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- Title
- Old shot tower - 2nd and Carpenter Sts
- Description
- Depicts tall tower and lower surrounding buildings from beyond yard, iron fence, and street. Also known as the Sparks Shot Tower, it was built in 1808., Title from photographer's manuscript note on verso., Gift of Margaret Odewalt Sweeney., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited.
- Creator
- Wilson, G. Mark (George Mark), 1879-1925, photographer
- Date
- ca. 1923
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Wilson 150 [P.8513.150], http://www.lcpimages.org/wilson/wilson150.htm
- Title
- Standard Drop Shot bag
- Description
- Gift of David Doret and Linda G. Mitchell, 2018., Textile shot bag. On the front of the bag in red letters: “Standard Drop Shot, T.W. Sparks, Philadelphia. 7.” An eagle in red is in the center. Inside the bag is a newspaper clipping, “A Brief History, Sparks Shot Tower.”, Opened in 1808 by Thomas Sparks and John Bishop, the 142 foot tall brick tower revolutionized the manufacture of ammunition. Gun shot was made by pouring lead from the top of the tower. The lead developed a round shape through falling and solidified in cold water at the bottom. Four generations of Sparks operated the tower until 1903 when it was sold to the United Lead Company. The City of Philadelphia bought the site in 1913.
- Creator
- T.W. Sparks
- Date
- Between 1872-1903
- Location
- OBJ 908
- Title
- South view. Looking towards Navy Yard, Southwark and Moyamensing
- Description
- Panoramic view looking toward the Delaware River showing cityscape in South Philadelphia. Includes residential buildings, storefronts, factories, warehouses, St. Peter's Church steeple, Sparks Shot tower, and the Navy Yard. Also shows trees in Independence Square in the foreground and maritime traffic on the river in the background., Series title, artist, and date information from complementary prints., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 544c, Trimmed.
- Creator
- Whitefield, Edwin, 1816-1892, artist
- Date
- [c1850]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *BW - Views [P.2121]
- Title
- Thomas Sparks shot & bar lead manufacturer. Warehouse no. 121 Walnut St. Philadelphia
- Description
- Advertisement showing the Sparks shot tower at Carpenter Street near Second Street and the office/warehouse at 121 Walnut Street. Signage adorns the office which reads " T. Spark's Philadelphia Shot Tower. Office 121 Walnut St." Also shows neighboring wood-frame buildings, and street and pedestrian traffic, including horse-drawn carts and two men admiring the tower. Tower built by Sparks in 1807., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 752, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Ba 38 S 736
- Date
- ca. 1850
- Location
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania HSP Ba 38 S 736
- Title
- Sparks, Thomas
- Creator
- Library Company of Philadelphia, creator
- Date
- February 11, 1859
- Title
- Panorama of Philadelphia S.E. from State House
- Description
- Panoramic view showing several city blocks southeast from the State House at 520 Chestnut Street. Includes the 500 block of Walnut Street; Independence Square; the steeple of St. Peter's Church (300-340 Pine), and a distant view of Spark's shot tower near the Delaware River., Title from accompanying publisher's label., Yellow paper mount with square corners., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of Philadelphia., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
- Creator
- Newell, Robert, 1822-1897
- Date
- [ca. 1868]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Newell - Views [(3)1322.F.4h]
- Title
- Sparks’ Philadelphia Shot Tower
- Description
- Exterior view depicting the 142-feet-high Sparks’ Shot Tower built by Thomas Sparks and John Bishop in 1808 at 129-131 Carpenter Street, Philadelphia. Includes partial views of adjacent two-story buildings. Pedestrians walk along the sidewalks. A man drives a two-horse cart down the street. Four generations of Sparks operated the Tower until 1903 when it was sold to the United Lead Company. The City of Philadelphia bought the site in 1913., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Gift of David Doret.
- Creator
- John A. Lowell & Co.
- Date
- [ca. 1870]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Doret and Mitchell Collection – Prints [P.2019.64.35]
- Title
- Sectional floating dry dock. J. Simpson & Neill ship wrights & proprietors Christian Street Philadelphia
- Description
- Advertisement showing the floating dry dock near the Delaware riverfront in South Philadelphia surrounded by marine traffic. The floating dock supports a three-masted square rigged ship under which laborers work on its base. Behind the floating dock, the frame of a ship is under construction near a large vessel at dry dock. In the foreground, a fishing boat being rowed by a four-man crew and carrying a bundled fishing net sails near two other row boats, one adorned with an American flag. Also shows a tug boat and ferry boat sailing on opposite sides of the floating dock. Masts of docked vessels, dock houses, wharves, and buildings, line the riverfront in the background. Also shows Sparks shot tower (Carpenter Street near Second Street)., Inscribed on image: Messenger., Philadelphia on Stone, Atwater Kent Museum: 52.1.1/2, In manuscript over ship: Messenger
- Creator
- Rease & Schell, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1860]
- Location
- Atwater Kent Museum | Print Department AKM AKM 52.1.1/2
- Title
- Plan of the United States dry dock, at Philadelphia, on the new system of the sectional floating dock, basin, & railways, now constructing by contract with Mess. Dakin & Moody Area available for docking in the plan 350 by 90 feet, 31, 500 square feet. Area available for docking in the U.S. dry dock at Norfolk, 210 by 60 feet, 12, 000 square feet. It will be observed that area available for docking in this dry dock is twice and a half greater than in the U.S. stone dry dock at Norfolk, enabling the former to receive a vessel covering twice and half as much space as the utmost limit of the latter. It will also be observed that the efficiency of the Norfolk dock, is limited to docking one ship of the line at a time, of about 200 feet in length, whereas the new Philadelphia dock, will be able to dock three war steamers of 350 feet in length each, and ten ships of the line all at the same time. The Norfolk dock cost $962, 459 and the cost of one on that plan capable of taking only one vessel 350 by 90 feet, estimated on the same basis would be $2, 406, 147 or about three times the contract price of the Philadelphia dock
- Description
- Plan showing the future dry dock at the first U.S. Navy Yard established by shipbuilder Joshua Humphreys and Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert in 1801 on the Delaware River in Southwark. A three-masted frigate rests in dry dock on land and a three-masted sidewheeler rests in dry dock on the floating dock in the river. Two workers stand on the deck of the sidewheeler. Between the frigates, completed hulls are visible in four storage bays. Across from the bays, a hull under construction rests in scaffolding. Tools and machinery lay near the hull. In the background, a worker hauls wood by horse-drawn cart in front of the naval yard factory. Also includes cityscape and Spark's shot tower. The facility, which built, overhauled, stored, and disposed of warships, operated in Southwark until 1876 when the Navy Yard enlarged and relocated to League Island., Not in Wainwright., Published in Sketch of the plans, present condition, and proposed results of the United States dry docks at the Navy Yards of Philadelphia, Kittery, and Pensacola: ... (New York: P. Miller & Son, 1849)., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 609, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Bc 57 P 544
- Date
- [1849]
- Location
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania HSP Bc 57 P 544
- Title
- S.E. view of Philadelphia
- Description
- Panoramic view looking from Camden, New Jersey showing the Delaware riverfront and harbor. Includes cityscape; docked ships; boathouses; Spark's Shot Tower; Smith and Windmill Island; and several sailing vessels and a steamboat traversing the river. Also shows two men near grazing horses on the riverbank in the foreground., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 667, Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of Philadelphia., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited.
- Creator
- Kollner, Augustus, b. 1813, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1860]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department BW - Rivers - Delaware [(7)1322.F.19]