| October
2000
The Schuylkill River West Bank
of the 1700s
by Scott Ryder
This area, first known as the western Liberty Lands,
was a place of striking natural beauty. Woodlands
and farms dotting the high bluffs overlooking the
city could be seen in the distance from the Delaware.
It took a fair amount of time to get here from center
city Phila-delphia traveling over unpaved roads and
a ferry across the Schuylkill.
Most of the people making the crossing continued on.
The Lancaster Road (also called the Wagon Road) carried
a steady stream of settlers to the interior of the
colony. Lancaster Road became the first paved turnpike
in America in 1800.
Some came to the West Bank of the Schuylkill for
recreation. In 1732, a group of socially prominent
bachelors formed a club, the Colony. Although the
main purpose of the club was fishing and sporting,
the members did find time to invent “A Fish
House Punch,” which consists mainly of rum.
The clubhouse was near Girard Avenue at the River.
The club, which still exists under the name “State
in Schuylkill,” claims to be the oldest club
in the English-speaking world.
By the mid-eighteenth century others came to this
area to occupy second homes. These estates, or “country
seats,” were working farms run primarily by
indentured servants. They often had a grand main house
and amenities like flower gardens with sculp-tures,
greenhouses, and ponds.
Two of these estates are connected to Powelton. Just
north of the current Philadelphia Zoo, Governor John
Penn commissioned construction of the lavish home
Landsdowne in 1773. For a time, this estate was owned
by Joseph Bonaparte, one-time king of Spain and brother
of Napoleon I. Later owned by William Bingham, one
of the wealthiest men in America, the house was destroyed
by fire in 1854.
Mr. Bingham derived his wealth through trade and
land speculation. He and his wife, Mrs. Ann Willing
Bingham, liked the good life and indulged themselves
often to the point of excess. Bingham had the city’s
most ostentatious mansion of the era constructed on
Spruce Street. Mrs. Bingham was known as a great beauty
once referred to by Abigail Adams as “the dazzling
Mrs. Bingham.” She was also known for her risqué
repartee. The Binghams were sought after guests in
the monarchial courts of Europe.
Mr. Bingham’s assets in Powelton were inherited
by his two daughters. They married the Baring brothers
who were part of the Baring banking family in London.
Their agents sold these parcels in the 1 850s but
their name lives on by way of Baring Street. You may
remember that the Baring Bank of England went broke
in the 1990s after an unscrupulous trader, who represented
the bank in Hong Kong, was exposed for fraud.
Another estate, owned by Samuel Powel, was located
in the vicinity of the current 33i~d and Race Streets.
Mr. Powel, after whom Powelton is named, was the grandson
of a successful carpenter. He parleyed his inheritance
into a small fortune. Powel was the last Mayor of
Philadelphia during the colonial period and the first
Mayor after the Revolution. Unlike many of their contemporaries,
the Powels stayed in Philadelphia during the British
occupation. The Powel estate house remained standing
until a few years after the Centennial Exposition
in 1876.
Powel and his wife, Elizabeth Willing Powel, had
a taste for “the finer things in life.”
Powel traveled abroad, was present at the coronation
of George Ill and had an audience with Pope Clement
XIII. The Powels purchased a mansion on Third Street
and had it redone in the latest Georgian style. Today
this house is a historical museum. Mrs. Powel was
known for acquiring an elegant carriage identical
to one ordered for President George Washington when
the Federal government was still in Philadelphia.
Presi-dent Washington later commented that the carriage
was completely impractical since it was too heavy
for most City streets.
The Powels, the Binghams and others found relief
from city life and refuge from periodic epidemics
at their country estates. Despite the comfort and
luxury, which they enjoyed, both Samuel Powel and
Ann Bingham were not immune to the infectious diseases
of the time. Powel died of yellow fever and Anne Bingham
succumbed to pneumonia.
Although the estates in our vicinity are long gone,
many other country homes from this era still stand
in Fairmount Park where they serve as reminders of
the life styles of Philadelphia’s early elite.
Sources for this account include Roger W. Moss, Historic
Houses of Philadelphia, Philadelphia: Univer-sity
of Pennsylvania Press, 1998 and Russell F. Weigley,
Nicholas B. Wainwright, and Edwin Wolf, 2nd
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