12 results
Destruction by Fire of Pennsylvania Hall. On the Night of the 17th May, 1838
This dramatic print shows the destruction of Pennsylvania Hall, a large building that was constructed in 1837–38 at Sixth and Haines Streets in Philadelphia as a meeting place for local abolitionist (antislavery) groups. Dedication ceremonies began on May 14, 1838, and continued over several days in a climate of growing hostility from anti-abolitionist forces in the city. On the night of May 17, 1838, an anti-abolitionist mob stormed the hall and set it on fire. Fire companies refused to fight the blaze, and the building was completely destroyed. A ...
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The Library Company of Philadelphia
The Girard College, Philadelphia
This lithograph shows an exterior view of Girard College at Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, including Founder's Hall and the eastern and western outbuildings. The school buildings, designed by Philadelphia architect Thomas Ustick Walter in the Greek Revival style, were constructed in 1833–47. Girard College was established through a bequest from Stephen Girard, a Philadelphia financier and philanthropist, for the creation of a school for poor white male orphans. The illustration is by John Caspar Wild (circa 1804–46), a Swiss-born artist and lithographer, who arrived in Philadelphia from Paris ...
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The Library Company of Philadelphia
Fairmount
This landscape view looking west from Reservoir Hill in Philadelphia shows the Fairmount Water Works, originally constructed between 1812 and 1822 after the designs of Philadelphia chief engineer Frederick Graff. Built to supply the expanding city with safe drinking water, the works included an engine house, mill house, and a millrace bridge. Visitors are seen strolling on the landscaped grounds of the works and rowers are visible on the nearby Schuylkill River. Also depicted are residences, probably including Lemon Hill, the Schuylkill Canal lock, and the river dam. The illustration ...
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The Library Company of Philadelphia
View from the Inclined Plane, near Philadelphia
This circa 1840 print shows the view looking east down the inclined plane cut into Belmont Hill (Fairmount Park) for hauling railroad cars from the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia to Columbia on the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. Two men watch the cars being hauled by cables from within the plane. The covered Columbia Railroad Bridge over the Schuylkill, completed in 1834, is visible in the background. In the foreground is a heavily wooded landscape, with the cityscape in the distance. The plane connecting the river with the rail line was ...
Contributed by
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Alms House. Philadelphia
This 1840s print shows the Blockley Alms House in Philadelphia, as seen from the east bank of the Schuylkill River. It includes the Market Street Bridge, Beck’s shot tower (a city landmark since 1808) and, in the far distance, the Eastern State Penitentiary. William Strickland (1788–1854), a founder of Greek Revival architecture in the United States, designed the quadrangle of four large buildings that formed the almshouse. The original Philadelphia Alms House was constructed in the early 1730s and was the first multifunctional government-sponsored institution for the care ...
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The Library Company of Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind
This print is an exterior view of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, located at the corner of at Sassafras (now Race) and Schuylkill Third (20th) Streets in Philadelphia. The school was established in 1832 by Julius Reinhold Friedlander (1803–1839), a young German teacher of blind and visually impaired children, shortly after his arrival in the city. Within a year, the school had a constitution and board of managers. Several years later, it moved into this new building. The view shown here includes pedestrians strolling in ...
Contributed by
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Hospital
This print shows an exterior view from the southeast of the Pennsylvania Hospital, located on Pine Street between 8th and 9th Streets in Philadelphia. The street scene in the foreground includes a carriage, a wagon, riders on horseback including a woman riding sidesaddle, pedestrians, and a watchman's guardhouse. Benjamin Franklin helped raise funds for the first Pennsylvania Hospital building, the east wing, which was designed by Samuel Rhoads and constructed in 1755 on a site that was then far from the smells and noise of the city center. Rhoads ...
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The Library Company of Philadelphia
University of Pennsylvania
This lithograph shows the twin buildings of the University of Pennsylvania, Medical Hall and College Hall, located on the west side of 9th Street between Market and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia. The view includes a group of students gathered in a doorway, two women carrying parasols, and other pedestrians. Designed by Philadelphia architect William Strickland (1788–1854) and constructed in 1829–30, the buildings housed the university until its removal to West Philadelphia in the 1870s. Strickland was one of the first architects of the Greek Revival style in the ...
Contributed by
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Market Street, from Front Street
This lithograph shows the active, business-lined street containing the New Jersey Market terminus in Philadelphia, named after its central location to the ferries from New Jersey, the city's main provider of farm produce. Market shoppers, purveyors of goods, and pedestrians, including African Americans, stroll the streets and sidewalks and pack the market shed topped with a cupola and clock. Peddlers sell their goods from carts on Front Street. Built in 1822, the market operated twice weekly until the abolition of street markets in 1859. A bell on Front Street ...
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The Library Company of Philadelphia
Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia
In the 1830s, a group of influential Philadelphians wanted to establish a rural cemetery that would be naturalistic, serene, and in genteel seclusion. They settled on Laurel Hill at 3822 Ridge Avenue, the former estate of merchant Joseph Sims, which had rocky bluffs and spectacular views and was about six kilometers from the city center. The cemetery was built in 1836–39 after the designs of Scottish-born architect and landscape designer John Notman. This view shows the main gate. A man on horseback rides past the cemetery, in which the ...
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The Library Company of Philadelphia
Manayunk near Philadelphia
This lithograph shows the textile village of Manayunk along the east bank of the Schuylkill River, northwest of Philadelphia. The townscape includes Joseph Ripka's cotton mills, which were erected in 1831 and 1835 and were part of one of the largest textile businesses in the United States at the time. In the background is Flat Rock Turnpike Bridge, a long covered bridge that stood from 1810 to 1850. Manayunk’s plentiful water supply and good transport links made it important in the nation’s industrial revolution. The village was ...
Contributed by
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Merchants' Exchange
This lithograph shows the view looking northeast from the intersection of Dock, Third, and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia to the Merchants' Exchange. Built between 1832 and 1833 to the designs of William Strickland (1788–1854), the exchange functioned as a commercial and financial hub and post office and was the first large central building in Philadelphia for the conduct of business. Men are seen walking around and horse-drawn omnibuses arrive at and are parked in front of the building. Light pedestrian traffic is visible in the street and at the ...
Contributed by
The Library Company of Philadelphia