Know Your Neighborhood: The Philadelphia Mint (part 1:  History of the Mint)

Coins have been minted in Philadelphia as long as the federal government has produced coins.  First authorized by Congress in 1792, the U.S. Mint’s Philadelphia facility continues to be the nation’s largest producer of coins.  

The first Philadelphia mint, founded in 1792, was located on Seventh Street between Arch and Filbert Streets.  President Washington appointed David Rittenhouse to be the first Director of the Mint.  It was a 3 story brick building, with "Ye Olde Mint" painted on the facade.  The first mint produced copper half-cent and one-cent pieces, silver half-dimes (the precursor to the modern nickel), dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and dollars, as well as gold two-and-a-half-dollar, five-dollar, and ten-dollar coins.  As the United States grew, the mint could not keep up with the demand for coins.  In 1833 the mint moved to a new, larger building at Juniper and Chestnut Streets.  The building was  built with white marble and had columns that looked like the old Greek style. William Strickland designed the building and it measured 150 feet by 204 feet, which was much larger than the original. 

The second Philadelphia mint increased the output of coins with advanced metal-refining methods and state-of-the-art, steam-powered coin presses.  Following gold rushes during the 1830s and 1840s, the Philadelphia mint converted vast quantities of newfound gold into millions of circulating gold coins.  Despite the increased output, there were frequent coin shortages, so, to ease pressure on the Philadelphia mint and reduce transportation costs, the U.S. government established other mints around the nation.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, as the United States took its place as a global power, the Philadelphia mint began producing coins for other nations. Eventually, the Philadelphia mint struck coins for dozens of countries, including Panama, the Philippines, and Cuba. However, the size of the second Philadelphia mint’s facility hindered its production capabilities. To increase output and improve efficiency, the mint moved in 1901 to an even larger facility at 1700 Spring Garden Street.

Located near the United States Smelting Company, several machine shops, and railroad tracks, the third Philadelphia mint had an ideal location for receiving raw supplies and transporting finished coins. The massive building occupied nearly a full city block. Because of its size and well-chosen location, the third Philadelphia mint quickly became one of the most productive coin manufacturing facilities in the world.

Despite the impressive productivity of the third Philadelphia mint, over time its equipment became outdated and its production processes grew increasingly inefficient. In an effort to improve efficiency, in 1969 the Philadelphia mint moved once again to a larger (almost three times the size), more technologically sophisticated facility just a couple of blocks from "Ye Olde Mint".  One million coins can now be minted in just half an hour, which would have taken 3 years to do at the original mint.  After the opening of the fourth mint, the third mint was acquired by Community College of Philadelphia, becoming part of the college’s main campus.

Next week, in part 2, we'll look at what the old city neighborhood looked like before the demolition of dozens of buildings to create the space for the mint.

Know your Neighborhood: St Charles Court, 60 - 66 N 3rd St.    

St. Charles Court Apartments, 60-66 North 3rd Street, was originally built as a hotel in 1851. The St. Charles was built by Charles Rubicam, using brick and cast-iron, a new construction material, which was painted to imitate brownstone. The design imitated Italian Renaissance palaces, with floor-to-ceiling windows opening onto a balcony that runs the length of the building.

Inside, the hotel featured eating and drinking saloons, a ladies’ parlor and 50 guest rooms.

The ground floor was altered to house stores in 1920; Second floor was rehabilitated as offices in 1975. The exterior was restored and the upper floors rehabilitated as apartments in 1980.

The building is very well preserved, from its stained glass windows on the first story, to the ornate lintels on the second level, to the beautifully restored faux stone façade.

60-66 N 3rd is currently connected with 403 Arch St as one building with apartments for rent and ground floor retail.

 

                                             1962

                                           1971

                                       Today

Know Your Neighborhood: Smythe Stores, 101 - 111 Arch St.

The Smythe Stores, 101 to 111 Arch Street, were built in 1857 for department store owner Samuel Smythe.

The Tiffany and Bottom Foundry in Trenton produced the cast-iron façade, which stretched across half the block. The design was inspired by Northern Italian Renaissance palaces, with pairs of arched windows divided by columns, and the five rows decreasing in height as they climb upward.

The original building was painted and sanded in imitation of stone. The design appeared in Samuel Sloan’s The Architectural Review and the American Builders’ Journal of March 1870, so he is assumed to be the building’s architect.

Tenants of the storefronts included the Aunt Sally Blended Tea Company, the Philadelphia Seed Company, and the Stratford Cigar Company.

In 1913, the central section of the building was demolished to allow the Arch Street trolley to loop around the building. The midsection was rebuilt by The Devoe Group using fiberglass and molds of the old section in 1984, when the Smythe Stores were converted into apartments.  Later converted to condos.

Philadelphia Register of Historic Places -- 8/5/1976

Know Your Neighborhood (& city): America's Oldest Thanksgiving Parade

Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States. The Gimbel's Brothers department store sponsored the first Thanksgiving Day parade held in 1920.

Ellis Gimbel, one of the founders of Gimbel's Department Stores, wanted to promote his toy land. He had 50 store employees dressed in costume and 15 automobiles, with Santa riding in the last car, in their first Thanksgiving Day parade. Over the years (esp. after rival Macy's began their parade in 1924), the parade expanded featuring floats, balloons and marchers parading down Market Street. The finale consisted of Santa Claus arriving at the eighth-floor toy department at Gimbels by climbing the ladder of a Philadelphia Fire Department truck (last 2 photos).

Gimbels sponsored the parade until 1986, when the company went out of business. The parade route changed at that time and now runs up the Parkway, ending at the Art Museum. Boscovs and 6ABC became sponsors until 2008, when Ikea took over sponsorship through 2010. Currently Dunkin Donuts and 6ABC are the parade sponsors.

Original Gimbel brothers store at 8th & Market

1925 ad

1930's

1961

1960's

1960's

1960's

1970's

1947

Know Your Neighborhood:  Shane's Candy, 110 Market St

Shane Confectionery is a candy shop and candy producer, located at 110 Market Street.  Currently owned by the Berley brothers, it is considered the longest-running confectionery business in the U.S.  
Since 1863, candy and candy-making materials have been made or sold on the premises at 110 Market Street (originally known as the High Street).  The location was part of an active candy-making industry that grew up around the sugar trade. In 1910, Philadelphia was home to as many as 1,200 confectioneries.

Samuel L. Herring opened a wholesale confectionery supply business at 112 Market in the 1850s, expanding to 110 Market Street in 1863.  After the Civil War, his son Benjamin took over the business. He eventually went into partnership with one of his father's employees, confectioner Daniel S. Dengler. The partners sold wholesale confectionery goods at 110 Market until Benjamin Herring died. Daniel S. Dengler and his son, Frank Dengler, continued to operate the business until 1899, when they sold the building to William T. Wescott.  In 1910, Wescott moved to New Jersey, selling the business to Edward R. Shane.  The Shane family operated the location as a retail business for the next 99 years.

In 2010, the business was bought by brothers Ryan and Eric Berley. They chose to retain the "Shane Confectionery" name. They have restored the building and its contents, and use restored original machinery and traditional recipes to make many of the sweets they sell.

110 Market, 1906

1915 ad

1972 view

2005

Today

Know Your Neighborhood: Callowhill St.   

Callowhill Street is named after Wm Penn’s 2nd wife, Hannah Callowhill. Laid down in 1690, it was originally called “New” St because it was the first E-W road north of Philadelphia proper. A market was originally in the middle from 4th - 7th, which accounts for it’s width.

By late 1800’s, Callowhill (the area from Callowhill St to Spring Garden St and from 2nd to 9th St) was a dense residential/industrial area with many working class residents. But, by the 1920’s it was the core of Phila’s skid row, with lots of cheap boardinghouses, rundown warehouses, seedy bars, etc.

Unemployment reached 33% in the area by 1940. Franklin Square, just to the south, had lots of people hanging around, looking for day work or often drunk.

By the 1950’s, city planners regarded the region from Vine to Spring garden & beyond, blighted and derilect.

Yet, unlike Society Hill, the shabby but still functioning neighborhood wasn’t considered for rehab. Both areas were in equally neglected condition.

With little protest, almost all the properties in the area were condemned as part of the Callowhill East Redevelopment Project. The areas between 2nd & 9th, from Callowhill to Spring Garden were largely leveled. Many historic buildings were destroyed as well as hundreds of modest 18th & 19th century houses & workshops. Residents were displaced as were many small businesses.

The projects goal was to create tracts of open land for use as an inner city industrial park with easy access to I 95 and Vine St. This plan failed as city’s de-industrialization was too far underway.

Concurrent construction of the Vine St expressway & I 95 made things even worse. The expressway obliterated every building between Vine & Callowhill for a full 6 blocks.

4th & Callowhill, 1900

Callowhill St, west of 2nd St, looking west, 1918

NE corner 5th & Callowhill, 1931

NW corner 5th & Callowhill, 1931

501 - 505 Callowhill, 1931

508 - 514 Callowhill, 1931

Demolition between Callowhill & Spring Garden Sts.

Know Your Neighborhood: Arch Street Friends Meeting House 

Upon entering the Arch Street Friends Meeting House for the first time, a visitor finds a room with no pulpit; no stained-glass windows; no religious symbols hanging from the walls; no shrines are to be found at all. Instead, one steps into a square room filled with rows of wooden pews, from all sides facing the center. A balcony spans three sides of the room.  Windows and shutters are plain; the floor is of unvarnished wood.

Quakers, also known as the Society of Friends, have no written creed or fixed tenets and no defined program of prayer.  Music and sermonizing are absent during Worship Meetings. There is no one a person in charge. Rather, Quakers believe that God resides in each individual. Congregants enter the Meeting Room and settle down in silent waiting.  Any Friend who feels the "light" may share a message or prayer with others. 

The property the Meeting House sits on was first used for burial purposes under a deed issued by William Penn in 1701.  Many victims of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 are buried here. Burials continued until 1803.

This is the oldest Friends Meeting House still in use in Philadelphia and the largest in the world.  The building has an entrance hall and three distinct sections. 

The east wing and center of the meetinghouse was built between 1803 and 1805 according to a design by the Quaker carpenter Owen Biddle, Jr.   The West Wing, added in 1811 to accommodate the women's Monthly Meeting, is today the room used for worship as described above. The interior of the east wing was renovated and a two-story addition behind the center building was completed in 1969.  The Meeting House's middle section serves as the site of Monthly Meetings and special events. In the East Wing of the building there are dioramas depicting the main events in the life of William Penn.

The meetinghouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 2011.  The latter designation was as a consequence of the building being the only surviving documented work by Owen Biddle.

Late 1800's

                                                           1910 view & 2010

                                                                       1928

 1932

                                                                     Today