Know Your Neighborhood: Bridgeview Condominiums   

Arthur H. Thomas Scientific started in 1900 at the Freeman building at 12th & Walnut Streets in Philadelphia. During the early years, much of it's business was sales of Bausch & Lomb products and duty free imports from Europe. The company moved to West Washington Square in 1912 (1st photo), where they published their catalog that became the "bible" of the scientific industry.

In 1956, the company moved to 3rd & Vine Streets, on land once owned by the father of Betsy Ross. The new headquarters building had been the headquarters, warehouse and leather factory of England, Walton & Co., built in sections between 1913 & 1928. (2nd & 3rd photos))

Previously on that site, stood Francis Perot's Sons Malting Co.(4th & 5th photo)  One of Philadelphia's earliest breweries, Francis Perot's Sons Malting Co., was established on Front Street near the Delaware River in 1687 by Anthony Morris, who originally came over on the "Welcome" with William Penn.  Morris served as Philadelphia's 2nd mayor and later as a supreme judge of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  The brewery remained in the Morris family's hands until the 1820s, when it was turned over to Francis Perot. Perot went into a partnership with his brother, William, and in 1850, the Perots quit brewing altogether and focused solely on malting, the process of turning barley seed into malt, one of the primary components of beer. The company remained in Philadelphia until 1907, when the Perots moved the business to Buffalo, N.Y.

In 1983 Arthur H Thomas Scientific formally changed the name to Thomas Scientific, and in 1984, the company moved to a new corporate headquarters in Swedesboro, NJ.  The building at 3rd and Vine was converted to an apartment building by Historic Landmarks for Living in the late 1980’s, and later converted to condos. (6th photo)



Arthur H Thomas Washington Square building (now the Farm Journal Bldg.)

1910 map

1917 ad

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