BISHOP WILLIAM WHITEPainted by Gilbert StuartCourtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
BISHOP WILLIAM WHITEPainted by Gilbert StuartCourtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
BISHOP WILLIAM WHITE
Painted by Gilbert StuartCourtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Philadelphia.St. Elizabeth’s, corner of Sixteenth and Mifflin Streets, early Italian, with high Campanile; medieval exterior and interior give an exact idea of old Italian churches; brick; architects, Bailey and Bassett; the choir is raised eight steps from the nave, giving view of the crypt, and dignified elevation of the high altar; over the altar is a copy of Correggio’s “Marriage of St. Catharine”; fine jeweled door of the Pyx on the altar; Lady chapel has an altar of richly carved and gilded wood, finished with a high reredos, copy of an original in Santo Spirito, Florence; paintings set in are copies of works by Fra Filipo Lippi.Church of the Evangelist, now part of Graphic Sketch Club, Catharine Street above Seventh, brick, is a gem of medievalism; Italian Basilican style; red brick, relieved by stone trimmings; pillars of portico rest on backs of lions; architects, Furness & Evans; frescoes by Nicolo d’Ascenzo and by Robert Henri; original compositions and adaptations of great paintings in Italy; font, late English Gothic, with a richly carved stone; above it is the Strasbourg window, containing a figure of the prophet, Jonas; this piece of glass, before the Franco-Prussian War, was in the Cathedral of Strasbourg, and was taken from one of the windows after the Germans had directed their fire on the church and smashed the glass: paving of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre is of Mercer tiles; Rood screen of polished marble, is modeled after that at St. Marco, Venice; Altar rail modeled after that in a chapel at Monreale, Sicily; the reredos, of the high altar, is a copy of a famous altar-piece by Carlo Crivelli; original now in the National Gallery, London.GloriaDei(Old Swedes’), on land given by Swan Swanson, corner of Front and Swanson Streets, near Christian Street; formerly Wecacoa (Indian name for pleasant place); was dedicated in 1700. Georgian architecture, with steep pitched roof; brick work of walls, Flemish bond, headers coated with vitreous, blue black glaze, doubtless the arch bricks in the kiln; great square windows. Erected by the Swedish Lutherans; after the Revolution, care of the Swedish churches was committed to the American Church, and became part of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. This congregation first worshiped in a block house, used also as a fortress from 1677; the font used then is still in the present church.Holy Trinity, Nineteenth and Walnut Streets; Norman Romanesque; architect, John Notman; has fine memorial windows.St. James, Twenty-second and Walnut Streets, founded, 1807; present building, English decorated Gothic with sculptured band around the tower, from which rises the graceful memorial spire; Ohio green sandstone and granite, built, 1870; architect, G. W. Hewitt: pulpit; altar; reredos of fine perpendicular work in Caen stone, rich in ornamentation and sculpture, which also extends around the chancel, with two marble pilasters having delicately carved capitals; all designed by Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson; mosaics of the twelve apostles, in the walls of the nave, suggest those of the Popes in the Church of St. Paul, outside the walls, in Rome; leaded glass by Nicolo d’Ascenzo; font has a bas-relief in white marble, angel scattering flowers, made in Florence, Italy.St. James the Less, near main entrance to Laurel Hill Cemetery; thirteenth centuryGothic; brownstone; once said to be the choicest specimen of church architecture in the United States.St. John Chrysostom, corner Twenty-eighth Street and Susquehanna Avenue, almost an exact copy of St. Stephen’s Church, London, designed by Sir Christopher Wren; Renaissance, granite; architects, Bailey & Bassett; adapted to a square lot, the interior shows form of Greek cross, with inner octagon; rosettes and decorations of the dome are graceful and beautiful; columns, placed on rather high pedestals, are Vermont marble, with very beautiful veining, surmounted by Corinthian capitals: the church is almost entirely white, with no stained glass, and gives an impression of complete harmony.St. Mark’s, Locust Street above Sixteenth, built, 1849; fine specimen of fourteenth century, decorated Gothic, brownstone; plans furnished by the Ecclesiological Society of Cambridge, England; modified by John Notman; altar and reredos are richly carved stone; also the pulpit and choir screen; notable features are the rood beam, with cross and figures; carved sanctuary door; choir and clergy stalls; the altar at head of north aisle is alabaster. Lady chapel, erected, 1900, contains a silver altar of elaborate magnificence, probably finest in the world, of the same style as the one at Florence, Italy, by Pallajnoli, but richer, containing twelve scenes from the life of the Virgin, and studded with precious stones, some four hundred emeralds, sapphires, and opals, a monumental work, which will remain a very splendid presentation of twentieth century English ecclesiastical art; altar rail is silver and bronze; stained glass windows in the church are notable; the sacred vessels andvestments surpass any in the Anglican Communion, in their extraordinary richness; silver processional cross is supposed to be that of the Palermo Cathedral, in 1520; among old vestments are the coronation robes of Louis XV from Rheims Cathedral, of light blue velvet, heavily embroidered with twenty-two karat gold bullion. The first curate was the Rev. Morgan Dix, ordained priest in this church, who became the famous rector of Trinity Church, New York.St. Mary’s, 3916 Locust Street, on ground given by William Hamilton, of Woodlands; first Protestant Episcopal Church in West Philadelphia, organized, 1820; frame church erected, 1824; Bishop White laid the corner-stone; present building, Gothic, consecrated, 1890. Memorial Gothic altar, retable, and reredos are from famous studios in Rome, Italy, said to be the finest example of ecclesiastical mosaic work in this country: windows are from London, Paris, Munich, and Philadelphia. Rev. Thomas C. Yarnall celebrated his fiftieth anniversary as rector of St. Mary’s in 1894.St. Paul’s, east side of Third Street, below Walnut; classic; erected, 1761; third Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia and largest in the province; now headquarters of the City Mission. The General Convention met here in 1814, when Bishop Moore of Virginia was consecrated; Bishop Hobart preached the sermon. St. Paul’s Club, 411 Spruce Street, makes a specialty of giving aid to the down and out drunkard, sobering him up, fitting him for a job, and getting him one; in the five years of its existence to 1917, it has registered 45,000 transient visitors and temporary guests on its books.St. Peter’s, corner of Third andPine Streets, second church erected in Philadelphia, fine example of Georgian architecture, in beauty of line; brick; built, 1761; tower and spire, 218 feet high, were added, 1842; stone finials of gateposts were cut in England; present wall erected in 1784, after the old wooden fence had been taken for fuel by the British. Interior still retains the high-backed box pews, President Washington’s among them, pew 41; the pulpit, surmounting the clerk’s desk, soars upward at the far end, opposite the altar; Provost William Smith preached the consecration sermon; very beautiful stained glass by Myeres, London; remarkable for richness of color and design; many interesting relics in the church’s history are in the sacristy.Church of the Saviour, Thirty-eighth Street above Chestnut, architect, C. M. Burns, has a splendidly impressive chancel; decoration by Edwin Howland Blashfield and furnishings are memorial to Anthony J. Drexel. Memorial window by William and Annie Lee Willet, “Christ and Nicodemus,” has strong decorative quality and richness of color.South Memorial, Church of the Advocate, Eighteenth and Diamond Streets, French Gothic, suggested by Amiens Cathedral; built, 1897; stone; architect, Charles M. Burns; interior profusely adorned with carving, and sixty-five stained glass windows by Clayton and Bell, London.St. Stephen’s, Tenth Street above Chestnut; founded, 1823; early Gothic, with two octagonal towers; stone; designed by William Strickland; contains notable sculpture; the Burd Memorial, “Angel of the Resurrection,” finest Italian marble, by Carl Steinhauser, native of Bremen, who studied in Rome under Thorwaldsen; and recumbent effigy of Colonel Burd; also font by Steinhauser, represents three cherubs supporting on their wings a large marble bowl, with sculpture in relief; the church, decorated by Frank Furness, with color, rich and unusual, sets off admirably the beauty of the memorial marbles; the stately reredos, with its brilliant Venetian mosaic picture, “The Last Supper,” was made in 1889, by Salviati, Venice, from cartoons by Henry Holiday, London, and under his own supervision; large double window in transept also by Holiday; a Tiffany window is, “Christ Among the Lilies,” the only flower He mentions in the Evangels, and accepted as symbol of the resurrection; the window, showing the angel sitting on the edge of the tomb with partly unfolded wings, is copy of a picture by Axel Ender, over the altar of a church in Molde, Northern Norway; near the reredos is “The Angel of Purity,” sculptor Augustus Saint Gaudens, which suggests his “Amor, Caritas,” owned by the French Government, now in the Luxembourg; here is also a bas-relief by Charles Grafley of Dr. David D. Wood, organist of St. Stephen’s for forty-six years; the great organ was built by C. T. Haskell, Philadelphia, in consultation with Dr. Wood; pipes were voiced in the church, resulting in a sweetness and just proportion of tone; its echo organ, located about two hundred feet away, is in the loft over the chancel. Parish house is on site of the old graveyard, tombstones are in pavement of cloister; architect, George C. Mason, Jr.Trinity, Oxford, Oxford Road and Second Street Pike; colonial; founded, 1698. Present brick church erected 1711-12; the transepts and tower later; was the first house ofworship in Pennsylvania, owned and occupied by the Quakers, and presented by them to the Church of England, for Episcopal use and worship. Chalice and paten sent by Queen Anne, engraved “Anne Regina,” 1713; she died in 1714, it is probably the last one she sent to America, and has been used in every Holy Communion for over two centuries. Tiffany altar window, “The Baptism of Christ.” The altar, of walnut and oak, is beautifully carved. This is the mother of many flourishing missions, St. Luke’s, Germantown; Our Saviour, Jenkintown; St. Mark’s, Frankford; Emmanuel, Holmesburg; Holy Trinity, Rockledge; and Trinity Chapel, Crescentville; today it stands, vigorous and full of life, in its old age, greatly enlarged and carefully restored; the utmost care has been taken to disturb none of the old walls, and to keep the historic features intact; the glass, in the body of the church, is an opaque yellow, harmonizing with the colonial buff of the walls and barrel ceiling. The churchyard is of great interest, one stone, dated, 1686, is said to mark the grave of an Indian.
The Reformed Church in the United States, which brought its beautiful and significant emblem, “The lily among thorns,” from the fatherland, is derived from the Reformed Churches of Switzerland and Germany; these churches are largely to be found in the counties east of the Susquehanna River. William Penn’s mother, Margaret Jasper, was reared in this faith; noted members who came here were Michael Schlatter, in 1746, from St. Gall, Switzerland; sent to establish an ecclesiastical organization; he was practically the first superintendent of public instruction inPennsylvania; died, 1790, and was buried in the Reformed graveyard in Philadelphia, now Franklin Square; Colonel Henry Bouquet, from Switzerland, proved the saviour of the early settlers in Pontiac’s war and obtained the restoration of all captives to their homes; three hundred and seventy were brought back; and Baron von Steuben, who had served on the staff of Frederick the Great at the siege of Prague, drilled our men into efficiency to cope with the British regulars; later he commanded at the Siege of Yorktown, which he pressed so vigorously that Cornwallis was obliged to surrender. Zion Reformed Church at Allentown sheltered our Liberty Bell and the Christ Church bells during the Revolution; among their thirty churches in Philadelphia and vicinity, of Gothic architecture, stone, are theFirst Church, Fiftieth and Locust Streets; oldest of this denomination in Philadelphia; moved from Tenth and Wallace Streets;Palatinate, Fifty-sixth Street and Girard Avenue;St. John’s, Fortieth and Spring Garden Streets; andTrinity, northeast corner of Broad and Venango Streets. There are also five churches of the Dutch Reformed.
Roman Catholic.The churches of this denomination are all notable for good architecture, interior sumptuous, ecclesiastical decoration.Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, finely situated on Logan Square and the Parkway; Classic Renaissance, brownstone; built 1846-64; architect, Napoleon LeBrun; “The Crucifixion,” back of the high altar, genuine fresco painting, is by Constantine Brumidi, who, about the same time, executed important decorations, in the samemedium, in the dome of the Capitol at Washington; on entering the church, in chapels on both sides of the door, are mural decorations by Henry J. Thouron, said, by high authority, to be the best mural paintings in the United States; the first was placed in 1911 as a fitting background for a statue of the Virgin and Child by Louis Madrazzi, which Mr. Thouron brought from Paris as a gift to the Cathedral; in the north transept is a painting, “The Dead Christ,” attributed to Titian; a work of art of exceptional merit is a large ivory crucifix, the master work of Carlo Pazenti, an Augustinian lay brother, about 1840; acquired for the church, with much difficulty, by the venerable John N. Neumann, fourth Bishop of Philadelphia; when, during the Civil War, the Sanitary Fair was being held in Logan Square, Archbishop Wood, then Bishop Wood, exhibited this beautiful work daily, for the benefit of the great cause; it was returned each evening to its place in the Cathedral.St. John the Evangelist, Thirteenth Street above Chestnut, for a short time the cathedral; early English, Gothic; interior, perpendicular Gothic; cornerstone laid by Bishop Kenrick, third Bishop of Philadelphia; church opened April 8, 1832: a flagellation of Christ, much darkened, by Garacci, was presented to the church by Joseph Bonaparte soon after its completion: Mozart’s “Requiem Mass” was rendered, for the first time in America, at St. John’s Church, and the music there today, is said to be the best church music in Philadelphia.St. Patrick’s, Twentieth Street below Locust, originated in a frame church in 1839, on east side of Nineteenth Street near Spruce; the seventy-fifth anniversary was celebratedin 1916, was attended by many notable dignitaries of the church. Windows by d’Ascenzo.St. Francis de Sales, Forty-seventh Street and Springfield Avenue, Romanesque, with Byzantine details; built, 1907-10; architect, Henry D. Dagit, Philadelphia; the leaded glass is particularly beautiful; windows are of the antique school and extremely rich in color, including four rose windows, designed and made by Nicolo d’Ascenzo, Philadelphia. Four old historic churches rather near together,St. Joseph’s, on Willing’s Alley, south of Walnut, below Fourth Street; built on site of first Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, established by a member of the “Society of Jesus” from Maryland, in 1731;St. Mary’s, Fourth Street, above Spruce;St. Augustine’s, Fourth Street, above Race; andHoly Trinity, northwest corner of Sixth and Spruce Streets, had their origin in the eighteenth century, the first two long before the Revolution. St. Augustine’s is on site of a building erected in 1801, by the hermits of the Order of St. Augustine; it had William Rush’s wooden sculpture “The Crucifixion,” but this was burned in 1847. Holy Trinity, German, is of somewhat earlier date; the wayfarer who now looks in on any of them may readily picture them as they were over one hundred years ago. In St. Mary’s Church is a very fine pieta by Boucher, a modern French sculptor.
Swedenborgian, or The New Church, grew out of the teachings of Emmanuel Swedenborg, scholar, traveler, scientist, and religious writer, born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1688. A school of the New Church was started in Philadelphia in 1854.First “NewJerusalem” Church, Twenty-second and Chestnut Streets, Gothic, brownstone, was built in 1884; architect, Theophilus P. Chandler. Connected with it is a free library and reading room.
Unitarian.First Church, Chestnut Street near Twenty-second, built, 1885; was organized, 1796, in a room of the University of Pennsylvania; in 1797 Dr. Joseph Priestly delivered an address to this Society, and enrolled himself among the members. William Henry Furness was ordained pastor in 1825, in the church at the corner of Tenth and Locust Streets; present church contains some interesting memorials, Dr. Furness, bust by M. Launt Thompson, New York; circular window to Dr. Priestly by John LaFarge; other windows are English; and some are by Tiffany, New York.Girard Avenue Unitarian, Girard Avenue above Fifteenth Street, organized by the Rev. Charles G. Ames, in the late seventies; Gothic, granite.Germantown Unitarian, corner of Chelten Avenue and Greene Street, built, 1866; Gothic; architect, Frank Furness; has good stained glass windows, made by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, London. Rev. Samuel Longfellow, brother of the poet, was pastor for some years; also the Rev. Charles G. Ames.
On east and west banks of the Schuylkill River, and Wissahickon Creek; second largest municipal park in the world, 3597 acres; its only superior in acreage being Blue Hills Park, Boston, with 4906 acres. The ravines, “unkempt and wild,” all have springs of clear, cold water. Main entrance at Green Street is also approachto the proposedPhiladelphia Museum of Art, on a raised terrace, like a Greek Temple, facing the Parkway; Horace Trumbauer, C. C. Zantzinger, and Charles L. Borie, Jr., architects; part of the plan for development of Philadelphia within a radius of thirty miles: here also is the “Washington Monument,” sculptor, Professor Siemering of Berlin, erected by the “Society of the Cincinnati.” Continue drive, to the Schuylkill River, proposed Ericsson Memorial, Paul B. Cret, architect, was commissioned to prepare a design for development of the entire basin, from boat houses to Spring Garden Street, including theAquarium, formed, 1911, using the classic marble buildings of the old waterworks; it is said to be the best equipped in the world; walls of exhibition tanks are covered with calcareous tufa, rock shell formation from the Ohio River Valley, full of holes, in which deep water vegetation is planted to suggest sea bottom; Arctic and tropical life have their own temperatures; also hatching rooms. This tract and Rocky Hill, of the old waterworks, five acres, between Green and Callowhill Streets, was named by William Penn,Fair Mount; it was used as the terminal pillar of the British redoubts, stretching across the city from the Schuylkill to the Delaware, in 1777-78. Acquired by the city in 1812 as site for the city waterworks, moved from Centre Square, for park purposes. This was the beginning of Fairmount Park; to beautify the grounds, walks were laid out up to the reservoir, and the rock decorated with sculpture, chiefly woodcarving, by William Rush, including the groups, “The Schuylkill in an Improved State,” and “The Schuylkill in Chains,” which are still over the entrancesto the wheel houses; “Justice” and “Wisdom,” full-length statues, carved for decoration of the triumphal arch in front of the State House at Lafayette’s reception in 1824, are now in the hatching room; and “Leda and the Swan,” modeled in 1812 from Miss Vanuxen, a Philadelphia belle, a bronze reproduction is here now. Boat houses are of decorative construction.The Schuylkill Navy, said to be the most complete association devoted to rowing in the world, is the center for test trials of skill and endurance, of national interest; it is known as the American Henley; the course above Columbia Avenue bridge is ideal for oarsmen, and the banks rise like seats of an auditorium. On the main drive from the Aquarium are theLincoln Monument, bronze, sculptor, Randolph Rogers, made in Rome, cast in Munich; Iron Spring, and a bronze group, “Lioness Carrying to Her Young a Wild Boar,” sculptor, August Cain; near Brown Street entrance is bronze group, “Silenus and the Infant Bacchus”; original in the Louvre, credited to Praxiteles; and the bronze group, “The Wrestlers,” from original antique in the Royal Gallery, Florence; both reproduced by Barbedienne, Paris.
Lemon Hill Mansion, built by Henry Pratt about 1800, near site of favorite home of Robert Morris. “The Hills,” planned by Major L’Enfant, built, 1773; the property was bought by the city in 1844, and dedicated, in 1855, as a Public Park. Northwest on main drive isGrant’s Cabin, headquarters of General U. S. Grant in siege of Richmond, 1864-65, brought to the Park from City Point, Virginia, at close of Civil War; opposite isSedgeley Guard House, formerly theporter’s lodge of the Sedgeley Park Estate, site of a Gothic mansion, built, 1800, by William Crammond; acquired for the Park by public-spirited citizens; on same drive, near east end of Girard Avenue bridge, is the replica bronze equestrian statue of “Jeanne D’Arc,” sculptor, Fremiet, Paris; among the best examples of modern French equestrian sculpture. The original is in “La Place des Pyramids,” Paris.
River Drivenear boat houses, “Tam O’Shanter,” four figures, red sandstone, sculptor, Thom; from the last boat house, or the Beacon Light, to Girard Avenue bridge will be theEllen Phillips Samuel Memorial, for which she left $500,000 in 1913; Fairmount Park Art Association, legatee; “On top of stone bulkhead I will have erected, 100 feet apart, on high granite pedestals, uniform in size and style, the History of America, symbolized in a system of statuary”; model made by Edgar V. Seeler. Near are the heroic bronze bust of James A. Garfield, with allegorical figure, sculptor, Augustus Saint Gaudens; the colossal bronze equestrian group, “Lion Fighter,” on natural jutting rock, sculptor, Professor Albert Wolff, cast, 1893; and scattered along, five bronzed iron fountains, replicas of those at Rond Point, Champs Elysees, cast in Paris at foundry of Val D’Osne.
North of tunnel, above Girard Avenue bridge, on River Drive, bronze equestrian statue, “Cowboy,” sculptor, Frederick Remington; a band of cowboys and Indians participated in the unveiling; River and Fountain Green Drive, heroic bronze equestrian statue, “General U. S. Grant”; sculptors, Daniel Chester French for Grant, Edward C. Potter for horse, modeledfrom the nineteen-year-old gelding, “General Grant,” sired by an Arabian stallion (Leopold), presented to the General in 1878 by the Sultan of Turkey; cast by Bureau Bros., Philadelphia, mounted on Jonesboro granite pedestal, designed by Frank Miles Day and Brother. Columbia Avenue entrance, fountain of “Orestes and Pylades,” bronze group, on Richmond granite pedestal, with bronze masks; sculptor, Carl Steinhauser, Calsruhe, Germany; cast in Philadelphia; near is the Children’s Playground building, erected by Richard and Sarah Smith in 1898; and a park mansion,Mt. Pleasant, land bought from Phineas Bond by John MacPherson, who built the house in 1761, after style of a house in Scotland owned by the chief of his clan, the MacPhersons of Clunie; in 1779, purchased by Benedict Arnold; on his conviction for treason, it was confiscated by the state; in 1781-82 Baron von Steuben occupied it, and here wrote the army regulations which created the American Army; in 1868 it became property of the city, and was added to Fairmount Park.
Rocklandcomes next, on west side of Dairy Ball Field, occupied 1750-65 by John Lawrence, a notable mayor of Philadelphia; near Rockland isOrmiston, colonial, owned by Edward Burd, prothonotary, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, named for Scotch home of Mrs. Burd, daughter of Lord Haliburton of Ormiston, who founded the Burd Orphan Asylum; near Dauphin Street entrance, Grand Fountain, bronze and iron, and park trolley station.
Northwest isWoodfordmansion; ground deeded by Penn to Dennis Rockford in 1693; house built, 1742,by William Coleman, an original member of the Junto Club; friend of Franklin and Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, colonial, brick; original oak floor is still in fine state of preservation; boards doweled together; laths are hand-cut, and handwork on cornices and wainscoting most beautiful; fireplace and mantel in main room are worthy of attention, although now marred by paint; later it became the home of the Franks family;Edgeleyball field, site of residence built by Philip Syng Physick, 1828-36, Professor of Surgery at University of Pennsylvania and first American to be elected member of the Royal Academy of France; theRandolph Mansionis west of Edgeley; interesting colonial house with beautiful handwork in cornices.
Strawberry Mansion, near Dauphin Street entrance; residence of William Lewis; then called Summerville, now used as a restaurant; name was given when added to the park; fine colonial architecture; main hall shows still how beautiful it must have been, with exquisite handwork on cornices, wainscoting, and niches in the hall ornamented with hand tracery.
Along the river drive we pass other country seats known as Harleigh, Fairy Hill, and the Laurels, now South, Central, and North Laurel Hill. Near the Falls on east side of Ridge Road, stood the home of Governor Thomas Mifflin, the fighting Quaker; from the Falls bridge a fine view is obtained of the Schuylkill Navy’s race course.
Farther up is theWissahickonCreek, Wisamickan (Catfish Creek), or Wisaucksickan (yellow colored stream); we enter the deep recesses of this ravine,where the waters empty into the Schuylkill River; tradition says that on the northwest bank stood a flour mill; in Revolutionary times the owner ground glass or plaster, with the wheat, for the patriot army, for this crime some of Washington’s soldiers hanged him on a tree in front of his mill; here General Armstrong’s corps attacked the Hessian and British soldiers, October 4, 1777, while the Battle of Germantown was in progress: up the Wissahickon drive is Maple Spring Hotel, decorated by grotesque figures of animals and birds, carved out of native laurel; beyond this, across the stream, are abrupt bluffs, from one, the most prominent, called Lover’s Leap, tradition says, a young Indian and the girl whom he loved, being forbidden to marry, plunged into the waters below and were drowned; a steep grade leads to the six-mile stone; here Paper Mill Run empties into the Wissahickon, and here Nicholas Rittenhouse had his grist mill; just beyond, close beside an old bridge, is a quaint old house, inside is a stone tablet marked “C. W. R. 1707,” hereDavid Rittenhouse, the famous astronomer, was born; on Paper Mill Run, the first paper mill in this country was erected, about 1690, by William Rittenhouse: a portion of this land near Tulpehocken Street, within park limits, once belonged to the Queen of Spain; farther is the Blue Stone Bridge, and just beyond is Lotus Inn.
Northward, the east shore becomes more steep, to Mom Rinker’s Rock, she is said to have been a witch; upon the height stands a statue ofWilliam Penn, with the single word “Toleration” cut on the pedestal; the statue and land were given to the city, for park purposes, by Hon. John Welsh, ex-minister to England.
One quarter mile farther is Kitchen Lane, and theHermit’s Well, dug by Johannes Kelpius, scholar and mystic, who came from Germany with his followers, forty men, the number of perfection, in 1694, “to the new world, to see the dawn of the millennium; the pathway to the Light Illumitable, in the glory of religious liberty in Pennsylvania”; they were followers of the Essenes who lived in the solitudes of the Dead Sea, of which St. John the Baptist is said to have been a member; the Ridge and Valley of the Wissahickon gave them a temple of sacred grandeur; places there are now known as Hermit’s Land, and Hermit’s Glen; the piety and humility of Kelpius made him renowned; John Rogers of Connecticut and leaders of other colonies came long distances to consult this great Magister, he lived wholly to the service of God and his fellow men; the Baptistry, a place in the creek, is shown where the monks immersed their converts; after Kelpius’ death, about 1710, his followers built the monastery, replaced in 1752 by a stone house, built by Joseph Gorgas, also called the monastery; ruins still there: the bones of these faithful men are interred under the floor, in the chancel of St. Michael’s Protestant Episcopal Church, High Street, Germantown; also some of their original headstones are there: their books were given, in 1728, to Christ Church, Philadelphia, where they may still be seen: the cult is now found about Ephrata, among the Seventh Day Baptists.
Beyond the monastery, near Livezey’s Lane, are caves, said to have been the abode of hermits. Half a mile farther is Livezey’s mansion, built, 1698, said to have been neutral ground where British and Americanofficers met during 1777-78; now headquarters of the Valley Green Canoe Club; above is Cresheim Creek, a small tributary flowing into the Wissahickon Creek, among great masses of huge rocks, under tall pines, making a dark pool, called the Devil’s Pool; said to be bottomless; scene of an engagement during the Battle of Germantown. Just beyond is Valley Green, a quaint old wayside inn; here is a stone bridge with strong buttresses and single arch; the reflection makes a clear oval; farther is the first drinking fountain erected in Philadelphia, “Pro Bono Publico,” placed in 1854; white marble; half a mile beyond, at east end of Rex Avenue Bridge, is Indian Rock, summit crowned by heroic statue of Tedyuscung, last of Indian chiefs to leave the shores of the Delaware. Northwest the ravine is deep and the hills steep, winding toward Chestnut Hill. It is proposed by the city to extend Fairmount Park, on both sides of the Wissahickon, to Fort Washington, and include Militia Hill at Whitemarsh, famous in the Revolution, making the Park one thousand acres larger.
West Park, west end of Girard Avenue Bridge,Zoölogical Gardens, open daily, including Sundays; in front, bronze group, “The Dying Lioness”; sculptor, Professor Wilhelm Wolff, Berlin, cast in Munich. The inclosure embracesSolitude, a mansion built in 1785 by John Penn, the poet, grandson of the founder and cousin of John Penn of Lansdowne; was last property owned in America by the Penn family; notable decorations are in the ground floor room; ceiling, fine example of French stucco, Louis XV period. The Zoölogical Gardens were incorporated in 1859; oldestincorporated body of its kind in America; on an area of forty-one acres arranged by H. Schwarzmann in 1873, opened, 1874, with large and attractive buildings, in which representative species of living animals are shown; it is a private organization; the Pathological Laboratory has for its objects, assistance in the hygienic control of the Garden; collection of statistics upon diseases of wild animals; and research: many species of water, and other birds, are on the large lake, and inclosures scattered through the Garden.
Opposite, on Girard Avenue, isWilliam Penn’s House, originally in Letitia Street, near Second and Market; first brick house in Philadelphia, built, 1683, removed in 1883;Landsdowne Entranceto the Park, under two spacious elliptical arches of the Pennsylvania Railroad viaduct, carrying the railroad across Girard Avenue, is a dignified and handsome structure. Near is bronze group, “Hudson Bay Wolves,” sculptor, Edward Kemeys, cast in Philadelphia.
In 1732, “The State in Schuylkill,” a fishing club, first social club in Philadelphia, leased an acre of land near here, and built a hut; annual rental, three sun perch, presented on a pewter plate; they were here for ninety years; now in New Jersey; the members espoused the Revolutionary cause, and in 1774 formed a Company, called “The Light Horse,” afterwards, in 1778, became the First City Troop.
On Lansdowne Drive isSweet Brier Mansion, built by Samuel Breck about 1810; colonial, in the hall is an interesting wrought iron grill; in front is bronze Indian group,The Stone Age, sculptor, John J. Boyle; cast in France.The Smith MemorialGate, to Pennsylvania men distinguished in the Civil War, is at entrance to the Esplanade; architects, James and John T. Windrim, erected, with statuary, 1897-1912; sculpture all colossal; equestrian, Major General Hancock, sculptor, J. Q. A. Ward; and Major General McClellan, sculptor, Edward C. Potter; statues, Major General Meade, sculptor, Daniel Chester French; Major General Reynolds, sculptor, Charles Grafly; Richard Smith, sculptor, Herbert Adams; busts, Admiral Porter, sculptor, Charles Grafly; Major General Hartranft, sculptor, A. Stirling Calder; Admiral Dahlgren, sculptor, George E. Bissel; James H. Windrim, sculptor, Samuel Murray; Major General S. W. Crawford, sculptor, Bessie O. Potter Vonnoh; Governor Curtin, sculptor, Moses Ezekiel; General James A. Beaver, sculptor, Katharine M. Cohen; John B. Gest, sculptor, Charles Grafly; two eagles and globes, sculptor, J. Massey Rhind.
TheJohn Welsh Memorial, President of theCentennial Expositon, formal Garden, with fountain, on site of Centennial main building, Parkside Avenue approach to Memorial Hall; “Florentine Lions,” cast by Harrison, Winans and Eastwick at Alexandroffsky, Russia, in 1849, from pair at entrance of Imperial Mechanical Works, originals at entrance to Loggia di Lanzi, Florence;Memorial Hall, front terrace, bronze, Spanish cannon, Miltiades, date, 1743; bronze, Spanish cannon, Semiramis, date, 1737; bronze, Spanish mortar, date, 1731, from fortifications in Cuba; carved decorations with Spanish royal arms of Philip and Elizabeth Farnese; two bronze groups: “Winged Horses,” led by muses of epic and lyric poetry, Calliopeand Clio; sculptor, Pilz, made for Vienna Opera House, Austria; Memorial Hall, German Renaissance; architect, Hermann J. Schwarzmann; contains complete model of the arrangement of the Centennial buildings, made to scale by John Baird; first International Exposition held in America; when our national art was invigorated by competition with masterpieces of other lands, and now challenges comparison with the best: also Pompeian collection of paintings, illustrative of Pompeian life; and bronze face and hands of Abraham Lincoln; casts taken from first replicas, of original casts from life, in 1860; sculptor, Leonard W. Volk, Chicago; for collections, see Art. North of Memorial Hall is heroic bronze equestrian statue,Major General George Gordon Meade, sculptor, Alexander Milne Calder.
Horticultural Hall, erected 1876, on site ofLansdowne Mansion, built by Governor John Penn in 1773; stone; Italian; in 1816, leased by Joseph Bonaparte for two years, accidentally destroyed by fire in 1854. In 1866, the land was acquired from Barney family for the park; Moorish style, architect, Hermann J. Schwarzmann, also responsible for plan of adjacent sunken garden: no other building for similar purposes in this country can approach it, in dignity of design: contains marble statue “Il Penseroso,” sculptor, Mosier, acquired, 1874. Notable plants housed in this building are a gigantic specimen ofAttalea Cohiene, bay oil palm, from Central America, possibly most superb palm to be seen under glass anywhere;Phœnix Canariensisfrom the Canary Islands;Seaforthiasfrom Australia;Howeasfrom Lord Howe’s Island; Cocoapalms;Ceroxylon, wax palms, towering sixty or seventy feet; giant Rubber trees;Araucariasfrom Australia; Bamboos from the Orient; and lofty Tree Ferns from New Zealand unite to produce a wonderfully impressive scene, not unlike a glorified tropical forest, emphasized by training creepers up the lofty stems, growing ferns and orchids in crotches of the limbs, and by the strange aerial roots which reach down from these clinging plants to seek nourishment in the soil below, as in the tropical jungle. The Cactus house is arranged to give something the effect of arid regions, by planting in sterile soil; the Fern houses, with superb collections of Tree Ferns, and smaller growingAdiantums,Nephrolepis,Acrostichums, recall the effect of mountain ravines. A special house is given to the Cycads or Sago palms, survivals of vegetation of fossil beds, of which this collection is unique in this country. Another tropical house contains theBromeliador pineapple family, collection unique in many respects.
In the gardens, most striking features are the rare trees, golden larch, Pseudo-Larix; the Gordonias,Franklinias; oaks. East front has bronze busts ofSchubert, granite pedestal with bronze bas-relief; “Music,” sculptor, Henry Baerer, New York;Hayden, a trophy won by United Singers of Philadelphia at the National Saengerfest;Verdi, on artistic sandstone pedestal, with carved figure; “Religious Liberty,” marble, sculptor, Moses Ezekiel; presented by the Hebrew Society B’nai B’rith. A short walk east, near Columbia Avenue bridge, is said to be Tom Moore’s cottage; the poet was a frequent guest both at Belmont and Ormiston, with communication by boat.
The Sunken Garden, west, rearranged to conform to Moorish ideals of garden approaches, is now a pool, about eight hundred feet long, similar to that before the Taj Mahal, flanked on both sides by spreading Oriental planes; beyond this central feature are flower gardens, following the Oriental in color arrangement, making an effect of noble proportions. A bronzeSundialshows the variations for each month of the year, and the time at twelve o’clock in twelve principal cities of the world; on Tennessee marble pedestal, with four supporting female figures, emblematic of the four seasons; sculptor, A. Sterling Calder. Bronze statues of Schiller, made in 1886, granite pedestal with bronze panels in bas-relief representing poetry, history, drama; and of his friend Goethe, made in 1890, granite pedestal decorated with bronze laurel wreaths.
Roman CatholicCentennial Fountain, erected by the Total Abstinence Societies, sculptor, Herman Kern.Japanese Temple Gateand lotus pond, near Belmont Avenue, part of Japanese exhibit in St. Louis, in 1904, showing best Japanese work of three hundred years ago; also on way to George’s Hill are, the Ohio, English, and Rhode Island Centennial buildings.George’s Hill, eighty-three acres, acquired by bequest to the City of Philadelphia, in 1868, through the Fairmount Park Commission, for the health and enjoyment of the people forever.
Belmont Mansion, built, 1743, by William Peters, stone, on estate of two hundred acres, approached by avenue of tall hemlocks, ninety feet high. Washington and Lafayette both planted trees here; view down the Schuylkill is like the Rhine; City Hall Tower focusesthe eyes in the distance; Richard Peters, his son, wit and scholar, born here, was made Judge of the United States District Court of Pennsylvania by Washington; who was entertained here; also Hancock, the Adamses, Jefferson, Steuben, Talleyrand, and Louis Philippe.
North of Belmont isRidgeland, once private residence; continue northeast near Park Trolley Station,Chamounixmansion, formerly known as Mount Prospect for its fine situation; built, 1802, by George Plumstead, a Philadelphia merchant.
William Penn, in his city plan, laid out five squares.Penn Square, Broad and Market Streets, site of early waterworks; now occupied by City Hall;Washington, Sixth and Walnut Streets; first Potter’s Field;Rittenhouse, Eighteenth and Walnut Streets, remodeled like a French park; playground for children of city’s social center;Lion and Serpent, bronze; sculptor, Barye; replica of one in the Garden of the Tuilleries, Paris;The Duck Girl, bronze; sculptor, Paul Manship;Billy, sculptor, Albert Laessle.Logan, on the Parkway;Swan Memorial Fountainto be in center, sculptor, A. Sterling Calder. This was the second Potter’s Field, and place of public executions; site of Sanitary Fair, in 1864, for the Civil War, visited by President and Mrs. Lincoln, pronounced most brilliant affair ever held in America.Franklin, Sixth and Race Streets, formerly a burial ground.
Broad Street, running north and south, is 113 feet wide and 12 miles long from League Island to City Line.Burholme, near Fox Chase, museum and librarygiven and maintained by provision in will of Robert W. Ryerss; over forty-eight acres; opened to public in 1910.Clark’s, Forty-third Street and Chester Avenue, has artistic bronze group,Dickens and Little Nell, made in 1890; sculptor, Frank Edwin Elwell; awarded gold medals, Philadelphia, 1891; Chicago, 1893.Cobb’s Creek, 338 acres, formed, 1904; follows Cobb’s Creek on east bank; chiefly steep, tree-covered slopes for 107 acres; crossing at Mount Moriah Cemetery; widens, north of Market Street, into rolling landscape; has public golf links.Fernhill, ten acres, bounded by Wissahickon Avenue, Roberts Avenue, Schuyler Street, and Abbottsford Avenue, Germantown; memorial to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McKean, part of their old homestead, given by their children to Park Commissioners with endowment.Fisher, twenty acres; near North Penn branch, Reading Railway; acquired by gift, 1909.Hunting Park, with lake, eighty-seven acres; crossing Northeast Boulevard at Nicetown Lane.League Islandand United States Navy Yard; part of Southern Boulevard.Morris, twenty acres; extension of Cobb’s Creek Park; beautiful forest, watered by Indian Run Creek, acquired by gift, 1912.Pennypack, near mouth of Pennypack Creek to Rhawn Street, 532 acres, acquired in 1905; beautiful fertile valley with stream, widened in places, with half ruined mill dams and their waterfalls; quaint masonry bridges, either in single arch or series of spans.Reynolds, Snyder Avenue and Seventeenth Street, contains memorial to General John F. Reynolds, a hero of Gettysburg; granite shaft, six feet high, with bronze medallion of General Reynolds; sculptor, H. K. Bush-Brown;
THE DUCK GIRLFrom the Fountain in Rittenhouse SquarePaul Manship, Sculptor
THE DUCK GIRLFrom the Fountain in Rittenhouse SquarePaul Manship, Sculptor
THE DUCK GIRL
From the Fountain in Rittenhouse Square
Paul Manship, Sculptor
unveiled, 1915.Wister’s Woods, contains fine trees and profusion of dogwood; forty-four acres; East Germantown; bird sanctuary.
Total amount of space devoted to park, square, and boulevard purposes within city limits is 8,037.32 acres.
The Fairmount Park Art Associationorganized 1871, to express high civic ideals, in forms of beauty and dignity, synonymous with art, have had large mounted photographs of the sculpture in Fairmount Park placed in Philadelphia public schools.
Academy of Natural Sciences, on the Parkway at Logan Circle, was founded, 1812, in the house of Thomas Say, Esq., northwest corner of Second and Market Streets. The Museum, for its historic value and extent of its collection, is one of the most important in existence; arranged in two series, an exhibition for the public, and reference for specialists. Library contains about 60,000 volumes, nearly all on natural sciences; several important publications are issued by the Academy, and numerous lectures on natural history are given annually. Contains portraits of founders, Thomas Say, Gerard Troost, William Maclure, Charles Lesueur, Sir Joseph Banks, Samuel L. Mitchell. All painted by Charles Willson Peale, and hung in Peale’s Museum; others by noted artists are Robert Bridges, Isaac Lea, Joseph Leidy, by Bernard Uhle; Jacob Gilliams by P. F. Rothermel; William Hempbell and George Ord by John Neagle; Samuel G. Morton by Paul Weber; W. S. W. Ruschenberger by William K. Hewitt; Isaac Wistar by Robert Vonnoh; also afine study model of Alexander Wilson, the ornithologist, by Charles Grafly, and statuette of same by Alexander Calder.
American Philosophical Society, 103 South Fifth Street, on lot in State House yard, given the Society by the state in 1785; colonial, brick; built, 1789: originated in “The Junto” formed by Benjamin Franklin, 1727, with the object of mutual improvement; received its name 1769, “The American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge.” Benjamin Franklin, then in Europe, sole American plenipotentiary to France from the thirteen provinces, was elected first president, and continued until his death in 1790. David Rittenhouse, second president, served until his death in 1796; he, with other members, successfully observed the Transit of Venus, June 3, 1769, giving the first approximately accurate results to the world, in the measurements of the spheres; he also constructed an orrery for measuring heavenly bodies. Thomas Jefferson, third president, served eighteen years, while he was also Vice-President and President of the United States, and established its library and cabinet. Present President, Dr. W. W. Keen. Its membership is world wide. At the meetings, held regularly, the most advanced thought in scientific investigation is presented. The Society now owns most of the Franklin papers in existence, recently calendared in five volumes by Dr. I. Minis Hays; field notes of Lewis and Clark expedition; original copy of Penn’s Charter of Privileges, dated 1701; manuscript volume, Laws of Pennsylvania prior to 1700, and original broadside, Declaration of Independence. Oil portraits of all its Presidents are here and of many leading members; notably, George Washington, by Gilbert Stuart; President Jefferson, Benjamin Rush, John Vaughn, Caspar Wistar, P. S. DuPonceau, all by Thomas Sully; David Rittenhouse and Samuel Vaughn by C. W. Peale; Joseph Priestly and Chief Justice William Tilghman by Rembrandt Peale; Daniel G. Brinton by Thomas Aikens; Professor Alexander Dallas Bache by Huntington; General Isaac Wistar and Joseph Henry by Bernard Uhle; several notable busts of Jefferson, Turgot, and Condorcet by Houdon; Benjamin Franklin by Caffieri; and of Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, and Nicholas Biddle.
The Franklin Institute, Seventh Street above Chestnut; organized, 1824; open free daily; classic, marble, built, 1825; John Haviland, architect. First organization in the United States to combine science with practice; the lecture course presents, free to the public, latest advances in useful arts and sciences, by distinguished technologists; also popular illustrated addresses on topics of the day; school of Mechanic Arts includes instruction in mechanical and architectural drawing, said to be one of the most thorough and practical in the United States. Library is second to none, in extent and completeness, as reference for scientific literature;The Franklin Journal, published since 1825, monthly, is the only record extant of a number of early United States patents. They held first exhibition in America of American manufactures, 1824, in Carpenters’ Hall, and first electrical exhibition in America. Portraits include Dr. Benjamin Franklin and Matthias W. Baldwin by Sully, Daguerre by Abraham Whiteside, and bust of Henry Clay by William Rush, carved wood. Among relics are typesetting and electrical machines, used by Benjamin Franklin, and early models of machinery. Will be moved to Parkway, Race Street, east of Nineteenth Street.
The Historical Societyof Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, in mansion of General Robert Patterson, enlarged and made fireproof; founded, 1824. Open 10.00A.M.to 6.00P.M.; July and August, closes at 4.00P.M.; publishes thePennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography; contains probably the largest collection of sources of American history assembled in any one place; includes over 100,000 bound books, 250,000 pamphlets, 7000 volumes of manuscripts and some 3500 volumes of newspapers, which are invaluable to the student of colonial and Revolutionary history; anIndex to the Marriages and Deaths, in Dunlap, Claypoole and Poulson’sAmerican Daily Advertiser, creates a constant demand for the files of that newspaper for genealogical purposes; Tom Paine’sAmerican Crisis, 1776, and many other rare imprints of Americans. The Society has a large and exceedingly rich collection of oil paintings; practically all the governors of the state are represented in portraiture on its walls, some of the mayors of Philadelphia, and portraits of many Revolutionary officers; a portrait of Johannes Kelpius, the “Hermit of the Wissahickon,” by Christopher Wick, in 1704, is believed to be the earliest portrait in oil painted in America; portraits of Gustavus Hesselius, his wife, and of Robert Morris, Sr., father of the financier, painted by Gustavus Hesselius, are of historic interest; a fine collection of original