Details
Creator Morris, Marriott Canby, 1863-1948, photographer.
Title Phila[delphia] Dispensary from Independence Square [graphic].
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1887
Date April 25, 1887
Physical Description 1 photograph : glass negative ; 4 x 5 in.
Description Glass negative showing exterior view from Independence Square of the Philadelphia Dispensary's third building, built in 1801, at 127 South Fifth Street, with partial views of adjacent buildings including the Mercantile Library building (125 South Fifth Street), occupied by the American Bank Note Company at the time of this photograph, and the offices of F. Cooper Shapely (129 South Fifth Street). Boys sit and stand in front of the dispensary building while a horse-drawn Knickerbocker Ice Company cart is parked in front of the Bank Note Company. Founded in 1786 by Benjamin Rush, the dispensary provided medical attention to the indigent sick. The building was razed in 1922.
Notes Title from entry in photographer's diary.
Inscribed in negative: No. 12.
Photographer remarks: Overtimed.
Time: 1:45
Light: Good sun.
Reproduced in The Print and Photograph Department of the Library Company of Philadelphia's Center City Philadelphia in the 19th century (Portsmouth, N.H.: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), p. 46.
Arcadia caption text: The Philadelphia Dispensary is dwarfed by the adjacent Bank Note Company, formerly the Mercantile Library, in this 1887 photograph by Marriott C. Morris. Founded in 1786, the Dispensary provided in-home care to the indigent sick and specialized in inoculation against smallpox. Doctors donated their time to the institution, providing medicine to patients free of charge, in return for medical experience. After renting properties near Chestnut and Strawberry streets, the Dispensary constructed its own out-patient clinic at 127 South Fifth Street in 1801. The plan of the Dispensary shows a “Prescribing Room,” an apothecary shop, and a room for patients on the ground floor, and a Manager’s Room, Library, and three bedrooms on the second floor. The Dispensary remained here until the institution was dissolved in 1922.
Digitization and cataloging edits have been made possible through the generosity of David Marriott Morris, Eleanor Rhoads Morris Cox, and William Perot Morris in memory of Marriott Canby Morris and his children: Elliston Perot Morris, Marriott Canby Morris Jr., and Janet Morris and in acknowledgment of his grandchildren: William Perot Morris, Eleanor Rhoads Morris Cox, Jonathan White Morris, and David Marriott Morris.
Edited.
Subject American Bank Note Company.
Philadelphia Dispensary.
Animals.
Carts & wagons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Charities, Medical.
Commercial streets -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Horses.
Philadelphia artists.
Geographic subject Fifth Street (Philadelphia, Pa.) -- South -- 127.
Genre Glass negatives -- 1880-1890.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Marriott C. Morris [P.9895.1106]
Accession number P.9895.1106