Busy street view showing Independence Hall during the year of the Centennial Exhibition, a celebration through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art for the centennial of the United States. Independence Hall was built 1732-1748 after the designs of Andrew Hamilton and Edmund Woolley at 520 Chestnut Street. Also shows the old City Hall built 1790-1791 after the designs of David Evans (500 Chestnut); Congress Hall built 1787-1789 (540-558 Chestnut); and the Public Ledger Building built 1866-1867 (600-606 Chestnut). Pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles, including carriages, coaches, and street cars, congest the sidewalks and roadway. Couples and families promenade, a man and women travel on horseback, and a man carries a sack over his shoulder. American flags adorn most of the buildings. Also shows, in the foreground, the building at the northwest corner of Fifth and Chestnut streets (501 Chestnut) tenanted by J. E. Johnson & Co., hatter; Russell & Russell, law & collection office; Baird & Russell; and Miley's Bowling Saloon. in front of the building, a man buys a paper from one of two newsboys as another runs toward him. Another man stands in the doorway next to a display window. Building adorned with an awning advertising underwear and fine shirts. A vignette showing the Liberty Bell is printed above the image., Not in Wainwright, Philadelphia on Stone, POS 379, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Bc 47 P 765, Thomas Hunter published several variant views, including folio-size prints commissioned in 1874 by the Centennial Board of Finance, of the Centennial Buildings after the official plans of the structures.
Creator
Poleni, T. (Theodore), 1834-1889?, artist
Date
c1876
Location
Historical Society of Pennsylvania HSP Bc 47 P 765
