Know Your Neighborhood: Franklin Square (part 1: early history)  

Originally called North East Publick Square, Franklin Square was later renamed in 1825 to honor Benjamin Franklin.  William Penn founded the square to establish a commercial center for settlers. He wanted settlers to have a space that was well-ordered to set an example for fellow settlers. But Penn did not own or actually control the square and it quickly came to other uses.  In its early years, the square was an open area used for grazing animals.   During the American Revolution, a brick gunpowder magazine was built on the square's northwest corner.  In 1790, it was later relocated to the less populated 22nd and Walnut streets, because it was deemed a safety hazard.  The square was used for drilling soldiers during the War of 1812.

In 1741, Thomas Penn, the son of Philadelphia's founder, agreed to lease a portion of Franklin Square as a burial ground to the First German Reformed Church.  The church's cemetery at Franklin Square gradually expanded over the decades to include much of the square's eastern portion. 

At varying points, both the public and city government objected to the use of Franklin Square as a private burial grounds, noting Penn had reserved it for public use.

The first major legal battle came in 1797, when the city ruled the lease was illegal and sued the church to recover the burial grounds. Eventually, the city dropped the lawsuit in exchange for a fenced graveyard and possession of the rest of the square.  But the issue flared up again in the 1820s, when the city sought to transform Franklin Square into a park.

In 1821, the city terminated all lease negotiations and ordered the church to vacate Franklin Square.  Litigation ascended to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  In 1836, the court determined the church had no right to the land, ruling Thomas Penn's grant and subsequent leases were illegal.

The city proceeded to turn Franklin Square into a park, ordering the church remove the cemetery fence, but providing time for the church to transfer buried remains.

The church removed few, if any, remains from Franklin Square, according to the archeological study. Instead, the gravestones were laid flat upon the graves and covered with several feet of soil.

Human remains were uncovered at various times throughout the 20th century.  Several graves were disturbed when the city installed a new sewer line through Franklin Square in 1915.

Additional human remains were uncovered during excavations for the nearby Benjamin Franklin Plaza in the 1920s and during sewer excavations in 1976.

A plaque, dedicated in 1978, recognizes the numerous graves that remain buried beneath Franklin Square, including five of the church's early ministers.

Know Your Neighborhood: The Hoopskirt Factory at 309-313 Arch Street

High up on the east side of 309-13 Arch St you can see the faintly visible ad for Klosfit Petticoat painted on the building. Below it says "Fits without wrinkles".

The Queen Anne-style structure w/Chicago influences was built c. 1895 and replaced a factory that was destroyed in an 1888 fire. The building's ground floor tenant was John Maneely Co, who sold wrought iron pipes and fittings. John Maneely Co. began in 1877 & still exists today.

1899 photo

The principal tenant was clothing manufacturer Greenwald Brothers, Inc., operated by Dubuque, Iowa-born Marx (Max), Theodore & twin brother Jacob Greenwald. Their business took off with the 1909 launch of Jacob's patented Klosfit petticoats — accompanied by an aggressive ad campaign by N.W. Ayer (a Philadelphia ad agency whose building anchors Washington Square, now a condo) — the firm doubled its sales. (Ayer was one of the countries oldest ad firms and was responsible for slogans such as "I'd Walk a Mile For a Camel", "A Diamonds Is Forever" and "Be All You Can Be" (US Army)))

The Klosfit petticoat eliminated the customary drawstrings & replaced them with elastic for a more comfortable fit. Jacob also applied this approach to other apparel.

1976

Built about 1895, the 6-story building deftly combines Queen Anne elements with the latest developments by Chicago’s commercial architects like William Le Baron Jenney and Sullivan & Adler. The storefront includes two typical Queen Anne features, a flattened, stylized, cast iron cornice with fluted pilasters and
Queen Anne-style windows at the transoms. The upper stories reveal both the Queen Anne and Chicago influences. Most significant are the terra cotta ornamental motifs and the extremely large window openings. The ratio of void to solid on the front façade ties the building directly to the great strides in commercial and especially skyscraper architecture made in Chicago in the 1880s.

Renovated into apartments in 1980 & later into 43 loft condos, it was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, 12 April, 1979.

Today

Know Your Neighborhood: 408 - 414 Vine St   

408 - 414 Vine was built by Peter Tomson, who was an importer of spices and later manufactured soaps and other products.  The building dates from 1883, but there is no evidence that Tomson used the building for his spice business.

The first definitive tenant was O.F. Zurn, which made lubricants.  They were there from at least 1892 (see drawing from 1892 Columbian Exposition ) and are still in business in North Philadelphia as a division of International Chemical Corp.

                                                               1892 drawing

                                                                     1899

Numerous businesses had either offices or manufacturing facilities in the building over the years. A google search turned up Peerless Pearl Buttons, J. L.N. Smythe Paper and Flexible Waterproof Paper Co. having addresses here in the Nineteen-teens. Coudersport Mangle Roller Mfg. Co. had an office listed as 412 Vine St in 1913. Crescent Ink & Color was here from the end of the teens into the 1920's.

1960

The building presently houses office space and apartments.

Today

Know Your Neighborhood: Loxley Court   

Between 321 and 323 Arch is Loxley Court. Through the iron gates can be seen beautifully restored houses, a private and quiet corner in the heart of old city. Benjamin Loxley, a carpenter who worked on Independence Hall and Carpenters' Hall, was the court's first resident in 1744. The Methodists used a tavern or "pot house" at Number 8 as their second meeting house in 1768. They held prayer meetings on the first floor and the minister preached out of the second-floor window to the congregation gathered in the courtyard below.

Loxley himself lived in Number 2, and it was the key from the front door of this house that Benjamin Franklin used in his kite flying experiment with lightning. Number 2 remained in the Loxley family until 1901. Number 8 no longer stands.

1969

1972

Current

Know Your Neighborhood:  The Nativist Riots of 1844  

Although virtually forgotten now, the Philadelphia Nativist Riots of 1844 had significant consequences for political and religious life in the United States, and bear an uncanny resemblance to events taking place today.

In May and July 1844, Philadelphia suffered some of the bloodiest rioting of the antebellum period, as anti-immigrant mobs attacked Irish-American homes and Roman Catholic churches before being suppressed by the militia.  

Ethnic and religious antagonism had a long history in the city.  Since the 1780s, Irish textile workers had come to Philadelphia after losing their jobs to mechanization in the British Isles.  By the time of the Riots, estimates put the Catholic population at roughly 10% of the City's population. Catholic presence provoked anxiety among American- and Irish-born Protestants.   Some of the sentiment was the age-old fear of immigrants taking jobs away from natives, lowering wages, and increasing demands on city services. Much of it, however, revolved around the bible. Alarmed by the rising Catholic population, Protestants and native-born Americans started organizing anti- Catholic and nativist groups.  

Despite its tradition of religious tolerance,  Protestant Christianity dominated the State of Pennsylvania. The Protestant King James Bible was required reading in all public schools.  Students were also required to learn Protestant hymns. The Catholic Church in the English speaking world used a different translation of the Bible, the Douay-Rheims Bible.  Catholic Bibles include several Old Testament Books rejected by most Protestants. Catholics objected to the exclusive use of the Protestant Bible in the schools and the Protestant bias in the religious curriculum.

As a result, the Board of Controllers  of public schools ordered that no child should be forced to participate in religious activities and stated that children were allowed to read whichever version of the Bible their parents wished.   Nativists inflamed hostile feelings towards Catholics by reportedly twisting this as an attack against the Bible used in Protestant devotionals.  

In May of 1844, the nativists held a series of meetings which descended into violent riots.  The violence started in Kensington, but spread south into Northern Liberties and into the city itself.  During the month, at least 14 were killed, more than 50 injured, hundreds of Catholic owned houses were destroyed, a Catholic Seminary and 2 churches were burned (one being St Augustines). 
Despite the presence of Mayor John M. Scott, Sheriff Morton McMichael, and the First City Troop Cavalry, members of the mob set St. Augustine’s on fire. The mob also burned St Augustine's academy, destroying its priceless library, and smashed gravestones in the churchyard. Within a few hours, nothing was left of St. Augustine’s except a blackened shell.  

Further riots occurred in Southwark, in early July of 1844, with another 15 deaths.

During this period in Philadelphia's history, Kensington, Southwark and Northern Liberties were not actually part of the city.  There were no police forces at this time.  The city and surrounding areas only had constables and unarmed night watchmen.  The local sheriff could form a posse but the posse would have been formed by the same people causing the violence.  It took state militias to regain the peace in these areas.  

In the wake of the fighting, Philadelphia consolidated its outlying suburbs into the city proper, and standing police forces were established.  Philadelphia's Bishop Kendrick gave up fighting over which Bible was read in schools, and worked toward creation of Catholic schools, with 17 being founded by 1860.  The friars of the Church of St. Augustine sued the city of Philadelphia for not providing the church with adequate protection, claiming $80,000 in damages, eventually being awarded $45,000.  The church was rebuilt in 1848.

The original St Augustines'

The burning of St Augustines'

Ruins of St Augustines'