

In late 19th Century Philadelphia, over the course of three decades (1866-1896), a civil engineer and surveyor by the name of Ernest Hexamer, published a massive work of real estate surveys, which eventually numbered twenty-nine elephant folio volumes. The volumes were mainly on Philadelphia industrial and manufacturing establishments and are filled with over 2,500 hand colored plates that give much detail, description, and even images of the businesses.

The Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network (GPGN), courtesy of the Philadelphia Free Library, has made these surveys available to view online.  From their website (http://www.philageohistory.org), it states that GPGN “is a pilot project of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) to develop a web-based repository of geographically organized historical information about Philadelphia, its geography, its buildings, and its people.”

While GPGN is still in the progress of building their website, these Hexamer surveys are available to view online. At present, the GPGN website does not have the surveys indexed by neighborhood, so I created an index for Fishtown & Kensington are industries, for folks that are interested. GPGN does have a search engine for neighborhoods, but a search of Kensington reveals only one hit and a search for Fishtown reveals zero.

By reading through the indexes of the surveys, I have found there to be about 470 surveys for our neighborhoods’ business history. As well, those businesses in the Northern Liberties that were on the banks of the old Cohocksink Creek, and several in Port Richmond, that sat on the old Aramingo Canal, were also included. By visiting my website (www.kennethwmilano.com) and clicking on the link for the Encyclopaedia of Kensington, you can scroll down the table of contents to the business history section, where you will see a link to the Hexamer Surveys of Kensington.

The details of the surveys are about what one would expect an insurance company might be interested in, so there is information on the types of material the buildings is constructed of, the dimensions of the structure, what is produced, what materials are used, what safety features do they have, how many workers are employed, where it is located, who the owners and managers are, when it was built, etc.

In most cases, besides the architectural drawings of the floor plans of the business, it will also give you a “bird’s eye-view” of the structure, and in many cases this might be the only image available of that particular structure.

These surveys are very helpful when you view the ones on a particular business where there were several surveys of that business, as it shows the expansion of the business, newer buildings being built, more workers being hired, etc.

For example, you can view the old William Cramp’s Shipyard. There are at least eight surveys that were conducted between the years 1874 and 1893 that show the old yard at the foot of Norris Street, expanding during Cramp’s heyday. As well, there is a survey of the iron works of  I. P. Morris & Co., on Richmond & York, a local business that the Cramps took over, to support their shipbuilding efforts.

The Stetson Hat factory, at 4th & Montgomery, and probably one of the most famous of Kensington’s businesses, has seven surveys done during the years 1877 to 1892, with most showing pictorial images of the hat complex that “won the west.”

Are you interested in what businesses use to line the Delaware waterfront, Beach Street, or Delaware Avenue? No problem, they are all listed in the index and have images that you can view. As well, all the old textile mills of South Kensington and the western parts of New Kensington, and the 19th Ward, are listed, many with images of the factories, which show how great the manufacturing base use to be in Kensington. The list goes on and on, I have picked out over 450 surveys that pertain in one way or the other with Kensington, or Fishtown businesses.

Also of interest are all the old businesses that use to line the old Cohocksink Creek, the historical border of Kensington & the Northern Liberties, which gives one an idea of what sort of waste use to be deposited in the old creek. A number of the businesses that lined Aramingo Avenue are listed as well; some of them back when Aramingo was still a canal. These are of interest as the bird’s eye-views show some of the old canal embankments and wharves.

If you’re not an Internet person, the originals can be viewed at the map room of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The work is by Ernest Hexamer and titled,  “Hexamer General Surveys, 1866-1896.”