Lawrence J.
Biond
|
1677 |
William
Warner builds mansion called Willow Grove
in the vicinity of what is now 46th Street
and Lancaster Avenue. |
|
1682 |
Welsh
Friends establish a meeting house at 30th
and Race Streets known as the Schuylkill Meeting. |
|
1690 |
Welsh
Friends lay out the beginnings of Lancaster
Pike. |
|
1692 |
William
Powel, carpenter, opens a ferry service across
the Schuylkill River at what is now Spring
Garden Street, but runs into legal problems
and has to stop operations. |
|
1700 |
Powel
receives permission from William Penn to operate
his ferry but only during daylight hours. |
|
1700 |
Powel
builds a house on the west bank of the Schuylkill,
south of the ferry and offers accommodations
to travelers. |
|
1739-1793 |
Samuel
Powel; mayor of Philadelphia during the Revolution,
was the last Mayor under the City Charter
of 1701 and the first mayor under the new
City Corporation established in 1789.
He purchased 80 acres of fast (dry) land
plus 16 acres of marsh land northwest
of the west end of the Market Street Bridge.
This estate he named Powelton.
His adopted son, Hare Powel, inherited the
property and built a mansion located on the
block from Powelton Avenue to Race Street
and west of 32nd Street. The lawns extended
down to the banks of the river. |
|
1774 |
Job
T. Pugh establishes an auger and bit manufacturing
plant at 31st and Ludlow Streets. |
|
1785 |
Powel's
Ferry and tavern is purchased by Ashton. |
|
1785 |
John
Fitch runs the first successful experimental
steamboat, holding 20 passengers, from the
Market Street floating bridge to Gray's Ferry. |
|
1795 |
Turnpike
from Philadelphia to the town of Lancaster
opens as the country's first toll road. |
|
1797 |
First
regular stage coach run begins between Lancaster
and Philadelphia (65 miles - 12 hours travel
time). |
|
1805 |
First
permanent bridge across Schuylkill River at
Market Street opens. |
|
1809 |
Mantua:
The land was originally owned by Judge Richard
Peters
(1.744-1828) and planned as a community for
development in 1809. Judge Peters owned Belmont.
(The Belmont mansion still exists). Mantua:
later called Mantuaville, was onginally planned
to extend from Girard Avenue to Spring Garden
Street and Haverford Avenue, from the Schuylkill
River to about 41st Street. Haverford Road
was the main street of the village.
By 1854 Mantuaville had grown and extended
down to the northwest corner of the Market
Street Bridge, west to Lancaster Avenue and
along Lancaster Avenue to Westminster Avenue
and then north to the Schuylkill River. |
|
1812-13 |
A
covered bridge across the Schuylkill is opened
to the public. Architect: Lewis Wernwag, Roxborough. |
|
1813+ |
Hamilton
Street: named for the founders of Hamilton
Village.
Baring Street: named for the English banking
family who had investments in the area.
Powelton Avenue: named for the Powel Estate
which bordered on it.
31st Street and 35th Street were the only
north -south streets open and only to Lancaster
Avenue. |
|
1834 |
Hare
Powel hosts the Powelton Jubilee to celebrate
a Whig political victory for some 60,000 people
on the grounds at Powelton. |
|
1837 |
Sunday
School started at NW corner of 33rd and Spring
Garden Street. |
|
1838 |
Spring
Garden Street Bridge destroyed by arson fire. |
|
1842 |
Wire
suspension replacement bridge opens over the
Schuylkill River. |
|
1846 |
First
Presbyterian Church of Mantua opens at 35th
and Spring Garden Street. |
|
1847 |
Wetherill
and Brother opens white lead manufacturing
plant at 30th Street below Chestnut. |
|
1849 |
West
Philadelphia Post Office moves to the West
Philadelphia Drug Store at 38th and Market
Streets. |
|
Prior to 1850 |
Greenville:Name
given to a settlement in the triangle bounded
by Market Street, Powelton Avenue and Lancaster
Avenue from 36th Street to 40th Street.
Up to 1850, cattle driven in from western
farms were penned in open space between Baring
Street and Fairmount Avenue, from 37th Street
to Lancaster Avenue.
Market Street at 38th Street became a center
for harness and feed stores.
Many bars existed in the area where drivers
would get drunk and raise hell.
The original Saunders Estate was in Greenville.
(this is now Presbyterian Hospital property).
An old German family tavern, Sauer's Hotel,
located at 40th and Filbert Streets, later
became the first pharmaceutical factory of
the late Albert Barnes ( Barnes Collection).
Many German shops existed near Market Street
and Lancaster Avenue. |
|
1850 |
Beginning
of horse drawn trolley service along Market
Street and north on 41st Street to Haverford
Avenue. |
|
1852 |
Roman
Catholic Church of St. James the Greater opens
at 38th and Chestnut Streets. St. James' parish
was established in 1850 and was the first
Catholic parish west of the Schuylkill River. |
|
1852 |
Powel
sells a large part of his estate to the Pennsylvania
Railroad. and then additional parcels to other
developers. |
|
1854 |
West
Philadelphia District created with consolidation
of City of Philadelphia. |
|
1856 |
On
October 7, the United States Agricultural
Exhibit opens on the grounds at Powelton Avenue
to some 80,000 - 100,000 visitors. This was
the forerunner of World Expositions to follow. |
|
1864 |
Pennsylvania
Railroad erects a station at 30th and Market
Streets. |
|
1865 |
The
first St. Andrew's Church is built at 36th
and Baring Streets. |
|
1870 |
Christ
Methodist Episcopal Church opens at 38th and
Hamilton Streets. |
|
1872 |
Only
a small piece of the Powel estate remains
on 33rd Street between Howell ( now Cherry)
Street and Race Street. |
|
1873 |
First
Presbyterian Church of Mantua moves to 35th
and Baring Streets and in 1875 Changes name
to Northminster Presbyterian Church. |
|
1873 |
Emanuel
German Evangelical Reformed Church opens at
35th and Spring Garden Streets. |
|
1873 |
The
Old Man's Home dedicates a building at 39th
Street and Powelton Avenue. (Saunders House). |
|
1874 |
Pennsylvania
Working Home for Blind Men opens at 36th and
Lancaster Avenue. |
|
1875 |
Spring
Garden Street Bridge is replaced by double
deck steel bridge. |
|
1875 |
Philadelphia
Stockyards~ and slaughter houses established
at 30th and Race Streets.
Many meat packing houses open along the south
side of Market Street to 32nd Street. |
|
1876 |
Pennsylvania
Railroad opens a replacement train station
at 32nd Street and Market Streets to accommodate
the Centennial Exposition crowds. |
|
1878 |
Saint
Agatha's Roman Catholic Church opens at 38th
and Spring Garden Streets. |
|
1880 |
The
Industrial Home for Blind Women opens at Saunders
Street and Powelton Avenue. |
|
1883 |
Powel
mansion demolished and Summer and Winter Streets
are cut through and the lots developed with
speculative houses. |
|
1885 |
The
present Saint Andrew's Protestant Episcopal
Church opens on the same 36th and Baring Street
site. |
|
1886 |
West
Philadelphia Theater opens at 39th and Lancaster
Avenue. |
|
1896 |
Pennsylvania
Railroad Station destroyed by major fire. |
|
1927 |
Stockyards
dismantled to allow for the new Pennsylvania
Railroad Station and U.S. Post Office construction. |
|
1930's |
Max
Pfeiffer calls his rental properties on 32nd
Street "Powelton Village". |
|
1940's |
Philadelphia
social workers begin to call the area north
of Market Street, "the Powelton area". This
part of the city now contained social and
economic hard core families. Crime gangs were
prevalent and terrorized the neighborhood. |
|
1955 |
Gerard
Bye and partners chose the name Powelton Village
to define the area from 34th Street to 38th
Street and between Lancaster Avenue and Spring
Garden Street, and started the Powelton Village
Development Association. |
| |
|
|
Source Material and additional reading:
A history of Philadelphia's University
City, Leon S. Rosenthal.
Philadelphia - A 300-Year History Russell
F. Weigley, editor. W.W. Norton and Company,
publishers.
Street Names of Philadelphia, Robert
I. Alotta.
Byways and Boulevards In And About Historic
Philadelphia, Francis Burke Brandt and
Henry Volkmar Gummere, 1925.
City of Independence - Views of Philadelphia
before 1800, Martin P Snyder, Praeger
Publishers, NY 1975. |
