Search results

Title: High Street in 1799 at present Market Street Philadelphia, Pa
Description: Founder's Week postcards commemorating the 225th anniversary of the founding of Philadelphia. Copies of William Birch's engraved view of High (Market) Street from Ninth depicting a detachment of the First City Troop of Philadelphia drilling on horseback. The troop promenades up the busy street where several horse-drawn carts and a dray travel and several pedestrians, including an African American man and boy (in the right), watch the guard and/or stroll the tree-lined sidewalks. A market shed is seen in the distance. The First City Troop, one of the oldest continually mounted U.S. military units, was organized in 1774 to defend against British invasion. The troop used a variety of arenas to perform drills including circuses, riding schools, and various public grounds. Founder’s Week celebrated the 225th anniversary of the founding of Philadelphia, October 4-10, 1908. There were numerous parades and activities with each day having a special designation, including Religious, Military, Municipal, Industrial, Children’s and Naval, Historical, and Athletic and Knights Templar Day., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1908 by P. Sander, N.Y., Series no.: 254-1., Divided backs., Gift of Clarence Wolf, 1984., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: 1908
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department LCP postcards - Streets - [P.9049.43 - 44]

Title: Views of Philadelphia
Description: Collection of prints from the various editions and restrikes of Birch's "Views of Philadelphia," originally published in 1800 as The City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania North America; as it appeared in the year 1800. Four editions of the views, purchased through subscription and totaling 44 unique plates including a map of the city and title page with vignette, were published by William Birch in Philadelphia from 1800 until 1828. First and largest edition contained 29 plates, the pictorial views drawn by Thomas Birch and engraved by Samuel Seymour between 1798 and 1800; with the map and title page executed by script engraver William Barker. Bookseller Robert Campbell is listed as a seller on many of these plates, but appears to have been disassociated with the project before publication of the bound volume. Second edition of 22 plates was published in 1804. Third edition of 14 plates was published in 1809. Fourth edition of 12 plates was published between 1827 and 1828. The first and second edition were printed by Philadelphia printer, Richard Folwell. The later editions, predominately completed by William Birch alone, contained reissues of selected plates from the first edition as well as new engravings of prominent city structures erected after 1800. In the 1840s restrikes of five plates were produced by bookseller Robert Desilver, and in the 1860s, twelve by the antiquarian John McAllister, Jr; many of the restrikes originally published in the fourth edition. Collection also contains the second edition copper plate of the Bank of Pennsylvania, and the fourth edition copper plate of The Late Theatre in Chestnut Street., Series of late 18th and early 19th-century views of principal sections of the city of Philadelphia including primary streets, government buildings, local landmarks, and financial, religious, educational, and benevolent institutions. The series, the first of its kind in the United States, was created to attract new citizens and to illustrate to an international audience the vitality of the nation's premiere city. The views focus on structures, but also contain lively depictions of daily street life in Philadelphia. Plates depict Philadelphia's Delaware River port with the Penn Treaty Tree; several street views including Arch Street, High (Market) Street, and Third Street; city markets; city banks, such as the Bank of the U.S.; the State House (Independence Hall); Congress Hall; prominent churches, such as Christ Church; Pennsylvania Hospital; Library and Surgeon's Hall; Chestnut Street Theatre; the Alms House; Walnut Street Jail; the Water-Works; and the Schuylkill Bridge., See S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000)., Snyder, "William Birch: His Philadelphia views," The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography 73 (July, 1949), p. 271-315., Snyder, "Birch's Philadelphia views: New discoveries," The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography 88 (April, 1964), p. 164-173., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., William Birch, trained in England, was a Philadelphia engraver, miniaturist, and enamel painter. He also engraved and published in 1804 "The Country Seats of the United States of North America."
Creator: Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834
Date: 1800-1860, bulk 1800
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 1 - Sn 43]

Title: Second Street north from Market St. wth. Christ Church. Philadelphia
Description: Street scene showing Second Street north from Market Street in Philadelphia, including Christ Church and the Old Courthouse and market. Depicts the busy street corner with people riding horses, driving and loading carts, conducting business, and walking and performing errands. In front of the Courthouse, vendors sit and sell their goods while nearby a constable on horseback is flanked by citizens. An African American boy carrying a basket strolls across Second Street. He walks toward two men and a child convened together and a man on horseback traveling toward the church (his back to the viewer). A dog runs in front of the horse. Christ Church, a Protestant Episcopal Church, was built between 1727 and 1744 and was founded as part of a provision of the original charter given to Pennsylvania founder William Penn. The Old Courthouse, completed in 1710 was the town hall, seat of the Legislature, market house, and the Pennsylvania statehouse until Independence Hall was opened in 1748. The Courthouse was demolished in 1837., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982), pl. 15., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834
Date: [1828]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 15c/P.8718]

Title: [Artist's study of detail from Second Street north from Market St. wth. Christ Church. Philadelphia.]
Description: Artist's study of a street scene showing Second Street north from Market Street with a view of Christ Church. Depicts a man on horseback, his back to the viewer, traveling down the street toward the church. A dog runs past him. To his right, pedestrians, including an African American boy with a basket, stroll near a horse-drawn cart. In the left, men and a boy gather around a man on horseback. Christ Church, a Protestant Episcopal Church, was built between 1727 and 1744 and was founded as part of a provision of the original charter given to Pennsylvania founder William Penn., Title from plate 15 in the first edition of Birch's "Views of Philadelphia.", Bequest of Charles Poulson, 1866., Reproduced in Edwin Wolf's Quarter of a millennium...(Philadelphia: The Library Company of Philadelphia in cooperation with Camino Books, 1981), p. 144., See Snyder 's "William Birch: His Philadelphia views," The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography 73 (July 1949), p. 271-315., Reproduced in Julius Sachse's Pictures of old Philadelphia from the originals in the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1901), vol. 1, plate 42. (LCP Print Room Albums), Originally part of a Poulson scrapbook., Accessioned 1999., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist
Date: [ca. 1798]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors-Birch [P.9667]

Title: Girard's Bank, late the Bank of the United States, in Third Street Philadelphia
Description: Street scene with a view of the Bank of the United States on Third Street. Shows groups of men in conversation, couples strolling the sidewalk, and individuals walking up the bank's steps. View also includes, horse-drawn carts traveling in the street and, in the right, an African American man laborer working with wood scraps in front of a nearby building. Designed by Samuel Blodget, Jr., the building was completed in 1797 and housed the first Bank of the United States until the revocation of the bank's charter by Congress in 1811. Purchased by wealthy Philadelphian Stephen Girard, the building became "Girard's Bank" and operated there for the next twenty years., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 17., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, engraver
Date: [1828]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 17c/P.2276.38]

Title: East side of Thirteenth above Callowhill. Occupied in 1844 by Colored Orphan Asylum
Description: View depicting the commercial Philadelphia street with the four-story building of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company Office. Building formerly housed "Brotherly Love Hall," the African American orphanage founded by the Society of Friends in 1822. Businesses lining the street include Sullivan & Sweeney, rag and feed store; J. Hunsinker, merchant; J. Neil & Sons, coal dealers; Barber & Son, Edward and Frank, painters; and Haines & Scarlet. Pedestrians walk along the sidewalk., Title from item., Commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Purchase 1975., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), 1834-1891, artist
Date: 1881
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.93], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc093.html

Title: South-east corner of Twelfth and Locust streets
Description: View of the business and residential Philadelphia street corner with a two-story, wooden building advertising the sale of cigars, tobacco, coal, and oil. Barrels and carts line the sidewalk. Rowhouses are interspersed amongst the businesses including a liquor store, a lager beer hall, and Palace Segar store. Men, women, and children pedestrians, including African Americans, walk on the sidewalk. In the nineteenth century, the neighborhood, known as Washington Square West, contained one of the city's largest populations of African Americans., Title from item., Possibly commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Select link below for a digital image., Purchase 1975., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), 1834-1891, artist
Date: 1883
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.120], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc120.html

Title: Northwest corner of Eleventh and Pine Streets. Demolished 1889. Present site of the Gladstone
Description: View depicting the commercial Philadelphia street corner with the grey wood shack of Michael Traynor, licensed tavern and oyster house, for sale. Storefronts include a stove and heater manufactory; a store selling birds; Schriber, tin and sheet iron worker; a "segar" store; and a lager beer hall. Street trolleys are partially visible to the far right and left. Several pedestrians, predominately African Americans, walk the sidewalks. Individuals board and depart the trolleys. The Gladstone, erected between 1889 to 1890, was the city's first apartment hotel. In the nineteenth century, the neighborhood, known as Washington Square West, contained one of the city's largest populations of African Americans., Title from item., Commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Purchase 1975., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), 1834-1891, artist
Date: 1883, circa 1890
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.121], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc121.html

Title: Brown St. above 4th, north side three doors west of Fourth
Description: View of the Zoar Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest African American congregation within the organized structure of United Methodism, founded in 1794. The church, with a for sale sign, stands between a livery stable and C.W. Kramer's light carriage and wagon factory. Pedestrians, including African Americans, stand on the sidewalk. Contains two boxes of text below and above the image inscribed: "Zoar M.E. Church, Founded 1791, Rebuilt 1838" and "This church propt. for sale. Lot 50 x 190. Apply to F. Snyder, N.W. Cor. 5th & Green." The church relocated to Melon Street, near Twelfth Street., Title from item., Commissioned by Philadelphia antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1975, p. 6-11., Purchase 1975., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Evans, B. R. (Benjamin Ridgway), 1834-1891, artist
Date: 1884
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Evans watercolors [P.2298.138], http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/evans/files/plc138.html

Title: Grigg Block, North Fourth Street, Philadelphia. [graphic] / W.H. Rease, No. 17 1/2 South Fifth Street.
Description: Contains advertisements for six of the depicted businesses below the image., Date from Poulson inscription on recto: Dec. 1848., View of the active business block containing and named after Grigg, Elliot, & Co., the largest and most prosperous publishing firm in the city that was founded by John Grigg in 1823 and purchased by J. B. Lippincott in 1849. Shows the block of buildings (10-20 North Fourth Street) covered in signage and including Barcroft, Beaver & Co., dry good dealers and S. M. Day, wholesale combs, brush and fancy goods trimmings (10); Goff & Peterson, importers and manufacturers of saddlery, carriage, and harness trimmings (12); Grigg, Elliot & Co. (14); C. H. & Geo. Abbott, dealers and importers of hardware and cutlery and C. Ahrenfeldt & Co., importers of toys & fancy goods (16); C. B. Lassell & Co., hats and caps and Charles Wingate, dealer in shoes, boots, and palm leaf hats (18); and Edwin & John Tams, importers and dealers of china, earthernware, and glass (20). Patrons exit and enter the various storefronts; delivery men, including an African American man, haul, load, and remove goods from horse-drawn and push carts; laborers load goods into shop storage cellars and use a pulley to raise a large cask; store clerks inspect and open newly arrived packages on the sidewalk; a horse-drawn dust settling machine passes in the street; and artisans and merchandise are visible in several of the shops' upper floor windows. Partial views of the adjacent buildings and a nearby alley with a laborer and push cart are also visible.
Creator: Rease, W. H., lithographer., creator
Date: [[1848]
Location: http://www.lcpgraphics.org/wainwright/W162.htm, Library Company of Philadelphia Print Dept. **W 162 [P.2077]

Title: Funeral Car, used at the obesequies of President Lincoln, in Philadelphia, April 22nd, 1865, [graphic] : Designed and built by E.S. Earley, Undertaker, south east corner of Tenth and Green Streets, Philadelphia / Tholey.
Description: Reproduced in Edwin Wolf's Philadelphia: Portrait of an American City (Philadelphia: The Library Company of Philadelphia in cooperation with Camino Books, 1990), p. 221., LCP AR [Annual Report] 1971 p. 43., Scene depicting the procession of the catafalque transporting the flower covered casket with the President to Independence Hall. Funeral officials, dressed in black and wearing top hats, attend the open air funeral car with canopy, draped in black cloth, and drawn by eight horses. Mourners line the city street including an African American man and woman.
Creator: Tholey (Firm), lithographer., creator
Date: [1865]
Location: http://www.lcpgraphics.org/wainwright/W146.htm, Library Company of Philadelphia Print Dept. **W146 [7929.F]

Title: Arch Street, with the Second Presbyterian Church
Description: Street scene showing Arch Street between Third and Fourth Streets including the Second Presbyterian Church. Depicts many well-dressed white men and women pedestrians walking down the sidewalks, a horse-drawn carriage and cart traveling up the cobblestone street, and an African American boy leaning against a lamp post upon which a saddled horse is hitched. The Second Presbyterian church, ministered by New Light Gilbert Tennent, was built between 1750 and 1753 after the split between the Old and New Light Presbyterians. It was demolished around 1838., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 5., LCP copy has a large vertical crease down the center of the print., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: W. Birch & Son
Date: 1799
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 5/P.2276.9]

Title: South east corner of Third, and Market Street. Philadelphia
Description: Street scene depicting the bustling southeast corner of Third and Market Streets. Several vendors, mostly women, sell meat and produce from their basic stands and baskets to the numerous patrons, including two Black women in kerchiefs and shawls, milling on Market Street. View includes the commercial business block erected in 1792 by prosperous jeweler and developer Joseph Cooke, known as "Cooke's Folly." The lavish building, containing residences and stores to have been won as lottery prizes, was demolished in 1838 after several years of decay from lack of investment., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982), pl. 8., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: W. Birch & Son
Date: 1799
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 8/P.2276.15]

Title: High Street, from Ninth Street. Philadelphia
Description: View of High (Market) Street from Ninth depicting a detachment of the First City Troop of Philadelphia drilling on horseback. The troop promenades up the busy street where several horse-drawn carts and a dray travel and several pedestrians, including an African American man and boy (in the right), watch the guard and/or stroll the tree-lined sidewalks. A market shed is seen in the distance. The First City Troop, one of the oldest continually mounted U.S. military units, was organized in 1774 to defend against British invasion. The troop used a variety of arenas to perform drills including circuses, riding schools, and various public grounds., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982), pl. 12., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: W. Birch & Son
Date: 1799
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 12/P.2276.24]

Title: Second Street north from Market St. wth. Christ Church. Philadelphia
Description: Street scene showing Second Street north from Market Street in Philadelphia including Christ Church and the Old Courthouse and market. Depicts the busy street corner with people riding horses, driving and loading carts, conducting business, and walking and performing errands. In front of the Courthouse, vendors sit and sell their goods while nearby a constable on horseback is flanked by citizens. An African American boy carrying a basket strolls across Second Street. He walks toward two men and a child convened together and a man on horseback traveling toward the church (his back to the viewer). A dog runs in front of the horse. Christ Church, a Protestant Episcopal Church, was built between 1727 and 1744 and was founded as part of a provision of the original charter given to Pennsylvania founder William Penn. The Old Courthouse, completed in 1710 was the town hall, seat of the Legislature, market house, and the Pennsylvania statehouse until Independence Hall was opened in 1748. The Courthouse was demolished in 1837., Manuscript note on recto: John A McAllister with compl[imen]ts of Jacob Broome., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982), pl. 15., Broome was a Philadelphia lawyer and Pennsylvania legislator., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: W. Birch & Son
Date: [ca. 1860]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 15a facs./P.2276.34]

Title: New market, in South Second Street Philadelphia
Description: Street scene with a view of the New Market shed on South Second Street. Depicts a group of men, women, and children with a dog, possibly a procession of a butcher's trade association, gathered across from the shed and by a bull decorated with garlands of flowers. An African American man fiddle player entertains the group as an African American boy and a dog runs toward them. Attached to the back of the shed is the fire engine house with cupola, known as the "headhouse." The New Market, erected about 1745, was created following a petition by the growing population of South Philadelphia residents who found it a hardship to cross Dock Creek to reach the High Street Market. The shed was razed in 1956 and rebuilt in 1963., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982), pl. 16., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: W. Birch & Son
Date: 1799
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 16/P.2276.35]

Title: Congress Hall and New Theatre, in Chestnut Street Philadelphia
Description: Street scene showing Chestnut Street near Sixth Street, including views of Congress Hall and the New Theatre. Depicts white men and women and an African American woman holding an African American baby in her arms and with a white boy at her side, strolling or conversing near a wooden post in front of the hall. In front of the theatre a large crowd is gathered, a white female peddler sells her goods, and a coach travels up Chestnut Street. Congress Hall, completed in 1789 to house the Pennsylvania district and county courts, was the first quarters of the U.S. Congress from 1790 until 1800. Completed in 1793, the New Theatre, or the First Chestnut Street Theatre, was established by actor Thomas Wignell and musician Alexander Reinagle. Modeled after a lavish English theatre, it quickly became the fashionable theatre of the city., Title from item., Illustrated in Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 20., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: W. Birch & Son
Date: 1800
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 20/P.2276.45]

Main menu