Philadelphia
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Philadelphia. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city coextensive with Philadelphia co., Pa., on the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, and on the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Reading, and the Baltimore and Ohio railroads; 85 miles S. W. of New York. It is the third largest city of the United States; area, 130 square miles; pop. (1910) 1,549,008; (1920) 1,823,779. Topography. The city is built chiefly on a low peninsula between the two rivers. In the portion most thickly built up the highest elevation is 46 feet, but rises to 440 feet in the suburbs. It extends N. and S. about 22 miles, and is from 5 to 10 miles in width. There is a water frontage on the Delaware river of over 16 miles, of which more than 5 miles have docks. The harbor has been greatly improved by the removal of the islands in the middle of the river, and in front of the wharves there is an average depth of 50 feet. The Schuylkill river, which runs through the city, is navigable for large vessels to Walnut street, and is crossed by many bridges, of which the most costly are at Walnut street, Gray's Ferry, Spring Garden street, and Girard avenue. Another important bridge is the Walnut Lane bridge over the Wissahickon, one of the largest concrete bridges in the world. The section of the city W. of the Schuylkill is locally called West Philadelphia; another noted section is known as Germantown. League Island, containing a widely noted navy yard, has an area of 925 acres and lies just above the mouth of the Schuylkill. Municipal Improvements. - The city of the Schuylkill river, and more than 6 owns a waterworks system which cost about $65,000,000. They have a daily capacity of 320,000,000 gallons , and the water is distributed through 1,800 miles of mains. There are in all 1,733 miles of streets, of which 1,549 are paved . The sewer system covers 1,386 miles. The city is lighted by electricity at a cost of $1,244,696 per annum. The average annual cost of the police department is miles on both banks of Wissahickon creek, giving it an area of over 3,000 acres, traversed by 32½ miles of driveways. The park contains four reservoirs of the Schuylkill waterworks; Randolph Rogers' colossal bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln; statues of Washington, Garfield, Grant and others ; the mansion (now occupied by a restaurant) in which Robert Morris lived during the INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA almost $5,000,000, and that of the fire department $2,170,000. The annual death rate averages 24.19 per 1,000. The cost of maintaining the city government in 1919 was $35,514,399 . Electric street car lines traverse the principal streets and extend to the various suburbs. Fairmount Park. This is one of the largest public parks in the world. It extends more than 7 miles on both banks Revolutionary War; the Solitude, a villa erected by John Penn , Penn grandson of William Penn, in 1785; the Zoological Gardens; Commercial Museum; Belmont Glen, a beautiful ravine ; ne; and other points of interest. In 1876 the Centennial Exposition was held here . Memorial Hall, erected at a cost of $ 1,500,000, which was used for the art gallery of the Exposition, now contains a permanent industrial and art collection. Here also is the Horticultural Building filled with tropical and other plants and surrounded by 35 acres of ground devoted to horticulture. Notable Buildings. In the heart of the city, at the intersection of Market and Broad streets, stands the City Hall, on a piece of groun und which was formerly Penn Square. This great structure, eat str usually called the Public Buildings, was built of white marble and granite; is 4862 feet long by 470 wide; contains 520 rooms, and including a court yard 200 feet square in the center, covers an area of nearly 4½ acres. The central tower rises to a height of 547 feet, 3 inches, and is surrounded by a colossal statue of William Penn, 37 feet in height. The total cost of the building was over $20,- 000,000. Besides this there are many other great buildings including the Masonic Temple, costing $2,000,000; the United States mint; the postoffice; the Bourse; the Stock Exchange; Independence Hall, famous as the State House of the colonial period, and as the depository of the Liberty Bell; the Pennsylvania Hospital, covering an entire square; the building of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Philadelphia Library, containing upward of 500,000 volumes; Academy of Fine Arts, containing one of the most extensive collections of paintings, engravings, bronzes, and sculptures in the United States; Odd Fellows' Hall; several armories; custom house, copied from the Parthenon, and considered one of the best samples of Doric architecture in the world; the stations of the Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia and Reading, and Baltimore and Ohio railroads; etc. Manufactures. In its manufacturing products Philadelphia ranks next to New York and Chicago. There are upward of 8,000 manufacturing establishments, with more than 250,000 employes. The combined output amounts to more than $750,000,000. The chief products are locomotives, sugar and molasses, men's clothing, foundry and machine shop products, carpets and rugs, hosiery and knit goods, woolen and cotton goods, morocco, chemicals, packed meat, refined petroleum, and silk and silk goods. The great Cramp shipbuilding yards are on the Delaware, just W. of the heart of the city. Commerce. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, the imports of merchandise aggregated in value $219,167,601, and the exports $449,691,705. Banks. On Sept. 12, 1919, there were 29 National banks in operation, having a combined capital of $22,955,000; surplus, $47,425,000; loans and discounts, $481,- 256,000; and deposits of about $400,000,- 000. The exchange at the United States clearing house, in the year ending Sept. 30, 1919, aggregated $21,320,246,000, an increase over the previous year of $2,- 392,202,000. Education. At the close of the school year 1918-1919 the enrollment in the public day schools was 221,069. There were 5,884 teachers. The annual cost of maintaining the public schools was $8,- 510,501. The institutions for higher education include: the University of Pennsylvania; the Jefferson Medical College; Woman's Medical College; the Hahnemann Medical College; the Philadelphia Polyclinic and College for Graduates; and the Medico-Chirurgical College. There are several colleges of dentistry, one of pharmacy and one of veterinary surgery. There are also Girard College, which was founded in 1831 by Stephen Girard for white orphan boys, Temple University, and the Drexel Institute. Churches and Institutions. There are more than 700 churches in Philadelphia, representing all the larger denominations and hundreds of charitable institutions. The most important hospitals are the University, the Insane, the Pennsylvania, the Orthopædic, Municipal, Woman's, Children's, Wills', Jewish, Episcopal, German, Presbyterian, Homeopathic, St. Mary's, and St. Joseph's. There are also many orphanages, homes for the aged, and other institutions of similar character. Finances. At the end of 1920 the total net funded debt of the city was $137,676,- 339. The assessed property valuation for 1920 was $1,805,494,000; tax rate, $28.50 per $1,000. History. In September, 1681, a small party of settlers, sent out by William Penn, arrived at the site of the present city, and in the following summer the place was laid out and named Philadelphia, the "city of brotherly love." Penn himself reached New Castle on the Delaware, with a large number of Quakers, on Oct. 27, 1682. He was well received by a small party of Swedes who lived in a part of the present city. Shortly after his arrival he made the first treaty with the Indians at Shackamaxon. In 1683-1684, and for some time afterward the immigration from England and Wales, Germany and Holland was considerable. Philadelphia was incorpoated in 1691, but its charter was not received till 1701. The city was active in resistin British aggression in 1763- 1764. On Sept. 5, 1774, the 1st Continental Congress met here, and on May mere, 10, 1775, the 2d. Col. George Washington was appointed General and Commanderin-Chief of the American army in the State House on June 15, 1775. Here also the Declaration of Independence was adopted July 4, and proclaimed July 8, 1776. The city was occupied by the British from September, 1777, to June, 1778. A battle fought at German town on Oct. 4, 1777. In the summer of 1787 delegates from the various States met in the State House, and framed the Constitution. PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, an association formed to promote the study of natural sciences, discuss subjects of scientific interest and encourage research in the physical sciences. For the latter purpose the Jessup Foundation has sufficient now as a brother beloved (16). Anticifunds to provide free tuition for younger investigators interested in the sciences. The museum maintained by the society is reputed to possess the finest collection of shells in the world, and has many numerous and valuable collections of birds and fossils. The library of 80,000 volumes contains the records and proceedings of all the learned societies in Europe and America which have been published since the foundation of the society in 1812. Since 1817 the Philadelphia society has published a "Journal" and since 1841 its "Proceedings."
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
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 2026 Editor's Note: By way of comparison, Philadelphia today has about 1.6 million residents, essentially matching the 1,515,756 this article records for 1909 after a mid-century peak and long decline. (Ed: BR 2026-07-03)