3 July 2008 The Rest is History
The History of the Kensington Riots - Part 5 of 8
After the first day (May 6,1844) of the Kensington Riots ended, there was an alarming excitement throughout Philadelphia. The following day, Tuesday May 7th, the Nativist American Party held an immense meeting at the State House Yard at 3 P.M.
The meeting consisted of the usual rants against immigrants and fears of their participations in elections. Many of the speakers requested calm and non-violence. At the end of the meeting there was a call to adjourn until Thursday, however a cry went out, “Adjourn to Second and Master Streets now,” “Let us go up into Kensington.” The “noes” were given in thunderous applause to adjoining to Thursday and a motion was cheered to adjourn to Kensington. The audience, turning into a raging mob of several thousand proceeded to march in procession to Kensington and the second day of the Kensington Riots was about to begin.
At about the dinner hour, the mob headed straight for the Nanny Goat Market House at American Street north of Master. Almost immediately shots rang out from several of the houses opposite the market on Cadwallader Street. One man fell dead and several were wounded. While the Nativists were scurrying for cover from the first volley of shot, a second volley of gunshots came from the Cadwallader Street house and a number more fell dead or were wounded..
Those that were killed instantly were: J. Wesley Rhinedollar, of Front & Green Streets, who was shot in the back right shoulder, passing out his left side of his chest; George Young, of South Street, shot in his chest passing out his back near the shoulder blade; Matthew Hammit, of Allen & Crease Streets, died instantly from a shot in the ear; Lewis Greble, of 5th & Christian, died instantly from a bullet entering his right temple and passing out the crown of his head, literally blowing his brains out.
Several others were killed during the ensuing rioting that night. Too many others were wounded to name. Early in the fight, Peter Albright, ex-constable of the Northern Liberties, was wounded in the hand. He left the spot, holding up his bleeding hand and calling on his friends to rally with him, returned to the ground with twenty or thirty, armed with muskets and rifles. These he organized and posted near the market, where they fought for more than an hour, until after 7 P.M.
The Nativists were exposed and put up a good fight, but every time the Irish let loose a large discharge from the houses on Cadwallader Street, their ranks were felled greatly. Several Nativists were able to make their way to the corner house at Master and Cadwallader Streets and fired it. The fire spread to the adjoining houses and the Irish-Catholics were forced to flee. As the Irish came out into the open the Nativists shot them down. About 10 to 12 houses were on fire and upwards to seven or eight Irish-Catholics, who stayed in the houses for fear of being shot, were burned alive.
John Taggert, an Irishmen, was apprehended during the rioting for shooting and killing Rhinedoller and about to shot again when caught. While under arrest and being transported to prison, the mob interceded and attacked Taggert. He was beaten over the head with a paving stone, a rope placed around his neck and dragged through the streets looking for an appropriate place to hang him. When the police were finally able to retrieve Taggert, he laid motionless, but somehow managed to survive to stand trial.
The county Sheriff, meeting with the National Guard, thought that it would be futile to invoke a civil posse as the rioters were “well armed and desperate” and could “only be overawed by an imposing and active military force.” The National Guard under General Cadwallader was called out and arrived at 9 P.M., taking positions along Master, American, and Cadwallader Streets, and Germantown Avenue. The Irish took several shots at the military, but then they fled when cannons were stationed at every position
The presence of the military resulted in the rioting almost entirely stopping. The military’s arrival also allowed the firemen to come in at about 10 P.M. to commence putting out the fires. The fires were unchecked for several hours and when the firemen arrived some twenty to thirty buildings were now consumed along Cadwallader Street, north and west of the market house, while the 260 foot long market house and the Hibernia Fire Hose Company were nothing but ashes.
General Cadwallader took possession of St. Michael Church to insure it wouldn’t be fired, stationing guards at different positions. By 1:30 A.M., the second day of the Kensington Riots had come to an end.
10 July 2008 The Rest is History
The History of the Kensington Riots - Part 6 of 8
At the close of the second day of the Anti-Irish Catholic Riots in Kensington (Tuesday, May 7th, 1844), the evening ended with General Thomas Cadwallader positioning Captain Tustin’s National Guard and Captain Hubbell’s Jackson Artillerists at the intersections of Master Street with American Street and with Master Street at Germantown Avenue.
The Guard and artillery groups were also placed at Master and Cadwallader Street, as it was here that many of the buildings had been fired. What was left of the Irish-Catholics’ personal possessions were still in their burned homes.
Tuesday’s rioting had 30 to 60 armed Nativists who dared to enter into the bloody arena of American & Master Streets. The rest, numbering from 5 to 8 thousand, blocked up every avenue and street leading to the market house. As soon as the armed men appeared in front of the Irish houses along Cadwallader Street, volley after volley was fired into them. The fire was returned, but with little effect, as the Irish-Catholics were for the most part sheltered. This battle lasted nearly an hour, during which upwards to 20 Nativists were shot, near half that number killed. Several of the Irish were wounded, but it is not known how many, as they did not seek help for their wounds with the local authorities.
The Nativists eventually burnt down some twenty to thirty buildings along Cadwallader and Master Streets, including the Hibernia Hose Company and the 260 foot long Nanny Goat Market that ran along the middle of American Street north of Master. A person who lived in the center of the riot area stated that 7 or 8 Irish-Catholics perished in the fires, afraid to leave the houses for fear of being shot by the Nativists, who waited on the Irish to come out of the houses after they lit them on fire.
At 8 o’clock on Wednesday morning (May 8th, 1844), Captain Small and the Monroe Guards arrived to relieve the Jackson Artillerists and the National Guard. Along with the Monroe Guards, Captain White’s Philadelphia Cadets were now sent to Kensington to keep the peace in the streets.
When daylight had arrived, large numbers of people came to see the devastation of the night before. Some in the crowd came to loot and hunt for any Irish homes that still had guns. Some guns were found and confiscated and the military moved in to protect the property of the vacated Irish-Catholics. One particular Irish-Catholic that was arrested had the police who were escorting him to jail overrun by a mob that almost killed him. Cries rung out in the crowd “Hang him, hang him!” However, the police were able to make it to the lock up were the accused was detained.
During and after the rioting large numbers of Irish-Catholics could be seen removing their possessions and moving from their homes near the scene of the rioting. At 2 o’clock in the morning on Wednesday, a large Nativist mob went to 9th & Popular Street where a great number of Irish had taken refuge. The houses were set on fire, the Irish driven out. Eventually many wound up camping in Camac’s Woods located west of Kensington.
Some military guards could be seen posted around the body of Joseph Rice, an Irish-Catholic, whose body laid in the yard of his house on Cadwallader Street. Some stated he was not involved in the riots. He was shot dead when peering over the fence of his yard and laid there the whole night, with his wife and two children mourning by his side.
A. R. Hortter’s drug store at Edward Street and Germantown Avenue was used Tuesday night as a sort of medical clinic to care and dress the wounded of the riots. A number of others were also taken to a drug store owned by a Mr. Bower at Germantown Avenue and Third Street, and still others were taken to the residence of Dr. A. E. Griffiths, on 2nd Street, below Thompson Street, where they were attended to by Drs. Bethel, Duffield, and Griffiths.
The first two days rioting saw the Irish-Catholics with the upper hand, shooting from the cover and safety of their homes. However, all that changed once the Nativists started to fire the houses forcing the Irish out into the streets. Vastly outnumbered, the Irish had to retreat.
On the third day, Wednesday, May 8th, 1844, the Nativist mobs returned, determined to finish what they originally set out to do, to burn down St. Michael’s Church and rid Kensington of its only Catholic Church. Next week we will take a look at the last day of the Kensington Riots.
17 July 2008 The Rest is History
The History of the Kensington Riots - Part 7 of 8
Last week’s column left us at the beginning of the third day (May 8, 1844) of the Kensington Riots. South Kensington was being patrolled by the military and by 8 A.M., people had already started to gather to see the ruins from the previous day. Twenty to thirty homes along Cadwallader Street above Master and on the north side of Master Street west of Cadwallader were still smoldering. The Hibernia Hose Company and the Nanny Goat Market, all 260 feet of it, were nothing but heaps of ashes.
At around 11 A.M, groups of boys who had been active in pulling down the walls and chimneys of the burned buildings, were joined by young men near the homes where some of Irish had shot from the previous day. Soon the back of a row house fronting the burned market on American Street took fire and the Irish Catholics who lived there had to flee. The fire alarm went out and a hose company came to extinguish the fire, but needed the security of the military to protect them.
Other men searched a nearby house for hidden firearms. They were cleared out by the military, but twenty minutes later the home went up in flames. The fire spread to five frame houses that were attached to it and they were all lost.
By 12 Noon the crowds, Nativists and their supporters, had begun to grow and become unruly. With the protection of the military, many of the Irish-Catholic tenants of the homes along Cadwallader Street, Master Street, American Street, and the various courts and alleys coming off of these streets, were busy packing their belongings and fleeing the neighborhood. As they moved out of their homes, the houses were soon fired by the mob and in minutes a whole row of frame houses were in flames, as well as several three story brick buildings at Jefferson & American.
The military appeared helpless as Nativists went from alley to alley firing any Irish-Catholics houses they came upon.
Earlier in the day, at about 10 A.M., Father Donahue had given the keys to St. Michael’s Church to Captain Jonas P. Fairlamb of the Wayne Artillery Corps, who examined the church, found no arms, and locked the place up for safety and stationed a patrol to guard the church. However, at 2:30 in the afternoon St. Michael’s Catholic Church on 2nd Street above Master Street was fired, as was the priest’s dwelling house, which sat north of the church. Another frame house, on the south side of the church was also fired. Apparently, a diversion, the firing of houses at Jefferson & American Streets, took the military patrol that was guarding the church to that location and while absent; St. Michael’s was fired.
Father Donahue, with military escort, was led to safety and spirited away, but not without much trouble from the mob. Several fire companies arrived and did their best under the circumstances, but with so many fires happening at the same time, only a few of the smaller dwellings were saved.
While the church was ablaze, an infant was being buried in its graveyard. With Father Donahue having fled the mob, the only ceremony for the child’s burial was the prayers of the parents, drowned out by the crackling timbers of the fired church
During the burning of St. Michael’s Church, when the cross at the peak of the roof fell, the mob “gave three cheers and a drum and fife played the Boyne water,” a reference to a tune commemorating a Protestant victory in Ireland at the Battle of the Boyne, were Irish-Catholics were defeated in the year 1690.
At about 4 P.M., the female seminary (Thompson & 2nd Street) associated with St. Michael Church, was fired and soon burnt to the ground
Fresh military troops arrived and marched into Kensington along Girard Avenue and Jefferson Streets and up 2nd Street. The mobs at first thought to challenge the Guard, but the artillery of the National Guard was enough to change their minds.
As the mobs began to filter out of Kensington they continued to fire buildings along the way. Once such building was the home of Councilman Hugh Clark, a leader of the Irish-Catholic community. His house at 4th & Master Streets was destroyed, the mob ransacking the home, cutting open the beds, scattering his papers, breaking out his windows and destroying his furniture. His brother Patrick, whose dwelling and tavern was next door on the corner, had his property meet the same fate.
So ended the third and final day of rioting in Kensington. Next week we will wind up the history of the Kensington Riots and recount the casualties and damages that were done.
24 July 2008 The Rest is History
The History of the Kensington Riots - Part 8 of 8
Over the course of the past two months I have tried to provide details of the Kensington Riots, an event which is probably the most cited in all of Kensington’s history. I have not dealt at all with the ensuing riots that were continued in July of 1844 by the Nativists, those riots took place in Center City and Southwark and while overall important to the story, where outside the Kensington neighborhood.
In reading through the literature of the Kensington Riots, authors have always focused on the main seven people that were killed. These seven men killed were George Shiffler, William Wright, Charles Stillwell, Wesley Rhinedollar, Matthew Hammitt, Rice, and Lewis Greble. These seven are held up as the martyrs for the Nativist cause, their names emblazoned on flags and monuments. However, the record actually shows that the three days (May 6-8, 1844) of rioting in Kensington resulted in at least 14 killed and 39 wounded, but probably more.
The figures are low estimates, as Philadelphia officials and newspapers at that time were not keeping track of Irish-Catholics who were killed or wounded. There was reported to be at least 7 to 8 Irish-Catholics who died in the fires. This would bring the killed up to at least 21 or 22. Days after the riots ended authorities were still pulling bodies from the burned Irish-Catholic homes.
Many of the wounded Irish did not seek help from the authorities or local hospitals, so it is impossible to determine the amount of casualties they actually suffered, but the 39 reported wounded would appear to be not counting the Irish.
The arena of the Kensington Riot was the triangle that stretches from 2nd Street west to Germantown Avenue, and from Girard Avenue north to slightly above Jefferson Street, involving perhaps a full seven blocks of South Kensington. This area was St. Michael’s Parish, the heart of Irish Kensington in the 19th Century.
The destruction of property during the Kensington Riots is fairly well documented. The loss of property was considered in the tens of millions of 19th Century dollars. In today’s dollars it would be astronomical.
St. Michael’s Church, 2nd & Jefferson Streets, was destroyed, as well as buildings associated with it. Father Donahue’s residence next to the church and a house on the south side of the church were destroyed. The Nunnery located at 2nd & Thompson Streets was burnt to the ground.
Other public buildings associated with Kensington’s Irish-Catholics were burnt down like the Hibernia Hose Company, on the east side of Cadwallader Street above Master, and the 260 foot long Nanny Goat Market that sat in the middle of American Street north of Master Street. The market was the home to Irish life and culture in early Kensington.
Three Irish grocery stores were looted and destroyed; Corr’s Temperance Grocery Store at 2nd & Thompson Sts, Patrick Murrays at Jefferson & Germantown, and John McAleer’s, at 2nd & Master Streets.
As well, many Irish-Catholic homes were burnt to the ground. Estimates range from 50 to 70 homes putting it on the scale of the infamous MOVE fire on Osage Avenue, carried out by former Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode. The fired Irish-Catholic homes were located along the north side of Master Street between Germantown Avenue and Cadwallader Street, the west side of Cadwallader Street, between Master and Jefferson Streets, and along the east side of American between Master and Jefferson Streets. An entire row of frame houses on Harmony Court, which sat off of the east side of Cadwallader, above Master, was destroyed, as well as Alderman Hugh Clark and his brother’s homes at the corner of 4th & Master Streets.
The active participants in the rioting is slightly difficult to estimate. Reports estimated that about 30 to 60 hardcore Nativist rioters were armed and involved in the actual firearms aspects of the riots. Several thousand other Nativists and their supporters acted as onlookers, rock throwers, house burners, rabble-rousers, and in general as “the mob.”
The numbers of armed Irish Catholics that were actually involved in the hardcore rioting were probably of a comparable number as that of the Nativists, perhaps 30 to 60 who actually took up arms to defend their neighborhood against the invading Nativist mob. Many other Irish-Catholics simply become involved because their homes were being attacked or used for cover by fellow Irishmen.
The Kensington Riots was an important event in Philadelphia’s history as they helped to lead to the formation of the parochial school system and to the consolidation of Philadelphia County into the city in 1854. My website: www.kennethwmilano.com offers more reading and illustrations on the Kensington Riots.
31 July 2008 The Rest is History
In a previous column I wrote about Shackamaxon Square, a small park that sat at the foot of Frankford & Delaware Avenues in the 19th Century. Bordering that park on the north side was Manderson Street, which actually still exists, a small sliver of a street that you use when you turn right onto Frankford if your heading south on Delaware. Recently a client had me research their family in Kensington, the name of the family? Manderson!
Andrew Manderson was born about 1767 and immigrated to America from County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He first appears in the Northern Liberties in 1795, when he purchases a property on 3rd Street, between Green and Brown Streets. He continued adding property to his portfolio before finally purchasing a property on the east side of 2nd Street in 1804 where he kept a store for at least twenty years. The Philadelphia City Directories from 1799 to 1819 show Manderson as a storekeeper, first at 412 N. 2nd Street, then at 455 N. 2nd Street. In those days, the addressing system was different then today and the 400 block of N. 2nd Street would have started at Fairmount Avenue.
Manderson was shown to be active in a lottery to raise monies for the 4th Presbyterian Church, at 3rd & Lombard, later 5th & Gaskill Streets. By 1810, Andrew Manderson, besides his general store and real estate, was also was involved in banking, as one of the commissioners of the Bank of Northern Liberties.
While Manderson was busily building his fortune through shop keeping, banking, and real estate, there appears two other Mandersons in the records. John and James Manderson, presumed relicts to Andrew, whom preceded Andrew to Kensington. These two men were located in Kensington as early as 1813 (James) and 1817 (John).
According to the 1820 Census, John Manderson would have been born between the years 1775-1794, possibly a younger brother to Andrew. The Philadelphia City Directory of 1817 lists John Manderson as a teacher, at 445 N. 2nd Street, the home of Andrew Manderson, so it is possible that John came to America after Andrew established himself, lived with him at first, then moved out on his own.
James Manderson in 1820 was found near to John Manderson, at Point Pleasant, on the SugarHouse site. The 1817 Philadelphia City Directory lists him at 11 Hall Street, which would later become Beach Street, still later Delaware Avenue. James Manderson, born between 1775-1794, was a grocer. The 1810 Census shows James Manderson had moved to Point Pleasant from Walnut Ward, Philadelphia. In 1810 the Philadelphia City Directories listed him as a baker, at Goforth ally, but by 1813, he was in business as a grocer at Point Pleasant.
Andrew remained in the Northern Liberties’ 5th Ward until he moved to Point Pleasant, Kensington (the SugarHouse site) sometime just after the 1820 Census, as the 1820 Census still has him located in the Northern Liberties, but the 1830 Census has him located at Point Pleasant. He had previously purchased from the Masters’ Estate in 1809 a 55’ by 94’ lot, on the east side of Beach Street, about 91’ above Maiden (Laurel) Street.
Andrew Manderson continued to build his real estate holdings in Kensington, purchasing other properties from the Masters’ Estate on the north side of Hall Street, almost opposite the Beach Street lot, two lots on the west side of Frankford Avenue with a combined 200 foot frontage, and the southern lot that bordered his Beach Street lot.
In the late 1820s, Manderson went into the lumber business. In 1828 he bought from the Brusstar family their 176’ riverfront lot and wharf that sat above Shackamaxon Street, then in 1829 he bought from mastmaker Andrew Donaldson, his 46’ waterfront lot that sat on the northern border of the lot he previously purchased from the Brusstars. These purchases gave Manderson 222’ of riverfront frontage with wharves for his lumber business.
Andrew Manderson died on 28 January 1848, however before his death he transferred the lumberyard and wharves on the riverfront to his sons Andrew (1806-1892) and James (1812-1886) who continued on in the business. The Point Pleasant property became the office for this enterprise. In 1852, the Manderson family purchased the greater part of Petty Island. The family was a major business family in Kensington for almost the whole of the 19th Century. The last of this family with the Manderson surname moved out of the neighborhood in the 1910s.
Manderson Street, perhaps no more then 10 yards long at the northwest corner of Frankford & Delaware Avenues, is the last remnant of one of Kensington’s more industrious families.
7 August 2008 The Rest is History
Those who are aware of the history of Penn Treaty Park know that it was the site of Penn’s Treaty with the Indians, a treaty of amity and friendship, one “never written and never broken.” This area of Philadelphia, then known as Shackamaxon, had been settled before Penn came to Pennsylvania. Thomas Fairman, who arrived in the 1670s was already living at Shackamaxon when Penn came into his colony. Fairman became the Deputy Surveyor for Penn and the early officers of Penn’s colony used Fairman’s house as the working headquarters of the colony until Philadelphia itself was built.
Fairman, presumably lived in an earlier constructed house, perhaps a log house built by the Swedes who were here before even he came. Fairman built his brick mansion house about the year 1702. This brick mansion was the same mansion house that Anthony Palmer purchased in 1729 with the surrounding 191-½ acres of ground and built his town of Kensington around.
Benjamin West’ famous painting of Penn’s Treaty shows Fairman’s Mansion in the background, although there was some liberties taken by West in his painting. There have been various books published, prints made, and other paintings painted that show images of the Fairman Mansion, but not until recently did I come across an actual eyewitness description of Fairman’s Mansion, an eyewitness who was born in the house in 1805 and grew up in the house until he was a young man. That person is Washington Vandusen, whose father, the shipbuilder Matthew Vandusen (1759-1812), purchased the Fairman Mansion in 1795. The Vandusen family owned the Fairman Mansion and the Treaty Tree grounds during the time when the Treaty Tree fell in 1810, when the mansion house was demolished to bring Beach Street through in 1825, and up until about the time when Penn Treaty Park was finally created in 1893.
Washington Vandusen, in an interview in 1868, tells us that the house was one of the “most pleasant dwellings he ever was in.” He goes on to give us a vivid description of the house:
"It stood immediately facing the Delaware, its lower or western front parlor window looking almost in a straight line, at right-angle to the river road, towards the Treaty Tree. The house was about fifty feet in depth, there being only a foot or two between its rear and the present building line of Beach Street. Its length, with the river and along the road, was about one hundred feet, made up thus 18 to 20 feet in a division on the extreme east, (wherein dwelt, in Mr. Vandusen's time, Michael Lynn (the shipsmith) and family, and where were born Lynn's sons, Robert and John, and where afterwards Griffith Vaughan dwelt), about 30 feet in the front parlor, about 18 feet in the great hall through from front to rear, about 15 feet in the piazza, partly open and partly closed, and about 18 to 20 feet in the kitchen, at the extreme western side of the house. The front parlor occupied half the depth of the mansion from Lynn's portion to the hall, going from the eastward; the back parlor and the stairway took up the remainder. This stairway was large enough for four persons to ascend it abreast. The second story was arranged in a similarly commodious style. There was a vaulted and paved cellar under the entire body of the house, except beneath the part allotted to Michael Lynn, which was all taken up with four large and fine ovens communicating with the cellar; he thinks no cellar under the kitchen. The lower story of the porch at the western end was open, front and sides; the projection at the eastern end, corresponding architecturally with the porch, was on the ground floor, a pantry communicating with the front parlor. The house was well situated on gently rising ground, and took any light breeze in such a manner as to be splendidly ventilated in summer….It was two stories and a half high. The porch and pantry projected about eight or nine feet from the front, and the front garden fence about seven feet further. Then there was a sharp little declivity to the river road. The road itself about 30 feet wide. On the opposite, or river side of the road stood the Treaty Tree, about five feet from the beaten track. This would place the Elm 50 to 55 feet from the mansion (60 feet from Eyre's line, northeast of the tree).”
There then, in this description, we get a vivid picture of Fairman’s Mansion and the exact location of the Treaty Tree (the Treaty Tree did not stand where the obelisk monument sits today). If only the city would take an interest, perhaps we might get them to unearth this treasure?
14 August 2008 The Rest is History
Back in the year 1950, the City Planning Commission published a booklet titled, 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 neighborhood’s identity and history.
As I read it, I examined closely those wards that made up the historical geographic boundaries of Kensington, the 16th, 17th, 18th, 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. This area of the 19th Ward was in the northwest corner of the ward. 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 into their communities. However, when I examined all the census tracts for Kensington, I noticed some interesting parallels.
Fishtown and Kensington were always known as “white” neighborhoods, made up mostly of Irish, German, and Polish ethnic whites 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 for this time period.
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 percent. 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 percent.
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 some misconceived notion of “white flight.”
As I read this booklet, I was reminded of a book I read. The book was Kenneth Durr’s, Behind the Backlash: White Working-Class Politics in Baltimore, 1940-1980. The author does not believe in the notion that the “white backlash of the 1960’s and 1970’s was driven by increasing race resentment,” but rahter by their mistrust of “postwar liberalism in the face of urban decline.”
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 well before that 1954 Supreme Court case and even before African-American began moving into these areas. So how to explain this?
As Kenneth Durr points out in his book, “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.
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 in a recent Democratic state rep primary, the Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate (Terry Graboyes) finished last in a three horse race won by Mike O’Brien.
21 August 2008 Rest is History
Last week I wrote about the Fairman Mansion, the most historic structure in Fishtown or Kensington. The next structure in line for "most historic" in the neighborhood would be Batchelor's Hall, also previously written about. But what happened to Batchelor's Hall after it was reported to burn down in 1775?
John Fanning Watson, the well-known Philadelphia antiquarian and annalist, states a "brick smith shop" was built on the old foundation stones of the Hall. The Kensington History Project (Torben Jenk, Rich Remer, and myself) contends that Paine Newman was the blacksmith who built his shop atop the old Batchelor's Hall and that the foundation of Batchelor's Hall sits where the SugarHouse Casino proposes to build their casino.
However, the present archaeological dig that is being conducted on the site contends that Batchelor's Hall was not on the SugarHouse site, but sat west of the property, somewhere between Richmond Street and Delaware Avenue. The overseeing parties (Army Corps, PHMC, & ACHP) appear to agree with SugarHouse.
The three pieces of evidence used by SugarHouse to dismiss Batchelor's Hall from being on their property are a map of 1752, a newspaper advertisement of 1763, and a response to a letter to the editor in 1887. Their reports do not list any trenches being dug to look specifically for Batchelor's Hall.
In the 1752 Scull & Heap map, SugarHouse contends that the structure called "Hall" sitting on the west side of Richmond Street, shows that the Hall was not on their site. However that evidence would seem to contradict their second piece of evidence, an advert in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 14 July 1763, which states a property on the west side of Richmond was for sale opposite the Batchelor's Hall. "Opposite of Bachelor's Hall" would then seem to put Batchelor's Hall on the east side of Richmond Street, which contradicts the Scull & Heap map of 1752.
Batchelor's Hall was on the east side of Richmond Street, but the structure itself did not sit on Richmond Street. The "grounds" ran up to Richmond and down to the river, thus saying the properties were "opposite" Batchelor's Hall simply means opposite of the "Batchelor's Hall Grounds," which had a 300 foot front on Richmond Street and ran down to the river.
The third piece of evidence for SugarHouse is from a response to an inquiry to the Pennsylvania Magazine of History & Biography, a journal of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Published in volume 11 of 1887, an inquirer asked where Batchelor's Hall was located and the responder answered that it was located in the block bounded by Poplar Street and Shackmaxon and Beach and Allen Streets.
The person responding to the inquiry is not listed, nor are any sources listed of where the responder found the information to support the assertion that Batchelor’s Hall stood where he said it stood. Furthermore, the responder states Batchelor’s Hall stood on the block bounded by Poplar Street, Shackamaxon Street, Beach Street, and Allen Street. That is not a “block” but several blocks, as between Shackamaxon and Poplar Street in 1887 also ran Sarah Street, Frankford Avenue, Laurel Street, and Lewellyn Street. If this letter responder shows anything, it seems to show that the author was not familiar with the geographic area they were talking about and did not even consult a map.
The Kensington History Project contends that Batchelor's Hall was on the SugarHouse site and the evidence is in a survey of 1804 and in a road petition when Shackamaxon Street was cut through. In 1804, Reading Howell, the official surveyor of Philadelphia, surveyed the "Batchelor's Hall Ground." The Batchelor's Hall Ground is shown to run from the east side of Richmond Street to the low water mark of the Delaware River and to have a front on Richmond Street of 300 feet. On this survey is shown "Newman's Brick Smith Shop." The smith shop is shown to be on the east side of Hall Street (later changed to Beach, still later Delaware Avenue) and running eastward towards Penn Street. North of "Newman's Brick Smith Shop" is the portion of the Batchelor's Hall land that belonged to John Dickinson's family.
According to a road petition (at City Archives) that was drawn up when Shackmaxon Street was cut through the Batchelor's Hall Grounds from Richmond to the river, it was cut through the land of Batchelor's Hall that was owned by Dickinson, thus "Newman's Brick Smith Shop" sat on the east side of Delaware Avenue, just show of Shackamaxon Street, squarely on the SugarHouse site.
Reading Howell's survey also shows no other "brick smith shop" on the Batchelor's Hall property. It one actually reads the historical record, it appears clear where Batchelor's Hall was located.
28 August 2008 The Rest is History
In 1852 there was published by the Philadelphia County Board a report titled, “Report of the Committee on Roads and Bridges, of the County Board, on the Subject of the Proposed Purchase of Penn’s Treaty Ground, for Public Use.” This report relates the actions of Thomas S. Fernon to get the Penn Treaty Ground purchased by the County Board. At this time in history (1852) Philadelphia County and the City of Philadelphia were two separate entities.
Fernon was a native Kensingtonian, born on 24 April 1818. He spent most of his youth in Kensington before moving downtown. In 1841 he started to study with the portrait painter John P. Merrill and for a time continued this new profession. In the autumn of 1843, Fernon was elected on the Democratic ticket a member of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. He was elected again in 1846 and re-elected again in 1847.
A large majority elected Fernon as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1852 over the other candidates. At his time he organized, raised the money and built the North Pennsylvania Railroad and was the first president of that road. Subsequently, he was also the president of the Chester Valley Railroad. In 1857 he started the publication of the United States Mining and Railroad Register, which in 1860 was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at the outbreak of the Civil War he left the Democratic Party and retired from politics. When he died in 1896 he left a widow and a son.
Also in1852, Fernon sat on the Committee on Roads and Bridges. In that year an act by the Pennsylvania State Assembly was passed to open Beach Street at Penn’s Treaty Grounds and Fernon’s committee was inquiring what has been done up to that point concerning this act. A recounting of the actions leading up to 1852 was recounted.
At a County Board meeting of 18 September 1848, the Committee of Estimates was requested to report to the Board “the conditions upon which the county can purchase, for public use, the lot of ground known as the site of Penn’s Treaty, held with the Indian nations, in the year 1682.” The request was read a second time, considered, and agreed to. This was the primary movement of a series of events that involved Fernon and his attempt to create a park to honor Penn’s Treaty.
Another meeting of the County Board was held on 26 December 1848. Fernon was also on the Committee of Estimates, which made a report at this meeting on the Penn Monument:
“The present condition of the treaty ground is amply suggestive of regretful comment. The monument, which is a plain marble shaft, upon a double square base, measuring from the foundation to the summit, five feet nine inches, does not, as the inscription upon it asserts, mark the site of the Great Elm Tree. The actual site of the Treaty Tree, which was blown down on the third day of Mach, 1810, is marked by a post, put into the ground at the time of the disaster, and which still occupies its original position, at the distance of about fifty-one feet in a line south, southeast from the monument erected by the Penn Society, in the year 1827, and placed where it is now to be seen, by permission of the owners of the ground. The Penn Society did not, either as buyer or renter, secure a right to the occupancy of one foot of the soil covered by the ‘monument,’ and embraced within the dilapidated paling which once surrounded it; 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.
The Treaty lot being private property, of course it may at any time be built upon, or disposed of in such a manner as may forever bury it from view, and bar the public from its possession. It this misfortune were to happen, it can readily be imagined how sincere would be the sorrow, and universal the regret, for its irreparable loss; and it may happen, if measures be not now adopted to avert it, inasmuch as the later proprietor divided the estate into several portions, among his heirs, either of whom may at any time dispose of a separate interest.”
Fernon then went on to suggest that the Count Board needed to take action to guard the Treaty Grounds by purchasing the property. It was at this point that Fernon began to run into troubles.
Next week we will take a look at the roadblocks put to Fernon and his attempt to create Penn Treaty Park.
4 September 2008 The Rest is History
As we saw in last week's column, local state representative (later state senator) Thomas S. Fernon (who also sat on the Philadelphia County Board) tried in 1848 to get Philadelphia County to purchase the Penn Treaty Grounds. The area where the treaty monument stood was in disrepair and it was Fernon's vision to have the county purchase the property and surround it with a beautiful park.
Fernon was able to get the County Board to appropriate money to purchase the ground, but problems soon set in for the County Commissioners and excuses started to be made to thwart the purchase.
One excuse was that the County had no right to purchase and hold real estate, except in cases provided for by special act. Others suggested that the County had no power to confer any such authority.
The state legislature was appealed to and an act passed dated 9 April 1849, “that the County Commissioners of Philadelphia County are hereby vested with power and authority to purchase and hold, for public use, the lot or piece of ground known as the site of Penn’s Treaty with the Indians….”
The County Commissioners however still "declined to prosecute the negotiation to an issue, the fiscal year, meanwhile, expired, and the sum appropriated by the County Board, as an initiatory item, reverted to the County Treasury, and was absorbed in the expenditures of the succeeding fiscal year.” Thus Fernon's attempt to purchase the Penn Treaty Grounds had failed.
Fernon did not give up. He next went to the state legislature and got them to approve on 26 April 1852 an act to widen Beach Street. The act read as follows:
“…from its present southernmost line, one hundred and fifty feet, beginning on the line of Hanover street, and thence extending eastwardly parallel with the line of said Beach street, at least one hundred and fifty feet, so that the area to be dedicated to public use, shall be two hundred feet eastwardly from the western line of Hanover street; said street to be opened as soon as practicable to the width herein prescribed, as streets and roads are opened, under existing laws in the city and county of Philadelphia; the Commissioners of the District of Kensington shall have power to enclose a plot in the center of said area, not exceeding one hundred feet square, and shall place, or authorize to be placed therein, a monument or other memorial, to commemorate an event identified with the settlement and history of the Commonwealth.”
The law allowed Beach Street to be widened to a march larger then needed width, but then also allowed the District of Kensington (instead of the County) to set aside a 100 foot by 100 foot park in the center of Beach street just north of Hanover (Columbia) street with fifty foot wide streets on all four sides of the square. The obelisk monument was to be placed in the middle of the square and a fence would be placed around the square and thus the monument would be saved from obscurity and the site of Penn’s Treaty would be kept sacred.
Fernon’s report stated that if there was any complaint “to the comparative narrowness of the stipulated boundaries of the proposed purchase” the complaint “to have force or reason” should be “lodged against the neglect or omission of those who lived at an earlier day, to buy the ground when improvements were sparse in the neighborhood, and while yet the primitive elm, sycamore, and beach studded some of the adjacent lots, and waved their foliage over the green bluff and pebbly shore.”
Fernon goes on to state, "Then – and the period is scare beyond a score of years gone – a beautiful park, of grassy, undulating surface, planted with native forest trees, and stretching from Hanover (Columbia) street to Palmer, and from Beach street to the river, might have been purchased and dedicated to public use; but that time is past, and with it departed the opportunity to obtain ground for any purpose, by acre measure, in that locality.”
Fernon was right, the time had passed to be able to purchase land cheaply on the riverfront and it would take another forty years for the actual realization of Penn Treaty Park to come to fruition as this second attempt by Fernon also failed when the District of Kensington failed to act on the state legislature allowing them to set aside a public square to honor Penn's Treaty. Even after the city finally did purchase the Penn Treaty site in 1892 and created Penn Treaty Park in 1893, it still took the city another 100 years for the park to be able to expand to its current size.
11 September 2008 The Rest is History
The past several weeks I have run columns on the history of Penn Treaty Park. These columns were a preview of an upcoming book on the park’s history and also a preview of this Saturday’s First Annual River City Festival to be held at Penn Treaty Park.
The Fishtown Civic Association has organized the River City Festival and it will take place on September 13th, from 12 PM to 6 PM. There will be food, live music, and other activities (see the website: http://www.rivercityfestival.org/). The Fishtown Star is one of the sponsors for the affair.
I will have a table at the park and will be conducting book signings for “Remembering Kensington & Fishtown,” my new book that came out this past May. I will also be leading three historical tours of Penn Treaty Park, so if you have an interest in the history of the park come on down to the festival and take a stroll with me as I narrate the amazing history of the park.
Have you ever taken a good look at the “trio” of artwork that graces the park? Did you figure out the relationships of the pieces to each other?
Have you ever wondered where the original site of the Treaty Elm was? Was it at the northwest corner where the obelisk monument originally stood? Or is at the spot where the obelisk monument now stands? Or was it some place else? And who put that obelisk monument in the park in the first place?
How about the big rusted metal plate sculpture that sits outside the park? It’s called “Penn’s Treaty,” but have you ever wondered who created it, or what is it suppose to represent? And why is it located outside the park and not inside? And why did the park ever feel a need for it? These are all questions that we’ll answer at the park’s festival this Saturday. We will also have illustrations of the other three finalists whose proposals were rejected by the same art jury who settled for the metal plate sculpture of “Penn’s Treaty.”
The park has a rather large sculpture of a William Penn figure. How did that work come to be in the park? Who is the artist and what were the odd circumstances that found that piece of work winding up in the park? We’ll have the answers for these questions as well.
Do you remember as a kid taking the boat to “Soupy Island” from Penn Treaty Park? Do you remember the long pier at the park? When was that pier built and what happened to it? And why did they call it “Soupy Island” when in fact the place the boat took you to (Red Bank, NJ) was not an island at all? We’ll have these answers to the park’s history as well.
The history of Penn Treaty Park dates back to the arrival of William Penn, it’s said that it is the place where Penn made his treaty with the Indians. How true is this statement? Did an actual treaty take place? Was it written down? Does anything exist of this treaty today?
The Treaty Elm that Penn and the Indians were supposed to have made their treaty under blew down in a storm in 1810. What happened to the remnants of the tree afterwards? Where was the exact location of the tree? Might the roots still exist? And why has the tree and Penn’s Treaty come to be such a recognizable scene? When was it popularized?
Take one of the tours this coming Saturday and we’ll have all the answers for you.
Besides the tour and the answering of questions, I’ll also have on hand illustrations that will be included in my upcoming book on the history of Penn Treaty Park, so you’ll get a sneak preview of those pictures as well.
The park has a fascinating history. Every generation since the time the Treaty Tree fell in 1810 has produced individuals who have made efforts to create Penn Treaty Park. Once the park was created in 1893, the efforts to maintain and expand the park continued up to the present day. Come to the park this Saturday and learn just who those men and women were, those who are responsible for today’s beautiful riverfront park, a gem in the Fairmount Park system.
Along with me, John Connors will bring images of some of the collection of artifacts of the Penn Treaty Museum. John, the director of the museum (www.penntreatymuseum.org) is one of today’s generation who has made it his life’s work to care for, expand, and memorialize the park.
18 September 2008 The Rest is History
Between the years 1987 and 1988, the City of Philadelphia purchased the triangular piece of land that sits between Beach Street and Delaware Avenue, south of Columbia Avenue. A Mobil gas station sat on the southern part of the property, with a brick building at the northern end. This strip of land today is the home of Bob Haozous’ rusted sculpture, Penn Treaty. The story of how Penn Treaty Park became of the home of Haozous’ sculpture is one worth mentioning.
The Penn Treaty Park rededication was held on Sunday, 1 November 1987. At a meeting of the Fairmount Park Commission later that month the Commission discussed adding a third piece of artwork to the park. The third piece would be dedicated to Native Americans. The piece would complement the other two pieces of artwork in the park, the Gaylord sculpture of Penn and the original obelisk monument, to form a trio of artwork.
The Commission set about creating a national competition with a budget of $50,000. Notices were sent out to artists throughout America and Canada with 100 artists responding. On 13 June 1988, the Advisory Committee for the Penn Treaty Artwork Competition met to review the four finalists: Ron Anderson, Phoenix, AZ; Bob Haozous, Sante Fe, NM; Karl Cieslak, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; and Joyce Guatemala, Glenmore, PA.
Ron Anderson was a minimalist who created a piece resembling Stonehenge. Joyce Guatemala came up with an idea of a piece using the Wampum Belt images on a circular paved landscape at ground level. Karl Cieslak piece was a fountain, with a large tone in the center and a disc like item sticking out of it, and Bob Haozous created a metal plate sculpture and also used the Wampum Belt motif.
The four finalists prepared models and those models went on exhibit at the Atwater Kent Museum between 1 October to 16 October, 1988, with the selection of the winner to be made on 17 October and presented to the Fairmount Park Art Commission at their November 1988 meeting.
During the exhibition the Commission took written comments on what viewers thought of the work of the four finalists. As recorded, the exhibition comments were mostly negative for all four pieces. Some commentators simply wanted the artists to include more of the philosophy behind the work, others thought the work was unclear, and others thought it was a down right disgrace.
A chief engineer for the Fairmount Park Commission agreed with the community and called into question the work of the four finalists, being miffed by what he thought was a poor selection process by the jury. The plans for the park had called for traditional artwork to compliment Gaylord’s sculpture of Penn and the Obelisk Monument, but all four finalists had “contemporary artwork” models.
Bob Haozous was selected as the winner of the competition. His piece utilized elements of the Wampum Belt; the two figures of Penn and a Native American symbolizing the encounter between European and Native American cultures, as well as commemorating the Treaty itself. Against the Wampum Belt figures, Haozous played with symbols of nature and modern technology (clouds and airplanes) to give us the historic images of Treaty and the modern world.
Haozous was awarded a commission on 18 October 1988, however by 28 June 1989, he still had not had his contract. In order to iron out the details of the contract and to mitigate the concerns of the Fairmount Park Commission, Haozous hired the Pittsburgh law firm of Costello, Yablonski, Leckie, Chaban. A number of issues slowing up the process were related to insurance questions for the production, transportation, and installation of the piece, and to various liabilities after the piece was installed, as well as safety features, and what sort of base the sculpture would have.
Originally, the Park’s new renovation plans called for the Indian sculpture to be located on “Indian Island,” a circular plot of ground located within the park and acting as the third point of a triangle with the other two pieces of artwork (Penn statue & Obelisk), with Indian Island being located southeast of the other two pieces. Haozous felt his sculpture would fit better at the river’s edge, south of the new (now gone) fishing pier. This would enable the piece to be viewed by river traffic as well as people in the park, which is what the Fairmount Park Commission had originally stated it wanted in the competition rules.
Finally, on 2 July 1991, a contract was signed between the Fairmount Park Commission and Bob Haozous. The sculpture however wound up being placed outside the park, which would seem to have been a decision made by the Fairmount Park Commission.
25 September 2008 The Rest is History
Last week I wrote about the Bob Haozous sculpture at Penn Treaty Park, the rusted metal plate sculpture that sits on the island between Beach Street and Delaware Avenue, south of Columbia. This sculpture was commissioned by the Fairmount Park Commission to be an “Indian sculpture” companion piece to the two other pieces of artwork in the park and together they would form a “trio” of artwork for the park. Since I previously wrote about Bob Haozous’ piece and the Treaty Monument, I’ll finish up the “trio” of artwork and give a little history of the William Penn sculpture.
The Daughters of the American Colonists (DAC) is a national society composed of approximately 11,000 members from all over America. Membership to the DAC is offered to any woman of 18 years of age or older, of good moral character, and who can trace their lineage to “an ancestor who rendered civil or military service in any of the colonies prior” prior to American Independence (July 4, 1776).
The DAC was founded in 1923 as a society of women whose objects were patriotic, historical, and educational. According to the DAC’s website, the DAC “researches the history and deeds of American colonists to record and publish them; to commemorate deeds of colonial interest; to inculcate and foster a love of the United States of America and its institutions by all its residents; and to obey its laws and venerate its flag.”
The DAC is involved in many activities, but their historical work is carried out through their Colonial and Genealogical Records Committee, which help to preserve original records and research and determine membership eligibilities, and the Historic Landmarks and Memorials Committee that is responsible for helping to locate and mark sites of historical interest. There are also several other committees involved in commemorating various historical events and activities.
Each national president of the DAC takes the responsibility of a special project during her term in office. In 1980, during the presidency of Mary Helen Foster, the DAC wanted to present to the City of Philadelphia on the 300th Anniversary of Pennsylvania, a sculpture of William Penn. The first DAC chapter in Pennsylvania was called the William Penn Chapter and since the 300th Anniversary was approaching and the first chapter of their organization was named William Penn, in wasn’t much of a stretch to figure out why a sculpture of Penn was pick. It also didn’t hurt that the DAC’s President Foster was from Pennsylvania
The DAC chose Frank Gaylord to create the sculpture. Gaylord kept his studio in Barre, Vermont, the granite capital of America. Gaylord would later gain further fame as the artist who created the Korean War Memorial in Washington, DC.
Work on the sculpture was to be done during 1981 and early 1982. The sculpture was made from an eight ton-block of Barre granite from The Rock of Ages Quarry. The block measured 8’6” by 4’ by 2’6”. It was first sent to a saw plant where it was dimensioned. Large amounts of stone were removed using pneumatic drills. Smaller pneumatic drills were then used to shape the figure in rough form. Reference points on the model were located on the stone figure and large planes were established on the figure. The planes were then broken into specific detail with a pneumatic chisel and later finished by hand.
The Fairmount Park Commission initially declined the DAC’s gift of the sculpture. Presumably they didn’t like it. The Commission’s declining of the sculpture set Frankford’s Elaine Pedan into action. Pedan was known as the “William Penn lady” for her efforts in 1984 to persuade Congress to extend honorary United States citizenship to both William Penn and his wife Hannah. Pedan thought there was no better place for the Penn statute then Penn Treaty Park. The DAC and the Fishtown Civic Association agreed with Pedan.
In early 1981, the Fairmount Park Commission, with the prodding of the Fishtown Civic and “The William Penn Lady,” finally committed to accepting the Gaylord sculpture for Penn Treaty Park, provided the Fairmount Park Art Commission approved, which they did.
The William Penn statue was placed in the park on 22 April 1982. The dedication ceremony for the unveiling of the sculpture was two days later on 24 April 1982. The unveiling was part of the opening events for the Century IV Celebration, the 300th Anniversary of Pennsylvania.
The sculpture was initially placed on the ground on a small block base. Later when the park was rededicated in 1987 (after the landscaping of the expanded portions of the park were completed), the sculpture was placed on the large circular base where it now sits.