Philadelphia

fil-a-del'fi-a, the metropolis of Pennsylvania. In size, the third city of the United States. It is sometimes called the "Quaker City," and sometimes the "City of Brotherly Love." It is situated at the junction of the Delaware and the Schuylkill rivers. It occupies a tract extending twenty-three miles along the Delaware River, having a width of from five to twelve miles. The original city grew up about the boat landings which mark the head of deep-water navigation. The modest wharves at which Franklin landed when a youth have extended to about five miles of dockage.

The plan of the original city is due to a London surveyor who prepared it for William Penn. About two square miles of territory lying between the Delaware and the Schuylkill was laid off in squares of four acres each. The streets running east and west were named after trees or plants; those running north and south were numbered. The most northerly street was called Vine, the southern boundary, Cedar. The principal streets were fifty feet in width. Each block was split by an alley twenty-five feet wide. In addition, two thoroughfares, 113 and 110 feet in width respectively, intersect at right angles. They are still known as Broad and Market streets. Several diagonal streets have been laid out since to facilitate reaching the center of the city. This method of laying out a city is mentioned in particular because it has served as the model for most American cities. Philadelphia has greatly outgrown its original bounds. In 1905 it covered 130 square miles of land. There are a third of a million buildings and 1,661 miles of streets, of which 1,300 are paved. Broad Street is now twenty-one miles in length and is one of the great streets of the world.

When Penn obtained his charter the vicinity of Philadelphia was already occupied by Swedish and Dutch settlers. The city was laid out in 1682. It increased in population rapidly and was the chief mart of American commerce until the building of the Erie Canal, and later the construction of the New York Central Railway, gave New York City the command of the northwestern grain fields and markets.

Philadelphia is none the less a city of large commercial interests. It is the center of a network of railroads and is the western terminus of several transatlantic lines of steamships. One-sixth of the population is employed in manufacturing. The total annual output of various establishments was in 1900 over $600,000,000. Philadelphia ranks first among the cities of the Union in the manufacture of chemicals, leather, woolens, and hosiery; second in manufactures of tobacco and blank books; third in clothing, hats and caps, wooden products, printing, periodicals, patent medicines, and in foundry and machine products; fourth in the production of cars; fifth in carriages, cotton goods, malt liquors, and silk. There are also extensive manufactures of boots and shoes and of iron and steel. The shipbuilding yards of the Cramps, the locomotive works of the Baldwin Company, the carpet factories of Dobson, and the establishments in which Stetson hats are manufactured are here.

Since 1885 the government of the city has been centralized in the mayor. He holds office for four years and has the appointment of city officials including the heads of the departments of works, public safety, police, fire, charities and corrections and supplies, parks, and public schools. This system is still on trial. The annual expenses of the city aggregate $27,000,000. The city has a celebrated system of waterworks dating from 1799. A supply is derived from the Schuylkill. Extensive improvements now under way are expected to bring the total cost of the system up to $83,000,000. A supply of 300,000,000 gallons per day is guaranteed. Water is pumped into reservoirs from the Schuylkill and the Delaware. A special reservoir for use in case of fire covers 425 acres. It is situated at a sufficient altitude to give a fire pressure of seventy pounds to the inch. There is an extensive system of public parks, including Fairmont, Bartram's Garden, and other smaller tracts. While less effort has been made to improve natural features than in some other cities these parks are unsurpassed for fine forest trees. They cover in all an area of over 4,000 acres.

Philadelphia has been celebrated since the days of Benjamin Franklin for library facilities. The earliest circulating library in the Union was established here. There are in all nearly sixty libraries and reading rooms. The city library contains nearly 2,000,000 volumes. There are fourteen branches. The Library Company and the Mercantile Library, subscription concerns, have 250,000 volumes each. They maintain public reading rooms in return for exemption from taxation. The Academy of Natural Sciences has a library of 50,000 volumes; the Athenaeum, 35,000; Drexel Institute, 27,000; Franklin Institute, 51,000; University of Pennsylvania, 60,000.

The center of historical interest is old Independence Hall, which still stands in Independence Square precisely as when used by the Continental Congress. The old Liberty Bell and many relics of the Revolutionary period are preserved here. In 1750, at the suggestion of Benjamin Franklin, the common council of the city began the policy of bestowing scholarships upon worthy and needy students.

A system of public education was established in 1817. In 1830 schools were made absolutely free to all. The oldest school in the city is the William Penn Charter School. It was founded in 1689 and is still open to pupils. A complete system of grade schools is maintained. There are in addition, high schools, schools of art, manual training, commercial schools, and a normal school for teachers. Evening schools are maintained for the benefit of young people who work during the daytime. There are also numerous parochial schools. Among institutions for higher learning the University of Pennsylvania naturally stands first. There are numerous medical, dental, and theological schools. Girard College has an endowment of $15,000,000. The Williamson Trade School has an endowment of $2,000,000. Drexel Institute is also well provided for. Philadelphia has been called a city of churches. There are nearly 400 church edifices. The city has thirty-five hospitals, in all 4,500 beds. Philadelphia Hospital, the oldest of these, was founded in 1752 by Benjamin Franklin and others. The leading denominations are Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalian, Baptist, and Lutheran.

Philadelphia is preeminently a city of homes. No other city in the world having so great a population is so free from poverty. Savings banks flourish. Saloons are closed on Sunday. The scheme of aiding persons to build homes by means of building and loan associations, originated in Philadelphia. Population in 1900, 1,293,697; in 1909, 1,515,756. See Franklin; Hahnemann; Girard; Penn; Pennsylvania; Fairmont; Bartram; Building And Loan Associations; Flag; Liberty Bell; Girard; Exposition; Municipal Ownership