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- Title
- Murphy & Allison Car builders. 1908 Market Street, Philadelphia
- Description
- Advertisement showing the busy "Car Factory & Bolt Nut & Washer Works," of John Murphy and J. C. Allison, also proprietors of the Girard Tube Works, who established a partnership in 1851 at 1908 Market Street. A completed rail car and a horse-drawn double decker omnibus depart from the sign-covered factory and "Office of the Girard Tube Works." A worker labors on a rail car in an upper window, a man on horseback stops near the entrance to the "Blacksmith Shop," and clusters of pedestrians walk in front of the works. A small crowd flanks the omnibus that is adorned with illustrations of rail cars as it leaves the factory bay. In the foreground, men and boys, across from two men shaking hands, inspect an ornately painted "City Passenger R.R." car on display in the street in front of the factory. Nearby, a boy admires an elegantly dressed lady while a newsboy hawks a paper to a gentleman on promenade with two ladies who pass a woman, possibly attired in mourning garb. Murphy & Allison assumed proprietorship of Girard Tube Works, manufacturer of wrought iron gas tubes, in 1856 and began construction of cars for the City Passenger Railways circa 1857. The firm made several improvements to the cars including adding more head room and lamps to the center of car roofs and in front of the overshoots., Not in Wainwright., Annotated in stenciled letters below title: DESTROYED BY FIRE SATURDAY MAY 3. 1863 AT 3-AM., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 494, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Bc 35 M 978, Label pasted on verso: Purchased at auction from Freemans May 20, 1959 Library Fund., Rease, a prolific lithographer of advertising prints, relocated his studio to 4th and Chestnut in 1857.
- Creator
- Rease, W. H.
- Date
- [ca. 1857]
- Location
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania HSP Bc 35 M 978
- Title
- West view of Schuylkill Falls Laboratory. Powers & Weightman, manufacturing chemists, Philadelphia
- Description
- View showing the laboratory complex established in 1848 on Ridge Avenue near a covered bridge in Schuylkill Falls (i.e., East Falls). Within the complex, laborers haul goods by horse among the several stone buildings, smoke stacks, and trees. Near the Schuylkill River in the foreground, other laborers move crates by a pulley on a pier. Also shows a man on foot and a wagon entering the bridge, a steamboat traversing the water, and a train traveling past the complex and several adjacent lots of pasture land in the background. In 1847, Powers & Weightman succeeded Farr & Kunzi (established in 1818), and became internationally renown for their manufacture of medicinal and other fine chemicals. The company was the first to introduce quinine to the United States. A second factory complex operated between 9th, Parrish, Brown, and Darien Streets. The East Falls operation included housing for employees., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 828, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Bc 38 Sch 89, Trimmed.
- Creator
- Rease, W. H.
- Date
- [ca. 1860]
- Location
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania HSP Bc 38 Sch 89
- Title
- Explosion and burning of the cartridge factory, cor. Tenth and Read [sic], March 2[9]th 1862
- Description
- Disaster scene showing the aftermath of the explosion of the factory of Professor Samuel Jackson located in South Philadelphia. Shows people fleeing, trapped, and engulfed in flames at the ruins of the burning factory. In the foreground, a man rushes to cover a man's body that has had its head and arm amputated; men throw buckets of water and blankets on women on fire; individuals carry the wounded; comfort the survivors; rush in with buckets; and hose the fire. Also shows a man looking in horror from a train car in the left of the image and debris flying in the air and lying on the ground. Over 15 people, including the son of the proprietor, perished in the explosion of the factory that was contracted to produce one and a half million experimental "solid water proof patent cartridges" during the Civil War. Jackson, a Philadelphia pyrotechnist and inventor, began the manufacture of fireworks in Philadelphia in 1837. He continued in pyrotechnics until 1887, when he began to manufacture danger signals for railroads. During his pyrotechnic career, a number of his establishments were destroyed through explosions., Name of artist supplied by Wainwright., The numeral "9" printed in the reverse in the date in the title., Inscribed on recto: North of Moyamensing Prison. Philada., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 215, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Bb 83 C 328
- Creator
- Magee, John L., artist
- Date
- [1862]
- Location
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania HSP Bb 83 C 328