First church built by the Swedes consecrated on Tinicum Island.
1677
Second Swedes church dedicated, in Southwark, below the present Christian Street.
1681
March 4. Charter of Pennsylvania granted by Charles II.
1682
October 24. Landing of William Penn at New Castle, Delaware.
November. Penn's Treaty with the Indians at Shackamaxon.
1684
August 12. William Penn left Philadelphia, and returned to England.
1690
First paper mill established by William Rittenhouse, on Wissahickon Creek.
1698
Quaker meeting House built, S. W. Corner Second and High (Market) Streets, which was pulled down in 1755, and another erected, which was demolished in 1808.
First school book published in America by Francis Pastorius.
1700s
1700
July 2. New Swedes Church consecrated on the on the ground formerly occupied by the Swedes Church, Southwark.
December 2. William Penn arrived at Philadelphia.
1701
October 25. Charter granted to the city of Philadelphia by William Penn.
November 1. William Penn left Philadelphia for England.
1704
First Presbyterian Church built, High Street and White Horse Alley (Market and Bank Streets).
1710
Christ Church, Protestant Episcopal, built on Second Street, above Market; replaced by the present church in 1727.
1715
A club was formed called the Bachelors' Club, situate on the Delaware shore above Gunners' Run. This was the first country club adjacent to the city. "Bachelors' Hall," as it was commonly called, was made notorious by its festivities.
1719
December 22. The American Weekly Mercury issued by Andrew Bradford. Price, ten shillings per annum. The first newspaper issued in Philadelphia.
1723
October. Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia and applied to Andrew Bradford, the printer, for employment. Employed as a printer until he and his friend James Ralph, a merchant's clerk, in 1724 sailed together to London to "seek their fortunes." Franklin returned to Philadelphia October 11, 1726. In the winter of 1726-27, he found the Junto.
1724
Founding the Carpenter's Company.
1729
March 1. St. David's Day. Welsh citizens organize the "Society of Ancient Britons" at the Queen's Head Tavern in King Street (now Water Street.) Attend service in Christ Church, sermon preached in the original Cymric.
First Baptist Church built, Second Street below Arch.
1732
A fishing club was instituted under the title of "Colony of Schuylkill." This club, which is yet in existence on the Delaware, at Andalusia, is now known as the State in Schuylkill.
September 22. Arrival of the English ship St. Andrew with the first contingent of emigrants, followers of Caspar Schwenkfeld, a repressed sect in Silesia and Germany. On the next day (September 23d) all male persons over the age of sixteen years proceeded to the State House, and there subscribed a pledge of allegiance to George 2, King of Great Britain, and his successors. They spent the 24th in thanksgiving to Almighty God for delivering them out of the hands of their persecutors, for raising up friends in the times of their greatest need, and for leading them into a land of freedom where they might worship Him unmolested by civil or ecclesiastical power. To this day the 24th of September is so observed by this sect. The emigrants settled in Montgomery, Berks and Lehigh Counties.
1742
First Moravian Church built at the S. E. Cor. Race and Bread streets. First type made by Christopher Sauer, Germantown.
1743
First German Church built in Race Street Below Fourth. St. Michael's German Lutheran Church, corner of Fifth and Appletree Alley, built.
Lottery schemes proposed and ran riot. Lottery held for disposing of 46 acres of land on Petty's Land on Petty's Island, the property of Alexander Alexander. Other projects were for the paving of streets in Philadelphia, and for the benefit of various churches.
1762
May. District of Southwark created. Boundary, Delaware River, Cedar Street (South); thence west to the Passyunk Road, to the Moyamensing Road, by Keeler's Lane to the Greenwich Road to Delaware River
November. Organization of the first medical college in Pennsylvania, by Dr. William Shippen, Jr. Located on Fourth Street, below Arch.
1771
The Assembly this year resolved to provide the city a new jail, the one at southwest corner of Third and High (Market) Streets being confusedly and notoriously inefficient.
1773
September 5. Provincial Congress met at Carpenters' Hall.
1774
October 21. The building of Walnut Street prison authorized by act of Assembly.
1775
Continental Congress in session at Philadelphia elects Benjamin Franklin (Printer) first Postmaster General of the United Colonies. (A Pony Express was established. In summer the mail left New York for Philadelphia twice a week and vice versa. In winter if mail came within two weeks, was considered good. Franklin, with his keen appreciation of all the advance of science, doubtless would be lost in admiration of those winged couriers of the skies who daily traverse the aerial paths from the Hudson to the Golden Gate and who now span the Continent in less time than it took in his day to transmit a letter from Boston to the Potomac.)
May 26. Act of Congress passed, authorizing the establishment of the Bank of North America. The bank opened January, 1783.
1782
First Hebrew Synagogue built at Cherry Street and Third. Now known as Congregation Mikveh Israel, it is the oldest synagogue in Philadelphia, and the longest running in the United States.
1784
January 14. Definitive treaty of peace with England ratified by Congress. Triumphal arch erected at "the upper end of High Street," then between Sixth and Seventh Streets.
1786
July 20. First skiff steamboat navigated on the Delaware River, by John Fitch.
1787
August 22. Steamboat forty-five feet long navigated on the Delaware River by John Fitch.
1788
July. Steamboat navigated from Philadelphia to Burlington, New Jersey, by John Fitch.
1789
March 11. Act to incorporate the city of Philadelphia passed by the Legislature.
October 12. David Cronan, Francis Burns, John Burnett, John Logan and John Ferguson hung at Centre Square for the murder of John McFarland.
First election of President of the United States.
1790
April 17. (Saturday evening.) Death of Benjamin Franklin. Buried in Christ Church cemetery, southeast corner of Fifth and Arch St. In keeping with his wishes, the epitaph Franklin composed was not carved on his tombstone. The autograph "copy" of the epitaph in the Library of Congress is dated 1784 and reads:
The body of B. Franklin, printer (Like the cover of an old Book Its contents torn out And stripped of its lettering and gilding) Lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost, For it will (as he believ'd) appear once more In a new and More elegant Edition Revised and corrected By the Author.
December 6. Congress moves from New York to Philadelphia, meeting at Congress Hall. As the home of Congress, Philadelphia was the capital of the nation, and would remain so until 1800.
1791
The Bank of North America abandoned the old system of keeping its accounts in pounds, shillings and pence and adopted that of dollars and cents.
1792
April 2. Act passed establishing United States Mint in Philadelphia. Mint erected on the east side of Seventh Street, above Sugar Alley (afterward known as Farmer Street, now Filbert Street).
1793
First Universalist Church built in Lombard Street, above Fourth.
March 23. The Assembly passed an act to extend the market house on High Street (Market) from Third to Fourth Street, and to extend it as occasion required, from street to street westward.
Yellow Fever. Deaths in August-November: 4,002.
1794
April 18. District of Southwark incorporated.
Market house erected in the middle of Second Street to extend from Coates (Fairmount Avenue) to Popular Street.
1795
The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, the first in the United States, opened.
April. Ordinance passed compelling the owners and occupants of houses in the city in the city to provide and keep in repair any number of leathern buckets not exceeding six for each building, to be used in extinguishing fires.
1797
Yellow Fever. Deaths, August-November, 1,292.
1798
Yellow Fever. Deaths, August-November, 3,637.
March. An act was passed by the Legislature chartering "The Germantown and Reading Turnpike Road," said turnpike to commence at the intersection of Front Street with the Germantown Road, thence through Germantown to the top of Chestnut Hill and thence through Hickorytown, the Trappe, and Pottstown to Reading.
August 18. Arrival of General Thaddeus Kosciusko, the Polish Patriot. Received by a large gathering of citizens.
September 2. Bank of Pennsylvania entered at night and robbed of $162,821.61. Other banks becoming alarmed, transferred to Germantown. The streets at night being deserted due to the prevailing fever.
1799
May 2. Work upon the Schuylkill Water Works, at Chestnut Street wharf and Centre Square commenced. First water thrown into the city January 21, 1801.
December 26. National Funeral Procession for George Washington (who had died at Mount Vernon on December 14). Thousands of mourners process from Congress Hall to the New (Zion) Lutheran Church, where Maj. Gen. Henry Lee eulogizes the former president as "First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen."
1800s
1800
March 7. The town of Frankford incorporated as a borough.
Yellow Fever. Deaths, August-November, 1,015.
Schuylkill Arsenal, near Gray's Ferry, built.
1801
United States Navy Yard (foot of Federal Street, Delaware River) established.
February 12. Incorporation of the Germantown and Perkiomen Turnpike Company. The road to begin at the corner of Third and Vine Streets.
1802
Yellow Fever. Deaths, August-November, 835.
1803
District of Northern Liberties incorporated.
March 24. The Cheltenham and Willow Grove Turnpike Company incorporated. Their route was "from the Rising Sun Tavern through Shoemakertown (Ogontz) to the Red Lion Inn (Willow Grove), on the Old York Road."
On the same day another company was incorporated to build a turnpike "from Front Street through Frankford and Bustleton to the Morrisville Ferry, Bucks County."
1804
Manufacturing enterprises continued to be established. The largest of the year was the Seth Craige cotton mill (later the old Globe Mill), bordering on the Cohocksink Creek, Germantown Ave. Below Franklin Ave. (Girard Ave.). This formally was "the Governor's grist mill." This cotton mill became later on an extensive concern, manufacturing cotton and woolen fabrics.
1807
Arch Street prison built.
Spark's Shot Tower, Southwark, built.
Beck's Shot Tower, near the Schuylkill River, above Arch Street, built.
1808
Race course established in the Northern Liberties, on the Old York Road at the corner of Nicetown Lane. Afterwards known as Hunting Park. Later on Purchased by some public spirited citizens and presented to the city for a public park.
1809
Olympic Theatre built, N.E. corner Ninth and Walnut Streets.
1810
The first steam ferry boat used to convey passengers from Philadelphia to Camden. "Camden" Captain Zeiba Kellam. Course, lower side of Market Street to Cooper Street.
1812
March 24. District of Moyamensing incorporated.
1813
March 22. District of Spring Garden incorporated.
1814
Anthracite coal introduced in Philadelphia. In History of the Falls of Schuylkill, Chas. V. Hagner describes the introduction of anthracite coal as follows:
"White & Hazard were using in their rolling mill, bituminous coal. They knew of the large body of anthracite at the head of the Schuylkill, and early commenced making experiments with it. They had some brought down in wagons, at an expense of one dollar per bushel- twenty-eight dollars per ton-expended a considerable sum of money in experimenting but could not succeed in making it burn. The hands working in the mill got heartily sick and tired of it, and it was about being abandoned. But, on a certain occasion, after they had been trying for a long time to make it burn without success, they became exasperated, threw large quantity of the 'black stones' as they called them, into the furnace, shut the doors, and left the mill. It so happened that one of them had left his jacket in the mill, and in going there for it some time afterwards he discovered a tremendous fire in the furnace, doors red with heat. He immediately called all hands and they ran through the rolls three separate heats of iron with that one fire. Here was an important discovery, and it was the first practically successful use of our anthracite coal, now so common. The important discovery was the simple fact that all that was wanted to ignite it was time, and to be 'let alone'. All this may appear strange now, but the men employed in that mill — and everyone else who used the bituminous coal — were accustomed to see it blaze up the moment they threw it on the fire, and because the anthracite would not do so they could not understand it, and the more they scratched and poked at it — an operation necessary with the bituminous coal — the worse it was with the anthracite. Upon making this discovery, Josiah White immediately began to make experiments in contriving various kinds of grates to make the anthracite applicable for domestic use, in which he finally succeeded to admiration"
This coal was sent down from the Lehigh; it cost delivered in Philadelphia about fourteen dollars a ton.
1815
February 13. New received of the signing of a treaty of peace with England. Grand illumination in the evening. Grand Ball given at Vauxhall Garden, northeast, corner of Broad and Walnut Streets. A grand Te Deum, in honor of the event, sung at St. Augustine's Church on February 26th.
December 29. Launching of the new steamboat Baltimore at the shipyard of Vaughn & Bowers, Kensington.
1816
Gas as an illuminant introduced. The first private residence in the United States lighted by gas was that of William Henry, coppersmith, at No. 200 Lombard Street, near Seventh.
1818
In November, 1815, the county Commissioners proposed a plan of education to the City Councils, which led, in January, 1816, to the appointment of a committee to consult with the commissioners of Southwark and of the Northern Liberties. But it was not until 1818 that the details were sanctioned by the Legislature, when an act was passed providing for the education of poor children at the public expense in the city and county of Philadelphia, forming the "first School District of Pennsylvania." The School Controllers established two schools in Southwark, two in Moyamensing, two in Northern Liberties and two in Penn Township. A model school was erected on the side of Chester Street, above Race. The first Superintendent of schools was Joseph Lancaster.
The team boat Peacock ran from Market Street Ferry to the mineral Springs on the Rancocas. The team boat Phoenix ran between Greenwich Point and Gloucester, propelled by the action of eight horses.
The legislature passed an act dividing the Northern Liberties into seven wards. The boundaries were as follows: First Ward, Vine Street to Willow, from the Delaware River to Third Street; the second Ward, from Third Street to Sixth, and from Vine to Willow; Third Ward, from Third Street to Delaware, between Willow and Green streets, and Wells Alley, commonly called Whitehall Street; the Forth Ward, from Third Street to Sixth, between Willow and Green, Fifth Ward, from Third Street to the Delaware River, between Green Street and Poplar Lane, and that part of Cohocksink Creek called the Canal; Sixth Ward, from Third Street to Sixth, between Green street and Poplar Lane; Seventh Ward bounded by Cohocksink Creek on the North and east, Poplar Street to the South, and Sixth Street on the west. "There are now in the city and liberties thirty-four engines and fifteen thousand feet of hose, under the direction of forty-nine companies. These companies are all willing to receive new members."
In order to prevent danger as much as possible it was directed that the manner in which power should be transported from vessels in the Delaware River to the magazine on the Grays Ferry Road should be by landing at Conoroe & Co.'s Wharf, in the village of Richmond; thence up Ann Street west to Frankford Road; down that road to the Black Horse and Mud Lane (Montgomery Avenue); thence to Sixth Street; down the latter to Hickory Lane (Coates Street, now Fairmont Avenue); thence west crossing the Ridge Road, to Broad Street, and to the Callowhill turnpike road; thence west to Schuylkill Front Street (Twenty- Second); down the same, and by way of the Grays Ferry Road to the destination. The intention was that the powder should be carried at a distance from the built-up portions of the city.
1819
March 9. Masonic Hall, Chestnut Street between Seventh and Eighth Streets, burned.
April 19. Work commenced on Fairmount Water Works. Completed 1822.
In the United States Gazette appeared an advertisement, Orders for Leigh Coal will be received at 172 Arch Street "in quantities not less than one ton, at thirty cents per bushel of eighty pounds." The coal may be seen burning at the above place.
September 8. Vauxhall Garden, N.E. Cor. Broad and Walnut Streets, destroyed by a mob.
1820
March 6. District of Kensington incorporated.
April 2. Chestnut Street Theater burned.
Yellow Fever. Deaths, September, 67.
1821
Coal was being consumed. In this year the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company delivered three hundred and sixty five tons of coal to Philadelphia.
March 20. The Legislature passed an act to provide a State penitentiary within the city and county of Philadelphia. The Cherry Hill farm property on the north side of Francis Lane (later on Coates Street, now Fairmount Avenue) west of the Ridge Road (Corinthian Ave. and Fairmount Ave.). Cornerstone laid on May 22d. Incorporation of Apprentices Library.
May 9. South Street Theater (below Fifth Street) burned.
1822
January 24. Orphan's Asylum, corner Eighteenth and Cherry Streets, burned. Twenty-three children perished.
1823
May 31. Turner Camac conveys to the bible Christian Society a lot of ground on the west side of Third Street above Girard Avenue, sixty feet front and two hundred feet deep to a twenty feet wide alley. On this plot was erected a church later on sold to Louis and William Burk. The bricks forming the sidewalk fronting this church were studded with nails.
1824
March 31. Legislature incorporated a company to construct a railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia, in Lancaster County; the company to be called "The President, Directors and Company of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company."
During the year Schuylkill water was introduced into 3,954 private houses, and 185 manufactories.
May 9. Fire in the Northern Liberties, Third Street near Brown. About thirty houses destroyed.
September 27. Arrival of Gen. Lafayette in Philadelphia stopping and sleeping at the Frankford Arsenal.
Grand procession on the 28th. Reception in Independence Hall.
A census taken in 1824 showed that the city contained fifty-five printing offices, one hundred and fifty printers.
1827
Penn Treaty monument erected upon the spot where William Penn made his treaty with the Indians.
1828
August. Stephen Heimer, a watchman, set upon and killed at corner of Third and George Streets. this precipitated a riot among the weavers residing in this neighborhood.
October 1. Arch Street Theatre opened, Arch Street above Sixth.
December 6. The Reading mail coach which left the city with nine passengers, held up by three men on the Ridge Road and Turner's Lane (Oxford Street). James Porter, George Wilson and John Poteet afterwards arrested and convicted. Poteet turned State's evidence. Porter executed at Bush Hill on July 2, 1830.
1829
July 4. Cornerstone laid of second United States Mint, S.W. Cor. Chestnut and Juniper Streets.
1831
December 26. Stephen Girard, a native of France but for many years an active merchant and citizen of Philadelphia, died in his house, Water Street above Market. He was buried on the 30th of December at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity, Sixth and Spruce Streets. The remains were transferred in 1850 to the sarcophagus in Girard College, under the control of members of the Masonic order. At his death the value of his estate was appraised at $7,500,000.
1832
February 22. Cornerstone of the Merchants' Exchange laid.
April 2. Cornerstone of the Moyamensing Prison laid.
June 6. The Philadelphia and Norristown Railroad opened to Germantown.
July 5. Cholera commenced. Ended October 4. Deaths, 935.
August 10-12. Race riots between whites and blacks at and adjacent to a flying horse exhibition (carousel) South Street above Seventh. Three hundred special constables sworn in to quell the nightly riots.
September 13. West Chester Railroad opened to the intersection of Columbia Railroad.
1833
February 22. Cornerstone of Washington Monument laid, in Washington Square.
April 8. Cornerstone of St. Michael's R. C. Church laid at the southeast corner of Second and Jefferson Streets.
1834
March 4. William Penn steamboat burned below the Navy Yard.
September 28. St. Michael's R.C. Church consecrated.
October 14. Political riot in Moyamensing. Robb's Row, Christian Street above Ninth, burned.
1835
July 12. Riots. Houses inhabited by African-Americans, in the neighborhood of Shippen (Bainbridge) and Eighth Streets, sacked.
1836
February 8. Philadelphia Gas Works went into operation.
February 22. An ox roasted on the ice of the Delaware River, near Smith's Island (in the Delaware, opposite Chestnut Street).
1837
Banks suspended specie payments. The city of Philadelphia issued "shin plasters."
1838
March 15. The Commissioners passed an ordinance establishing the Northern Liberties Gas Works. Capital, $200,000.
April 1. Upper Ferry Bridge burned.
May 14. Pennsylvania Hall, corner Sixth and Haines (Cresson) Streets, attacked by a mob.
May 17. Pennsylvania Hall burned.
May 18. Shelter for Colored Orphans, Thirteenth Street, above Callowhill, burned by a mob.
October 4. Great fire on Chestnut Street Wharf, Delaware.
December 17. Schuylkill Bank failed.
1840
Riots in Kensington. The Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad torn up on Front Street, and Emery's tavern burned.
1841
January 15. The banks resumed specie payments.
February 4. Bank of the United States failed and other banks suspended specie payments.
1842
January 20. Celebration of the opening of; the Reading and Pottsville Railroad.
August 1. Abolition Riots. African Presbyterian Church, St. Mary's Street, and Smith's Hall, Lombard Street, burned.
August 26. Reading Railroad bridge and the old bridge at the Falls of Schuylkill destroyed by fire.
Ground purchased at the southeast corner of Fifth Street and Franklin Avenue (Girard Avenue) for the erection of a German Catholic Church. Purchase price $11,700.
1843
January 11. Weavers' Riots in Kensington, (Germantown Avenue and Master Street). Rioters assemble at "The Nanny Goat" Market, Washington (American) Street north of Master. Sheriff's posse assailed and beaten. Rioters later dispersed by General Cadwalader's brigade.
August 15. Cornerstone laid of Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter, Fifth Street and Franklin Avenue (Girard Avenue). Solemnly consecrated February 14, 1847. In 1853 the Christian Brothers took charge of the boys' school.
1844
May 6. Riots in Kensington. Several killed.
May 7. Riots renewed in Kensington. More people killed.
May 8. Riots continued. St. Michael's Church (Second and Jefferson Streets) with the Female Seminary adjourning, burned in the afternoon. St. Augustine's Church (Fourth and New Streets) burned in the evening. All of above buildings totally destroyed.
July 7. (Sunday). riots in Southwark; Church of St. Philip de Neri attacked. Fight at night between the military and the rioters; several persons killed.
July 24. This is considered as the foundation date of the establishing of Fairmount Park. On this date the city purchased from the assignees of the defunct Bank of the United States the estate known as Lemon Hill, formerly the estate of Henry Pratt, fifty-two acres for $75,000. Sedgely, north of Lemon Hill, was acquired in 1856. The Landsdown property, on the west side of the Schuylkill, was acquired in 1866.
1845
April 12. By act of Assembly, the city of Philadelphia and the incorporated districts of Spring Garden, Northern Liberties and Penn, and the township of Moyamensing are required to establish and maintain police forces of "not less than one able-bodied man for one hundred and fifty taxable inhabitants" for the prevention of riots and the preservation of the public peace.
July 4. Cornerstone of St. Anne's R.C. Church laid at Memphis Street and Leigh Avenue.
December 29. St. Peter's R.C. Church dedicated.
1846
May 11. Congress of the United States declared that war existed by the act of the republic of Mexico. Ten million dollars appropriated and the President authorized to call out fifty thousand volunteers.
May 13. The journeymen printers met at Keystone hall and resolved that they would take up their shooting sticks in their country's cause.
August 24. Cornerstone laid of new St. Michael's R.C. Church, to replace the one destroyed by fire in 1844.
September 17. Old Fellow' Hall, Sixth and Haines (Cresson) Streets, dedicated.
November 5. St. Anne's R. C. Church dedicated.
1847
February 7. Dedication of the new St. Michael's R.C. Church.
February 14. St. Peter's R.C. Church consecrated.
April 15. two elephants were drowned in the Delaware River in attempting to swim from Greenwich Point to Gloucester Point, New Jersey.
August 21. At the sugar refinery of George L. Broome & Co., Bread Street near Quarry, twenty-seven men struck down by falling walls. They were members of Fairmount engine and Perseverance Hose Companies. Andrew Butler and Charles H. Himes, members of the Perseverance Hose Company, killed. They were buried at the same time, the funeral was attended by fifty-one fire companies, numbering over three thousand members. The line of march estimated to be three miles long.
1848
February 27. Incorporation of the district of Richmond in the county of Philadelphia. Bounded on the east by the Delaware River, on the north by Westmoreland Street, along the same westward to the westward side of Emerald Street, along the same to the southerly side of Hart Lane, and along the latter to the northern boundary of Kensington district, and by the same to the Delaware River and place of beginning. March 25, 1848, the boundaries were extended to beginning at the river Delaware, on the west side of Westmoreland Street,, and extending along the river to the north side of Tioga Street; thence along Tioga to the east side of the Point Road; along the Point Road to Westmoreland Street, and along the same to the place of beginning.
1849
May 30. Cholera commenced. Ended September 8th. Deaths, 1012.
October 8. Riot at Sixth and St. Mary Streets: "California House" destroyed.
1850
July 9. Great fire which commenced on Vine Street Wharf and destroyed three hundred and sixty-seven houses.
October 18 and 19. Jenny Lind, "the Nightingale," managed by P.T. Barnum, sang both evenings at Musical Fund Hall, on Locust Street. The two concerts netted $19,000, a sum unprecedented for such entertainment.
1851
March 18. Assembly Building, S. W. Corner Tenth and Chestnut Streets, burned.
December 24. Public reception to Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot.
December 26. Hart's Building and the Shakespeare Building at Sixth and Chestnut Streets burned.
December 30. Barnum's Museum, corner Seventh and Chestnut Streets, burned.
1852
May 22. The Diligent Engine played one hundred and eight nine perpendicular at Jayne's building, Chestnut Street, Below Third.
1854
February 2. Consolidation Act passed.
July 5. Chinese Museum at Ninth and Sansom Streets, and National Theatre, Chestnut Street, Below Ninth, burned.
1856
July 1. The long wharf of Merrick & sons, at the foot of Reed Street, Delaware River, Frequently used by the residents of the neighborhood as a recreation resort, caved in; ten persons drowned.
July 17. An excursion train on the North Pennsylvania Railroad leaving the Cohocksink depot, Germantown Avenue and Thompson Street, containing about six hundred children and young people of St. Michael's R. C. Church, on reaching Camp Hill, near Ambler, collided head-on with a train going southward. Fifty dead and one hundred injured.
September 21. Banks suspended.
October 12. The ship Cathedral drawing twenty-five feet four inches of water, being unable to get into New York, and cross the bar, came to Philadelphia up the Delaware without difficulty.
1857
January 18. Tremendous snowfall and gale. The thermometer touching zero. Numerous fire alarms to which the volunteer firemen gallantly responded. Fire destroyed Tabernacle Methodist Church, Eleventh below Oxford Street.
January 26. The Academy of Music opens for its first season with a grand gala. A month later it would host its first performance, Verdi's opera Il Trovatore. Today, it is the oldest grand opera theatre still used for its original purpose in the United States.
February 26. Opening of the Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Streets. Production of Il Trovatore, with Brignold and Gazzaniga in the principal characters.
September 25. Financial panic of 1857 precipitated. Bank of Pennsylvania closed its doors. Other banks suspended specie payments.
November 2. Dedication of the new hall and parade of the American United Mechanics, Northeast Corner of Fourth and George Streets.
1858
January 20. City passenger cars run for the first time in Philadelphia, over Fifth and Sixth Street Railway.
Introduction of steam fire engines.
September 1. Atlantic Telegraph celebration.
1859
January 4. Fire, factory, Lawrence Street above Brown. Loss, $35,000. Steam fire engines in efficient operation.
March 3. Great fire, Second Street below Dock. Seventeen families burned out.
March 14. Girard College Railroad goes into operation . (Ridge Avenue line).
March 24. Chestnut and Walnut Street Railway, act of legislature, approved by council and bill signed by mayor. Company agreed to pay $100,000 towards bridge over the Schuylkill.
March 27. Holy Trinity Church, Nineteenth and Walnut Streets, opened.
April 19. new Western Market, Sixteenth and Market Streets, opened.
May 30. Sunday cars run on Green and Coates Streets, (Fairmount Avenue) Railway.
June 23. Arch Street Railway to Fairmount commences operations.
July 17. (Sunday) Green and Coates Streets cars stopped by order of the Mayor.
July 21-23. Sunday car case argument on habeas corpus before Justice Thompson of Supreme Court.
July 23. Indignation meeting in Independence Square on Sunday cars.
August 15. Grand trial of steam fire engines at Fairmount on account of visit of City Council of Cincinnati.
August 20. Great fire. Stout's Planing Mill and Sewing Machine Factory, 18th Ward. Loss very heavy.
September 8. Great fire. Good Intent Mills, 24th Ward.
October 1. Fire. Hughes Hay Press, Jefferson Avenue and Marriott Street. No water to be had.
October 24. Chestnut and Walnut Streets cars commence running to Twenty-second Street.
November 21. market sheds in Market Street between Front and Eighth, demolition commenced.
December 25. Dedication of Siloam Methodist Episcopal Church, Wood and Brown Streets (E. Susqehanna Avenue and Moyer Street).
December 28. Washington Street Wharf fixed upon as the Delaware terminus of Pennsylvania Railroad.
1860
January 5. Bishop John Nepomucene Neumann falls dead at Thirteenth and Vine Streets.
January 9. Obsequies of Bishop Neumann at St. Johns Cathedral, Thirteenth Street above Chestnut. Buried at St. Peter's Church, Fifth Street and Girard Avenue.
February 13. Continental Hotel open for visitors, and open for quests February 16.
April 25. Public Building Commission holds its first meeting under act of legislature.
May 24. Fire, Richmond and Schuylkill River Railway (Girard Avenue line) Depot, Girard Avenue and Twenty-Sixth Street.
May 24. Cornerstone of Episcopal Hospital, Lehigh Avenue and Front Street, laid.
July 6. Public Buildings Commissioners decide on Penn Square as the site of the court houses.
July 13. Fire. Kimball & Gorton's car factory, Fifteenth Ward.
July 22. Fire. Yard, Gilmore & Co.'s store, 40-42 North Third Street. Loss, $50,000.
July 26. Tremendous tornado at Camden, NJ. Factory blown down. Three men killed.
September 6. Plans for Public Building adopted.
September 20. Contracts for Public Buildings awarded to John McArthur, Jr.
October 9-11. Visit of Prince of Wales.
October 19. Fire. Franklin Building, Sixth Street, below Arch.
November 12. Sensation from threats of secession at the South. Great depression of stocks.
November 22. Philadelphia banks suspend specie payments.
November 23. Destructive fire, Twelfth and Willow Streets.
1861
January 3. Meeting of citizens at Board of Trade rooms, to take action concerning the peril of the Union.
January 7. Destructive fire, Maule & Bros., lumber-yard, Twenty-third and South Streets.
February 10. Ship John Trucks cut through by ice and sunk at Arch Street Wharf, Delaware River.
April. War excitement.
April 23. Whale caught in the Delaware opposite the city.
May 8. First Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers march South.
July 4. Grand parade of Gray Reserves and Home Guards.
September 4. Seizure of property belonging to rebels.
September 10. Ferry boat Curlew with 142 head of cattle aboard, sunk in the Delaware. Most of the cattle escaped.
September 14. Fire in Continental Theatre, Walnut Street above Eighth. Fourteen ballet girls burned, nine whom died.
October 19. Boiler explosion at I. P. Morris' machine works, Richmond. Two men killed.
October 30. Fire. Cotton and woolen mills, Twelfth Street and Washington Avenue. Loss $100,000.
November 5. Explosion at Bridesburg Arsenal. Two men killed.
1862
March 29. Explosion at cartridge factory of Prof. Jackson, Tenth Street near Moyamensing Avenue. Houses in vicinity shattered, seventeen persons died from injuries.
April 20. Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, Logan Square, opened.
June 17. City Councils pass an ordinance appropriating $310,000 for purchase of League Island, to be presented to the United States as a naval station for construction of ironclads.
July 17. Gold eighteen and a half percent. Premium. Silver thirteen per cent. Great scarcity of specie and small change.
July 19. Postage stamps and car tickets put in circulation for small change.
September 5. Funeral of Col. John A. Koltes.
September 8. Independence Square made a recruiting camp.
September 12. Tremendous rains. Cohocksink Creek overflows. Several lives lost. Great damage in upper part of city.
October 16. Gold at thirty-seven per cent. Premium.
October 18. Destructive fire at Ninth and Market Streets.
1863
February 25. Gold reaches seventy-two per cent. Premium.
February 26. New post office building, Chestnut Street below Fifth (now eastern portion of Drexel Building) opened for business.
May 2. Fire. Car factory, Nineteenth and Market Streets. Loss, $100,000.
June 16. Mayor Henry issues a proclamation calling on the citizens to close their places of business and prepare to defend the State. State House bell tolled a 3 P.M. A large assembly convened in Independence Square.
June 29. A general mustering for defense of the advance of Lee. Earthworks constructed on roads leading to the city.
July 15. Draft commences in Fourth Congressional District.
August 24. Grand German festival at Washington Retreat. (Fairmount Park).
September 24. Grand review of colored troops at Chelten Hills. (Camp William Penn).
October 3. Grand parade of colored troops.
November 7. Dummy engines commence running from the depot of the Fifth and Sixth Street Railway, Fourth and Berks Streets to Frankford. They proved very satisfactory.
December 18. Destructive fore in a petroleum warehouse, Delaware Avenue below Almond Street.
December 22. Cooper's Shop Soldiers Home dedicated.
December 23. Grand military procession to receive 29th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers.
December 23. West end of Grays' Ferry bridge burned.
1864
March 1. Ringing of State House bell for ordinary fires forbidden by Mayor Henry.
March 5. Old Fish Market at foot of Market Street vacated.
March 27. Destructive fire at Ninth and Wallace Streets.
April 20. Grant's candle factory, Fifteenth Ward, burned. Loss, $75,000.
April 25. Boiler explosion, Cornelius & Baker's chandelier factory, Cherry Street above Eighth. Several killed and injured.
May 19. Coal Oil Refinery, Twenty-third and Arch Streets, burned.
May 24. Destructive fire, Twelfth and Willow Streets.
June 7. Opening of Great Central Fair, Logan Square. Receipts of Fair, over $1,000,000.
July 22. Simon's Wagon Works, Second and Huntingdon Streets, entirely destroyed by incendiary fire.
August 12. Grand reception Baxter's Fire Zouaves (72d Pennsylvania Volunteers).
September 24 Fall of iron rafters at the new depot, Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, Market and Sixteenth Streets; several persons killed, others injured.
Large unfinished building at northwest corner of Eighth and Vine Streets, falls down.
November 20. Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, Logan Square, consecrated.
December 26. Serious riots among coal heavers, Port Richmond.
1865
January 28. Delaware River frozen over; people crossed over to New Jersey.
February 1. Passenger railway fares raised to 7 cents.
February 8. Disastrous conflagration at Ninth and Washington Streets. Fire originated in coal-oil establishment. Fifty dwelling
houses burned. Several persons perished. Streets filled with snow, and banked up the burning coal-oil, forming a sea of fire.
February 23. Draft commences in First an Second Wards.
February 24. Draft in Third, Fourth and Seventh Wards.
February 27. Draft in Sixth and Ninth Wards.
March 14. Mrs. Rachel Hancock dies from effects of a shot which the provost Guard was firing at a deserter in Fourth Street, near Buttonwood.
March 22. Draft in Twenty-Fifth Ward.
April 3. News of capture of Richmond, Va. Great rejoicing. State House bell rung. Blowing of steam whistles and ringing of hose carriage bells, and striking of gongs in front of Independence Hall. Parade of firemen. Mass meeting in front of Custom House. Illumination in evening.
April 9. News of surrender of Lee's Army. Illumination, blowing of steam whistles and ringing of fire bells. Firing of cannon.
April 15. News of assassination of President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on the evening of Good Friday, April 14, General mourning throughout the city.
April 22. President Lincoln's body escorted to Independence Hall by a large military and civic precession.
May 14. New Union League House, Broad and Sansom Streets, opened.
May 17. Merrick's foundry partially destroyed by fire. Loss $75,000.
June 10. Review of returned Philadelphia troops, General Meade commanding.
June 24. Reception of General Grant at Union League House.
June 27. Fire. Joseph B. Biddle & Co.'s fire works store, 108-110 South Delaware Avenue. Loss, $100,000.
June 28. Fire. C.J. Fell & Co.'s spice establishment, 120 South Front Street. Loss, $70,000.
July 1. Spire of German Reformed Church, Green above Fifteenth Street, blown down; no one hurt.
July 3. Mary Ridey kills, by stabbing, two brothers, Joseph and Isaac Sides, at 1170 North Third Street, a house known as "The New Idea."
August 10. Large sale of Government vessels at the Navy Yard.
August 12. St. George's M. E. Church, fourth Street, Below New, partially destroyed by fire.
August 28. Union and Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloons closed. Imposing ceremonies at the Academy of Music.
October 3. Great fire. French, Richards & Co.'s drug establishment, Tenth and Market Streets. Loss, near $300,000.
October 8. Fire, Coal-oil sheds, Dickinson Street Wharf. Loss, $100,000.
October 16, Grand parade of volunteer Firemen. In line 102 hose carriages, 57 steam fire engines, 11 hand engines, 12 hook and ladder trucks, 26 ambulances, including 30 companies from other cities.
November 29. Boiler explosion, Penn Treaty Iron Works, one man killed, three injured.
December 2. Landreth Public School partially destroyed by fire.
December 28. City Councils pass ordinance for the erection of a new court house on Sixth Street side of Independence Square.
1866
January 2. Great fire, 607 Chestnut Street. Loss $150,000.
January 7. Coldest night known; thermometer 18 degrees below zero. Delaware and Schuylkill frozen over.
Centenary services of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held at St. George's Church, Fourth below New Street.
January 20. Fenian mass meeting at Sansom Street Hall.
January 30. Fire, Delaware Avenue below Vine Street. Loss, $100,000.
February 22. Firemen's procession on the return of Hibernian steam fire engine after four years' service at Fortress Monroe.
February 26. Great fire extending from George H. Robert's' hardware store, 235-237 North Third Street, James, Kent and Santee, wholesale dry goods house, 237 and 239, Smith & Shoemakers', wholesale drug house, and others. Loss, $800,000. One man killed and nine injured by falling wall.
April 11. Christopher Deering and family murdered by Antoine Probst, on a farm in the southern section of the city. Probst hung on June 8th.
May 13. Chestnut and Walnut Street Railway commenced west of new Chestnut Street Bridge.
June 9. Great fire at Dearie's Mill, Twenty-Fifth and Callowhill Street. Loss $200,000.
June 23. Chestnut Street Bridge Formally opened by the Mayor.
July 4. Grand Parade. Representatives from over one hundred veteran regiments, and the orphan children of soldiers and sailors killed during the rebellion. State flags carried by the color-guards restored to the State. Ceremonies in Independence Square. Presentation made by the Mayor General George G. Meade and flags received by Governor Andrew G. Curtin.
July 5. Fire, Baker & McFadden's planing-mill, Hillsdale Street below Race (east of Fourth Street). Loss, $100,000.
July 7. Fire, Fitler, Weaver & Co.'s rope factory, Germantown Avenue and Tenth Street (fronting this factory was the toll-gate, Germantown Pike). Loss, &130,000.
July 12. Great fire, Tacony Print Works, Frankford, belonging to A. S. Lippincott. Loss, $1,000,000.
July 26. Boiler explosion. Yewdalls Mills, Hestonville. Three persons killed.
August 4. Moyamensing Hall, Christian Street above 9th, set on fire and totally destroyed. The deed was committed by persons opposed to the use of the hall as a cholera hospital, cholera prevailing at this time.
November 3. City iceboat launched.
December 14. North Broad Street opened from Nicetown Lane to Fisher's Lane.
December 23. Fire. Gustav Bergner's malt-house, 31st and Thompson Streets; loss, $1000,000.
1867
June 4. Cornerstone of the new hall, Improved Order of Red Men, S. W. Cor Third and Brown Streets, laid.
June 6. Explosion at steam saw-mill of Geasy and Ward, Sansom Street, between 10th and 11th. Twenty-two persons killed (some being burned alive) and seven injured. A relief fund of $15,000 raised for the families of the sufferers.
June 19. American Theatre, Walnut between 8th and 9th, destroyed by fire. Ten persons killed by the falling of the front wall.
June 17. Grand parade of societies participating in Tenth General Saengerfest at Engel & Wolf's farm. (Fairmount Park, vicinity of Grant Monument.)
August 27. Cornerstone laid of new Siloam Methodist Church, Wood Street above Duke (E. Susquehanna Avenue above Thompson Street).
September 26. Grand reception of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan; great military and civic display.
November 28. Obsequies of David M. Lyle, Chief engineer of Fire Department, who was found dead in his office November 25th. Grand procession of military, firemen and citizens.
1868
January 8. Great Fenian demonstration and obsequies in honor of Allen, Larkin and O'Brien.
April 27. Boiler explosion, Penn treaty Iron Works, Beach above Marlborough street. Five persons killed.
July 17. Strike of firemen at Gas Works. City in total darkness. July 18th advance of wages granted, and work resumed.
July 30. Charles E. Becker, proprietor of a zoological garden, in the rear of his saloon, 441-443 North Ninth Street, bitten by a rattle-snake, and dies in twenty minutes.
Ice-house of Star Ice Company, on the Schuylkill above Girard Ave., falls, injuring 9 men and killing 3 horses.
August 4. Cotton and woolen mill of John Brown & Sons, Moyamensing Ave, and Moore Street, burned. Loss, $105,000.
August 11. Parade of Independent Order of Red Men, and dedication of the hall at S. W. Cor. Third and Brown Streets.
Conflagration at Front and New Streets. Loss, 70,000.
September 28. Brig Sunny South, loaded with coal-oil, explodes near Chester; Capt. James R,, Kelly, pilot, of Philadelphia, killed.
October 1. Mass Convention, "Boys in Blue," of the United States, being discharged soldiers of the U.S. Army.
October 2. Parade of "Boys in Blue."
October 17. George W. Childs, of Public Ledger, presents burial lot in Woodland Cemetery, valued at $8,000, to the Philadelphia Typographical Society.
October 22. Mrs. Mary E. Hill killed in her house, N.E. Cor. Tenth and Pine Streets. George S. Twitchell, Jr., and his wife, the daughter of Mrs. Hill, arrested on the charge of having committed the murder. Subsequently Twitchell was found guilty and sentenced to be hung. On
April 8th, the day he was to be executed, committed suicide. Mrs. Twitchell acquitted.
November 25. City Museum Theatre, Callowhill Street between Fourth and Fifth, destroyed by fire. Rebuilt and opened as Concordia Theatre. Later bottling establishment of John F. Betz & Son.
December 3. fire, 619-623 Market Street. Loss $150,000.
December 4. Ferry boat Brooklyn, belonging to Gloucester Ferry Company, destroyed by fire. Loss, $30,000.
December 23. John and Rebecca George present 83 acres of land, known as "George's Hill," to the city as an addition to Fairmount Park.
December 30. Depot of 2d and 3d Street Railroad destroyed by fire.
1869
January 7. The commission appointed to provide for the erection of new public building, meet and organize.
January 14. Jewelry establishment of J, E. Caldwell, Chestnut Street, above Ninth, destroyed by fire. Two clerks in Caldwell's store were burned to death.
February 21. Mrs. Lydia R. Bailey, a well- known printer, dies in her 91st year.
March 24. Joseph W. Smith, janitor of hall at Sixth Street and Girard Ave., found dead; Corner's jury rendered a verdict that his death was caused by violence.
April 4. The Beneficial Saving Society robbed of $1,000,000 in bonds by burglars; bonds subsequently returned.
April 6. The new building of the Fidelity Insurance, Trust and Safe Deposit Company opened.
April 26. Grand parade of Odd Fellows on occasion of the semi-centennial celebration.
April 28. Burning of the old depot of the Germantown and Norristown Railroad Co., Ninth and Green Streets.
April 29. Skating Rink, at 21st and Race Streets, burned.
May 3. The steam canal-barge Fulton sunk at the foot of Walnut Street. Two men drowned.
May 10. The cornerstone of Zion German Lutheran Church, Franklin Street below Vine, laid.
May 12. Parade of the Improved Order of Red Men. Imposing display.
May 17. John Dobson's blanket factory, Falls of Schuylkill, destroyed by fire. Pennypacker & Sildey's panel factory, Willow Street above 11th, burned down.
May 31. The will of Dr. James Rush, bequeathing over $1,000,000 to the Philadelphia Library Company, admitted to probate.
June 20. The carriage of the West Philadelphia Hose Co. is thrown into the Schuylkill by a party of rowdies.
June 21. The Independent Order of Druids celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary at Washington Retreat.
June 23. Vista drive at Fairmount Park, opened by Park Commissioners.
June 25. Destructive fire at Sixth Street and Columbia Ave. Loss, $250,000.
June 26. Cornerstone of First Reformed Church, Seventh Street below Oxford, laid.
June 30. Raid made on the unlicensed distilleries in the Twenty-Fifth Ward. Revenue officers accompanied by a corps of marines.
July 4. German Lutheran Church, Fourth and Carpenter Streets, Consecrated.
July 5. Unveiling the statue of Washington Monument in front of Independence Hall. Dedicated by the school children.
July 13. The Third Reformed Church, Tenth and Filbert Streets, damaged by fire.
July 15. New building of the Mercantile Library, Tenth Street above Chestnut, inaugurated with appropriate ceremonies.
July 20. cornerstone of the German Synagogue, "Rodef Sholem," laid.
August 4. Great conflagration of Col. W. C. Patterson's bonded warehouse, Front and Lombard Streets. Thousands of barrels of whiskey burnt. Loss over $2,000,000.
August 15. Destruction of the Boston Fish Company's building, Fifth Street and Columbia Avenue. Loss over $50,000.
August 16. Scarcity of water in the Schuylkill. Steam fire engines used to pump water into Fairmount basin.
August 24. Large factory building, Ninth and Wallace Streets, destroyed by fire. Loss, $100,000.
August 26. Additional steam fire-engines used to pump water into Fairmount basin.
August 28. The Tax Receiver's office at Sixth and Chestnut Streets entered and robbed of $28,000.
August 31. The art store of James S. Earle & Sons, Chestnut Street below Ninth, destroyed by fire. Loss over $100,000.
September 12. Burning of spice mills, 137 North Front Street. Loss, $40,000.
September 13. The Humboldt Centennial celebrated by a parade and laying the cornerstone of a monument in Fairmount Park.
September 16. Barrel manufactory of W. B. Thomas, 12th and Buttonwood Streets destroyed by fire. Loss, $50,000.
October 3. The tide in the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers overflow the wharves and fill cellars.
October 19. The stockholders of the Philadelphia Library Company vote in favor of accepting the legacy of Dr. Rush.
November 24. Centennial celebration at St. George's M. E. Church.
1870
February 3. Horace Binney, Jr., a noted lawyer, dies.
February 17. The cotton mill of J. P. Bruner & Sons, Twenty-fourth and Hamilton Streets, destroyed by fire. Loss, $200,000.
February 22. Parade of firemen and dedication of monument to the late Chief Engineer David M. Lyle.
March 8. Tremendous hailstorm; hail fell for twenty minutes, some of the hailstones larger than hen eggs; great destruction of windows.
June 13. Gaul's brewery, New Market and Callowhill Streets, destroyed by fire.
June 29. Robert J. Hemphill, secretary to the Board of School Controllers from 1849-1862, dies.
July 10. Flour-mill of Rowland & Ervien, Broad Street below Vine, destroyed by fire; rioting among firemen, and carriage of Goodwill engine is thrown in the Schuylkill.
July 26. Sugar refinery of Newhall, Brewery destroyed by fire.
August 27. Coulson's planing mill, Twenty-fourth and brown Streets destroyed by fire.
September 6. Smith & Harper's saw-mill, beach and Coates (Fairmount Ave.) Streets, destroyed by fire; loss over $475,000.
The new synagogue "Rodef Sholem" dedicated.
September 11. The cornerstone of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Front and Canal (Allen) Streets, laid.
Zion German Lutheran Church, Franklin Street below Vine, dedicated.
September 17. The planing mill of N. F. Wood, Spruce Street Wharf, Schuykill, destroyed by fire.
September 22. Race on the Schuylkill between the Nassau boat Club of New York, and a crew of Philadelphians, won by the New Yorkers.
October 11. Penn Square selected as the site for the Public Buildings by a vote of the people, the vote being 51,623 for Penn Square, and 32,825 for Washington Square.
October 20. The chair factory of George Fennen, 1730 North Fifth Street, destroyed by fire.
November 9. The schooner Harmonie capsized and sunk in the Delaware off South Street during a gale.
November 22. Steamboat City of Bridgeton burned while lying above Pier 7, North Wharves, on the Delaware. Loss about $70,000.
1871
January 3. The Board of Commissioners of the Paid Fire Department meet and organize.
January 10. Rudolph Stein, of the firm of Stein & Jones, a well known printing firm, corner Hudson alley and Chestnut Street, dies suddenly.
January 22. The cabinet works of P.P. Weiss & Co., 622 North Twenty-fourth Street, destroyed by fire.
February 2. The Kensington Bank, Beach Street, below Laurel, entered by pretended policemen, and its vault robbed of bonds and cash to the amount of $100,000.
March 3. Opening of the Northern Dispensary with appropriate ceremonies.
March 15. The Paid Fire Department of the city goes into operation.
March 24. Mass meeting of citizens at Academy of Music to advocate the abolishment of the Public Building Commission.
March 30. the soldiers and sailors (colored) hold a meeting and parade in honor of the anniversary of the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment.
May 15. German peace celebration; procession nine miles long; various trades and occupations in line.
May 16. The German peace celebration continued, Picnic at the new Philadelphia Schuetzen Park, Indian Queen Lane.
May 27. Keystone Marble Works, market Street near Twentieth, damaged by fire; loss $65,000.
Warehouse of Malone & Co., 1126-28 Washington Ave., destroyed by fire.
June 5. Saw-mill of Stanley & Neber, Marshall Street, below Girard Avenue, destroyed by fire. Also about forty other buildings. Loss, $150,000.
June 15. Cornerstone of new building of University of Pennsylvania, Thirty-fourth and Locust Streets, laid with impressive ceremonies.
June 15. Dedication of the New Methodist Episcopal Home for the Aged and Infirm, Lehigh Ave. and 13th St.
June 23. Gillingham & Garrison's saw-mill, Richmond and Norris Streets, destroyed by fire. Loss, $40,000
June 24. Monument to the memory of William B, Schneider, late Grand Tyler, Masonic fraternity, dedicated at Mt. Moriah Cemetery.
July 11. Pattern-shop of I.P. Morris & Co., Port Richmond, struck by lightning and destroyed by fire; loss, $55,000.
July 17. Three boys, Cornelius Ryan, Samuel Glass and William Galvin, drowned in a brick pond at Seventeenth and Reed Streets.
August 28. Celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Philadelphia Schuetzen-Verein (Rifle Club) at the park of the association, Indian Queen Lane.
Six hundred kegs of powder, found on board a canal-boat on the Delaware, seized.
September 22. Lincoln Monument at Fairmont Park unveiled and dedicated.
September 24. Cornerstone laid of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Michael, Trenton Ave. and Cumberland Street.
September 29, Jessup & Moore's paper warehouse, 524 North Street, destroyed by fire; loss, $200,000.
Jacob Schoenning's morocco factory, Randolph Street below Oxford, destroyed by fire; $90,000.
October 10. An election riot occurs in the fourth and Fifth Wards. Isaiah Chase and Octavius V. Catto, both colored, are shot and , and about seventeen men are wounded.
October 13. Mass meeting at National Hall to give expression to the feeling in regard to the murder of Major Octavius V. Catto, Principal of the Institute for Colored Youth.
October 15. Meeting held and collections taken up for the relief of the sufferers of the Chicago fire. Nearly $500,000 collected.
October 17. Old brick church building, Second Street above Poplar, used as an opera house by Samuel S. Sandford's Minstrels, destroyed by fire.
October 18. Parker & Macphilimy's planning-mill, Sixteenth and Fitzwater Streets, destroyed by fire.
October 20. Defalcation announced of City Treasurer, Joseph F. Marcer, in the sum of $478,000. This defalcation was caused by the failure of Chas. F. Yerkes, Jr., & Co., brokers, to whom the City Treasurer, contrary to law, had loaned the public money.
October 21. Planing-mill of William Barth, Trenton Ave. and Adams Street, destroyed by fire; loss, $11,000.
October 28. Charles F. Yerkes, Jr., broker for the City Treasurer, held in $50,000 bail to answer the charge of embezzlement, and $30,000 on the charge of larceny as bailee.
November 1. The grand jury presents bills of indictment against Joseph F. Marcer, City Treasurer, and William F. Yerkes, Jr.
November 4. Phosphate works of Watson & Clark, near the Point Breeze Gas works, destroyed by fire; loss, $150,000.
December 4. Reception of Grand Duke Alexis of Russia. Grand ball at the Academy of Music, in the evening.
December 5. Charles F. Yerkes, Jr., charged with embezzlement of funds belonging to the City of Philadelphia, sentenced to pay a fine of $500 and undergo an imprisonment of four years and nine months.
December 6. Joseph F. Marcer, City Treasurer, sentenced to an imprisonment of four years and nine months in the Eastern Penitentiary and to pay a fine of $300,000.00. Pardoned September 27, 1872.
December 19. Fourth National Bank, Arch Street below Fifth, stopped payment and failed.
December 25. Steam frigate Chattanooga sunk at League Island.
1872
January 1. Hon. William S. Stokley inaugurated as Mayor of the city.
January 21. The new Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception at Front and Canal Streets opened with appropriate ceremonies.
Water pumped for the first time into the new reservoir of the Delaware Water Works at Sixth Streets and Lehigh Avenue.
February 4. Central Presbyterian Church, corner of Franklin and Thompson Streets, dedicated.
February 17. The new Philadelphia Orthopedic Hospital, Seventeenth and Summer Streets, formally opened.
Steam-propelled Claymont sinks at Girard Wharf, about Market Street.
February 22. Meeting of the surviving soldiers of the War of 1812.
March 4. Centennial commission meets at Independence Hall.
New hall of the Philadelphia Rifle Club (Schuetzen Verein), North Third Street below Green, opened.
March 20. Simmons & Slocum's Opera House, 1005-07 Arch Street, burned.
March 25. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company commenced business at their new office, Fourth Street and Willings Alley.
April 2. Joseph Wittle, lion-tamer, mangled by a lion at "Porgey" O'Brian's menagerie, Frankford.
April 7. Trinity Reformed Church, Seventh Street below Oxford, dedicated.
April 17. The Public Buildings Commission annulled a former resolution directing that the buildings should be constructed upon the four Penn Squares, and ordering the erection of one building at he intersection of Broad and Market Streets.
May 5. Friend's Meeting House, northwest corner of Seventeenth Street and Girard Avenue, was opened for the first time for public worship.
May 27. Steam boiler explodes at the factory of Troth, Gordon & Co., Crease Street above Griard Avenue. Two persons killed and six injured.
June 1. The new Lincoln Market, corner of Broad and Coates (Fairmount Avenue) Streets, opened for business. (Later on site of the Hotel Lorraine).
June 13. National Amateur Regatta on the Schuylkill.
August 1. Spotted Tail, with eighteen other Indians and their wives, of the Upper Brule, Sioux tribe, arrived in this city, and the next day went upon an excursion to Cape May.
August 9. The Post Office Commission decided that the new post office should be placed on the lot northwest corner of Ninth and Chestnut Streets, containing 176 feet 9 inches on Chestnut Street and 378 feet 9 inches on Ninth Street.
The first stone of the foundation walls of the Public Buildings at Broad and Market Streets was laid at the southwest corner of the southwest square.
August 15. The iron steamship Pennsylvania, the first vessel of the American Steamship Company of Philadelphia, launched at Cramps' shipyard, Beach and Norris Streets. The ship was 355 feet over all in length, with a beam of 45 feet, a depth of 43 feet and a capacity of 3016 tons.
September 21. International Cricket Match between the English gentlemen 12 and 22 Philadelphia picked cricketers on the grounds of the Germantown Club, closed September 24th with the following score: Philadelphia, 22, first inning, 63; second inning, 74. English 12 first inning, 105; second inning, 34, with four wickets to go down.
September 23. Cornerstone of the Roman Catholic Church of St. Elizabeth laid at the southeast corner of Twenty-third and Berks Streets.
September 28. Fall regatta of the Schuylkill Navy. Prize for single sculls won by Max Schmitt, three miles in 22m, 30s. Prize for six-oared barges was by the Iona of the Crescent Club, time, 21m, 34s. Prize for Junior single sculls won by Frank Street of the Pennsylvania Club, time 23m,33s. Prize for four-oared gigs won by the Pennsylvania Club, time, 20m, 20s. Prize for double scull gigs won by the Ariel of the University Club, time, 24m.
September 30. Medicine Bear, Long Fox, Red Thunder and thirty-one others of the Teton and Grand River Sioux Indians arrived in the city in charge of the Indian agents.
October 5. The managers of the German Hospital took formal possession of their new hospital, corner of Girard Avenue and Corinthian Avenue. Removing from their old location at Twentieth and Norris Streets.
October 7. New depot of the Reading Railroad Company at Chelten Avenue, Germantown, opened.
October 9. Cornerstone laid of the Jewish Hospital, Olney Road, near the York Pike.
October 11. The new building of the University of Pennsylvania at Thirty-fourth and Locust Streets, was dedicated.
October 26. Big Mouth, Milky Way and forty-five other Indians of the Comanche, Kiowa, Arrapalio, Apache, Washita, Caddo, Delaware, Kihi and Tawa Earac tribes arrived from Washington and were taken to the Girard House (Hotel, N. E. corner Ninth and Chestnut Streets).
October 28. The "epizooty," or horse disease, made its appearance in Philadelphia. It continued its ravages for about a month; during that time almost every horse in the city was affected. Two of the passenger railway companies during this period suspended the running of cars for six days; others suspended on Sundays, and ran but few cars on weekdays. The transportation of goods and other articles almost ceased for some days, and wagons and carts were drawn through the streets by men.
October 30. Cornerstone laid of the building of the Academy of Natural Sciences, S. W. corner Nineteenth and Race Streets.
The Ohio, the second iron steamship of the American Steamship Company, was launched at Cramps' Shipyard, Port Richmond.
November 11. Funeral of Major General George G. Meade, with impressive public ceremonies.
November 18. Meeting of committee of three hundred citizens appointed to obtain subscriptions to the stock of the corporation which is to manage the great Centennial Exposition of Industry of 1876.
November 20. The tercentenary of Presbyterianism was celebrated at the Penn Square Church, Broad Street above Chestnut.
November 27. City Councils fix the tax rate at $2.05, with ten cents public buildings tax.
November 28. Race on Schuylkill between eight-oared English-built shells. Won by boat Longfellow of Crescent Club, over Leviathan of Undine Club. Course 2-1/2 miles; time, 11.15m.
December 6. Fire at Warrington & Co.'s pen factory, northwest corner of Twelfth and Buttonwood Streets; loss, $25,000.
December 12. Edwin Forrest, the tragedian, dies.
December 15. St. Bonifacius R. C. Church, corner Hancock and Diamond Streets, dedicated.
German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Peter, Forty-second and Myrtle Streets, West Philadelphia, dedicated.
Lehigh Avenue M. E. Church, Lehigh Avenue and Hancock Street, dedicated.
December 20. Fire at the stables of Forepaugh's circus and menagerie (winter quarters) Wister Street above Mill, Germantown: loss $100,000.
December 22. German Methodist Episcopal Church, York Street above Frankford Avenue, dedicated.
St. Elizabeth's R. C. Church, Twenty-third and Berks Streets, dedicated.
Grace Mission Presbyterian Church, Twenty-second and Federal Streets, dedicated.
December 30. Protestant Episcopal Church, St. James, Hestonville, consecrated.
December 31. Gottfried Kuehnle was killed at his residence and bakery, Frankford Road below Girard Avenue. Frederick Heidenblut, a journeyman under employ, tried for the crime, convicted and hung for the murder, January 20, 1875.
1873
January 22. The boiler of the locomotive Kedge Hill exploded at American and Norris Streets, North Pennsylvania Railroad; one man killed, and several wounded.
February 6. City Councils pass an ordinance appropriating $500,000 in aid of the Centennial Exposition.
William Siner, member of Common Council from the Sixteenth Ward, was impeached before Select Council upon the charge of keeping a gambling-house.
March 25, The Indiana, the third ship of the American Steamship Co.'s line, launched at the ship-yard of William Cramp & Sons.
March 27. The Legislature of Pennsylvania passed a bill granting $1,000,000 to the Centennial Exposition, the same to be principally collected by a tax on the receipts of passenger railways.
April 13. Norris Square United Presbyterian Church, corner Hancock Street and Susquehanna Avenue, dedicated.
April 18. Explosion of a still filled with oil at the adamantine candle works of C. H. Grant & Co., southwest corner of Twenty-third and Hamilton Streets. Alexander Wilson and Samuel Walker, employees, burned and lost their lives.
April 24. Cornerstone laid of the Cumberland M. E. Church, southwest corner
Coral and Cumberland Streets.
April 27. Park Avenue M. E. Church, corner Park Avenue and Norris Street, dedicated.
May 18. German Evangelical Reformed Church, Thirty-eighth and Baring Streets, dedicated.
June 7. The steamship Illinois, the fourth vessel of the American Steamship Company, launched from the ship-yard of William Cramp & Sons.
June 14. Regatta of the Schuylkill Navy. Prize for four-oared shells won by the Vesper, of the Vesper Club, in nineteen minutes and twenty-four seconds; course three miles. Prize for six-oar gunwale barges won by the Falcon, of the Pennsylvania Club; time, twenty-one minutes. Prize for four-oared gigs won by the Phantom, of the Pennsylvania Club, in twenty minutes and four and a half seconds.
June 22. Broad and Diamond Street Presbyterian Chapel, dedicated.
June 29. Cornerstone laid of the Lutheran Church at Roxborough.
June 30. Cornerstone laid of the Protestant Episcopal church, St. Peter's corner of Wayne Avenue and Harvey Street, Germantown.
July 4. The commissioners of Fairmount Park formally conveyed the U.S. Commissioners of the Centennial Exposition, and to the Centennial Board of Finance, at Lansdowne, in Fairmount Park, four hundred and fifty acres of land, for building and other purposes connected with the Centennial Exposition of 1876. Meeting of veterans of the war of 1812 at Independence Hall.
July 13. Services in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the meeting of the first Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, held in the Methodist churches.
July 31. Cornerstone laid of the Harriet Holland Mission (Presbyterian), Broad and Federal Streets.
August 6. Justice Beuislay ascended from Smith's Island (in the center of the Delaware River, opposite Chestnut Street) on a trapeze attached to a balloon expanded with hot air, which fell into the river Delaware shortly afterward, being carried a considerable distance before Beuislay was rescued from the water.
August 12. Very heavy rain fell continuing until next day. The rainfall being seven ad thirty-two hundredths inches. Great damage and loss, especially in the district east of Fifth Street, between Poplar and Oxford Streets.
August 17. Cornerstone laid of the chapel of Eighteenth Street M. E. Church, corner of Wharton Street and Herman Avenue.
August 20. Cornerstone laid of M. E. Mariners' Bethel Church, northwest corner of Moyamensing and Washington Avenues.
September 7. Chapel of the North Star Mission (Baptist), Seventh Street and Susquehanna Avenue, dedicated. Cornerstone laid of the Church of the United Brethren at Mount Airy.
September 9. Cornerstone laid of Second Baptist Church, Seventh Street below Girard Avenue.
September 14. The Jewish Hospital, Nineteenth Street and Olney Road, was dedicated.
Church of the Brethren (Drunkards), Marshall Street below Girard Avenue, dedicated.
Cornerstone laid of the First Presbyterian Church of Mantua, Thirty-fifth and Baring Streets.
September 16. Celebration of the Twenty-fifth anniversary of the Aztec Club, formed in the city of Mexico during the Mexican War by officers of the U.S. Army, held at the residence of Gen. Robert Patterson. Generals Grant, Hooker and many other officers being present.
September 18. The banking firms of Jay Cooke & Co., and E. W. Clarke & Co. suspended payment, which announcement was followed by great excitement. A run was commenced upon the Fidelity Safe Deposit and Trust Company, which was sustained during the day.
September 19. The financial panic continued. Great run upon the Fidelity Trust Company and Union Banking Company; both sustained demands. During the day several prominent brokers failed.
Great excitement throughout the United States in consequence of the failure of Jay Cooke & Co. In New York and other Atlantic cities there was a panic. Banks, Trust companies and individuals failed, and a panic and business revulsion commenced throughout the country.
September 25. Commencement of the ceremonies of dedication of the new Masonic Temple, Broad and Filbert Streets. Grand tournoi of Knights Templar at Academy of Music and Horticultural Hall. Gethsemane Baptist Church, corner of Eighteenth Street and Columbia Avenue, dedicated.
September 26. Great parade of the Masonic Order for the dedication of the new hall. The Grand Lodge and on hundred and seventy subordinate lodges were in line, the brethren numbering over eleven thousand men.
September 28. Cornerstone laid of German Reformed Salem Church, Fairmount Avenue below Fourth Street.
The Roman Catholic Church of Our Mother of Sorrows, Lancaster Avenue near Cathedral Cemetery, dedicated.
Renaissance Hall, in the Masonic Temple, dedication to the uses of Royal Arch Masons.
September 30. Parade of twenty-six commanderies of Knight Templars.
October 6. Cornerstone laid of Grace Chapel M.E Church, corner Master and Carlisle Streets.
October 7-8. National amateur regatta on the Schuylkill.
October 9. The returns of the election canvassers showed that the number of citizens entitled to vote is 164,510.
Cornerstone laid of Bethany M.E. Church, southwest corner of Eleventh and Mifflin Streets.
October 23. A locomotive and eleven oil cars were thrown off the track of the Greenwich branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Point Breeze, by running over a horse. The engineer, John Frew, killed.
October 26. Chapel of Tasker Street M.E. Church, corner of Snyder Avenue and Fifth Street, dedicated.
November 5. City ice boat No. 3 launched at Kaighn's Point.
November 6. Baptist Home for Old Women, Seventeenth and Norris Streets, opened and dedicated.
November 10. The State Centennial Supervisors adopted the plan of Collins & Autenreeth for the memorial building of the Centennial Exposition.
November 17. First flag on the grand flagstaff at League Island hoisted by the Secretary of the Navy, Hon. Geo. M. Robeson.
November 27. Thanksgiving Day, grand review of the First Division National Guards of Pennsylvania, by Governor Hartranft.
1874
January 1. Fire at sugar refinery of McKean, Newhall & Borie, a Grange Place between Second and Third Streets; loss, $200.000.
January 29. New Olympic Theater, Market Street, south side below Thirteenth, destroy by fire; loss, $200.000. Two firemen were killed.
February 8. Miss Hage and Ms, Lee, two ballet dancers at Mortimer's Varieties (corner tenth and Callowhill Streets). burned by their dresses taking fire from a stove. Both subsequently died.
February 6. The Franklin Saving Fund Society adjudged bankrupt. Indignation meeting of depositors held same day at Assembly Building (S.W. corner Tenth and Chestnut Streets).
Fiftieth anniversary of the Franklin Institute celebrated at Musical Fund Hall.
February 13. The larger beer brewery of Henry Muller, Thirty-Second and Jefferson Streets, fell in from the weight of a great quantity of ice which was being stored in an apartment. There were twenty-eight persons in the brewery at the time; of this nine were killed, and eleven badly injured. Everything in the building was destroyed, the pecuniary loss estimated at $100.000.
February 18. Autopsy upon the bodies of the Siamese twins (Chang and Eng Bunker) finished at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
February 27. First demonstration made against taverns and lager beer saloons in imitation of proceedings in Ohio and other Western States. About twenty women visited three or four saloons in the neighborhood of Susquehanna Avenue and Fifth Street, Sang hymns in front of these places and delivered prayers. None of the saloons closed.
March 5. Ropewalk of John P. Bailey & Co., Otsego and Morris Streets, burned; loss $20.000.
March 19. Fire at Insall & Dorey's spring factory, 1437 Hutchinson Street; loss $35.000.
March 24. Machine shops and other buildings at the Shipyard of William Cramp & Son, Beach and Norris Streets, burned; loss $175.000.
April 29. Steamship Mediator burned at Pier 19, Delaware Avenue below Callowhill Street; loss 250.000.
May 8. Boiler explosion at the Keystone Mills, Callowhill Street near Twenty-Fifth; two persons killed.
May 23. Sash-factory and planing-mills of Hazel & Co., north-east corner of eighth Street and Girard Avenue, burned; loss $25,000.
May 29. Fire al 11 North sixth Street, occupied by Edward Stern, printer; loss $20.000.
May 31. Eighteenth Street Chapel of M. E. Church, corner of Eighteen and Wharton Streets, dedicated.
June 3. Cornerstone laid of the addition to German Hospital, corner of Corinthian Street and Girard Avenue.
June 4. University Hospital Thirty-Fourth and Spruce Streets, dedicated by Governor Hartranft.
June 17. Edward Payson Weston, at the Chesnut Street Rink (Twenty-third and Chestnut Streets) commenced and effort to walk two hundred miles at the rate of fifty miles per day in ten hours per day. He accomplished it on the fourth day. Time, first day, 9h. 59m. 15s.; second day, 9h. 56m. 50s. Third day, 9h. 56m. 40s.; fourth day, 9h. 54m. 20s.
June 18-19. Regatta of the Schuylkill Navy. Course, from the Falls Bridge to Rockland, one and half mills. Prize for four-oared shells won by Argonaut Rowing Association of Bergen Point, NJ Prize for pair-oared shells won by Nassau Boat Club, NY Prize for single sculls won by J.R. Keaton of the Harlem Rowing Association of New York.
June 24. Fete champetre at Belmont, West Park, under auspices of Women's Centennial Committee.
June 27. Regatta of the Amateur Rowing Association on the Schuylkill. Course, from Rockland and return, two miles. First prize won by Nereid; second prize, Lucilla.
July 1. Charles Brewster Ross, a boy four years old, son of Christian K. Ross, of Germantown, together with an elder brother, was carried off and kidnapped by two men. The older boy was released at Richmond and Palmer Streets, and return to his home, but the younger one was not heard from. Very large rewards were offered for his recovery, and the case was one which attracted attention all over the United States.
Zoological Gardens at Fairmount Park formally opened to the public.
Public announcement made that the Centennial Board of Finance had accepted the bid of Richard J. Dobbins for the erection of the Centennial buildings. The contract price for Memorial Hall was $972,595, according to specified dimensions, or maximum cost of $1,249,273, if the cubic capacity of the building shall be increased thirty per cent. The contract cost of the main Exposition Building, covering eighteen acres, was $1,236,000, exclusive of about $80,000 for grading.
July 3. Henry Loth's sewing machine factory, southeast corner of Broad and Wallace Streets, burned; loss, $35.000.
July 4. Cornerstone of Public Building laid at Broad and Market Streets. The building had been commenced long before that time,
Girard Avenue Bridge formally opened. Total length, 1000 feet; total width, 100 feet. The widest bridge in the world. Cost, $1,404,445.
July 16, The Athletic and Boston Baseball Clubs sailed for Europe upon a professional tour on the steamship Ohio.
August 4. Fire at mill, northwest corner of Germantown and Columbia Avenues; loss, $22,000.
August 5. Cornerstone laid of Memorial Baptist Church, northeast corner Broad and Master Streets.
August 25. Signor Pedanto made a balloon ascension from Windmill Island. At the office of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Fourth Street and Willings Alley, the aerostat struck a flagpole on the top of the building, which tore a hole in the balloon, causing the gas to escape. The balloon descended rapidly, whereby the persons in the car were injured.
September 1. Fire at James Wright's carpet factory, Twenty-third and Simes Streets; loss, $25,000.
September 5. Centennial celebration of the meeting of the First Continental Congress at Carpenters' Hall.
September 9. Steamship Abbottsford arrived with the members of the Athletic and Boston Baseball clubs on board.
September 26. Annual regatta of the Schuylkill Navy. Course from Rockland, one mile up the river and return. Single scull prize won by J.B. McBeath, of Quaker City Club, time,16m. 10s; gigs,. Pennsylvaniaia Club, time 14m. 18s. Double sculls, Steele and Whitemar of Pennsylvania Club. Barges, Ione of Crescent Club, Ttime, 14m. 38 1/2s. Four-oared shells, Pennsylvania club, time, 9m. 15 3/4s.
October 1. Cornerstone laid of new building for the women's Medical College, corner of Twenty-First Street and North College Avenue.
October 11. Church of the German Reformed Salem congregation Fairmount Avenue below Fourth, dedicated.
October 18. Cornerstone laid of Roman Catholic Church of St. Agatha, northwest corner of thirthy-eigth and Bridge (Spring Garden) Streets.
October 27. F.H. G. Brotherton concluded, at 806 Green Street, the pedestrian feat of walking 1000 half-miles in 1000 half-hours, being 1000 half-hours of consecutive hours, which effort was commenced on October 6.
October 29. Falls of Schuylkill Brewery, belonging to Jacob Hohenadel, burned, loss $45,000.
November 2. Fire at glassworks of F.J. Cook, York and Thompson Streets; loss, $35,000.
November 12. Fast traveling on Pennsylvania Railroad from Jersey City to West Philadelphia depot, 1 hour 47 minutes, including two stoppages. From Philadelphia to Baltimore, 2 hours, 15 minutes. From Baltimore to Philadelphia, return, 2 hours, 13 minutes.
November 21. Manayunk and Roxborough inclined railway opened.
December 14. William Mosher and Joseph Clark, abductors of Charles Brewster Ross, shot and killed while attempting burglary at the residence of Judge Van Brunt, at Bay Ridge, Long Island.
1875
February 8. Steam tug Hudson, cut through the ice and sunk in the Delaware.
March 13. First number of Col. Alexander K. McClure's paper The Times, published.
May 9. Fiftieth anniversary of the pastorate of Rev. Dr. John Chambers celebrated at his church, services lasting for one week.
July 21. Preliminary surveys for the improvement of the Independence Square begun.
July 30. Peoples' passenger Railway (Callowhill) opened for travel.
February 9. Fire at Keen & Coates Foundry, 943 North Front Street; loss $46,000.
February 15. Fire at 113-115 North Third Street; loss, $50.000.
February 27. Fire at Washington Butchers' Sons, meat packing establishment, 146-148 North Front Street; loss, $100,000.
June 7. Fire at John Brown & Sons' cotton a woolen mills, Eight and Tasker Streets; loss $43,000.
August 15. Fire at Perot's malt house , 310 Vine Street; loss $31.393.
August 24. J.B. Johnson, a professional swimmer of England, swam from the Lazaretto to Gloucester, about ten miles, in a contest with Thomas Coyle of Chester, PA., who gave up before he had swam more than half the distance.
September 13-22. Cricket tournament at Germantown. The picked twelve of Philadelphia defeated Canada twelve by a score of 231 t0 144. The British officers defeated Canada twelve by 353 to 290. The Philadelphia twelve beat the British officers by eight wickets; score, 282 to 281.
September 26. A dummy on the Frankford (Fifth and Sixth Street) railway, smashed by an excursion train from New York at the Harrowgate crossing of the connecting railway; five persons killed, and twenty injured.
October 4. Fire at Burgin & Sons' glass factory, Girard Avenue and Palmer Streets; loss, $20,000.
October 14. Mattress and furniture factory on Randolph Street above Oxford Street, burned; loss, $20,000.
German Hospital formally dedicated.
October 31. Fire al Carlton Woolen Mills, Twenty-third and Hamilton Streets; loss, $500,000.
November 10. J.F. Betz's malt house, St. John (American) Street below Callowhill, burned; loss, $20,000.
November 20. Market Street bridge over the Schuylkill destroyed by fire. Permanent bridge first opened for travel January 1, 1805; rebuilt and widened, 1850-51.
November 21. Moody and Sankey, famous religious revivalists, began a series of meetings in the old Pennsylvania freight depot, southwest corner of Thirteenth and
Market Streets.
November 30. South Street bridge opened to pedestrians.
December 2. U.S. Navy Yard at foot of Federal Street sold to Pennsylvania Railroad Company for $1,000,000.
December 8. Fire at William B. Thomas' barrel factory, Willow Street above Twelfth; loss, $20,000.
December 22. Ridge Avenue Farmer's Market, Ridge Avenue below Girard Avenue, opened for business.
The Franklin Institute and Academy of Fine Arts in 1869 memorialized Congress in favor of holding an International Exhibition to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. By act of Congress this was authorized March 3, 1871. Congress, on June 1, 1872, incorporated the Centennial Board of Finance with authority to receive subscriptions at ten dollars per share. The State of Pennsylvania gave $1,000,000 to the commission for the purpose of erecting a permanent building, since known as Memorial Hall, and the city of Philadelphia gave $1,500,000 with which were constructed Machinery Hall and Horticultural Hall. On July 4, 1873, the commissioners of Fairmount Park formally transferred to the Centennial Commission and the Centennial Board of Finance, for the use of the exhibition, two hundred and thirty-six acres of ground.
There were one hundred and ninety-four building erected. The main building were: Main Exhibition building, 1,876 feet long, 464 feet wide; cost, $1,600,000. Machinery Hall, 1,402 feet long, 360 feet wide; cost, $792,000. Horticultural Hall, 383 feet long, 193 feet wide; cost, $251,937.
Memorial Hall, intended to be an art gallery, permanent building, 365 feet long, 210 feet wide, the dome rising 150 feet above ground; cost, $1,500,000.
Agricultural Hall, a long nave, crossed by three transepts; nave, 820 feet long, and 100 feet wide; central transept 465 feet long and 100 feet wide; cost, $197,000.
The United States government building, built in the shape of a cross. Long nave, 400 feet long, 100 feet wide; cross transepts, 300 feet in depth, 100 feet wide; cost, $162,000.
Women's Pavilion formed by two intersecting naves, each 64x192 feet; cost, $40,000.
Foreign Government and buildings, etc.
The Centennial Exhibition opened on May 10, 1876, and closed on November 10, 1876. The total admissions were 9,910,966 persons. The exhibition was remarkably successful.
1876
January 1. Grand celebration of the opening of the Centennial year, at the State House, by hoisting the grand Union flag, together with illuminations, ringing of bells, blowing of steam whistles and firing of cannon and firearms, at midnight, between December 31 and January 1. Immense concourse of people present.
January 28. Moody and Sanky's meetings at the old Pennsylvania freight depot, southwest corner of Thirteenth and Market Streets, closed. During the time they were in the city they held 210 meetings, and it was estimated that they were attended by more than one million and fifty thousand persons.
February 27. Main auditorium of Siloam M. E. Church, Otis Street above Thompson, dedicated.
March 6. First train of cars from Philadelphia to New York, over the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad (depot, American and Berks Street) passed through from city to city.
March 18. West End Mills, Sixty-seventh and Lombard Streets, burned; loss, $195,000.
March 26. East Montgomery Avenue M. E. Church dedicated.
March 28. New depot building of Twelfth and Sixteenth Streets Passenger Railway Co., Twelfth Street and Susquehanna Avenue, fell in, in consequence of heavy rains.
April 1. Municipal census taken by the police. Dwelling houses, 143,936; inhabitants, 817,448; males over twenty-one years, 226,070.
April 22. New building of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Broad and Cherry Streets, dedicated.
April 27. New York and Philadelphia Railroad between both cities opened by excursions.
May 1. Continental (horse) Railway opened.
May 3. New branch of the Reading Railroad to the Centennial grounds opened.
May 7. Roman Catholic Church of St. Charles Borromeo, Twentieth and Christian Streets, dedicated, the Empress of Brazil being present.
May 10. Opening of the Centennial International Exhibition of Industry, at the Centennial grounds, Fairmount Park, by the President of the United States, in presence of members of Congress, Supreme Court, Cabinet, and many other National, State and municipal officers, and over one hundred and fifty thousand people. The Emperor and Empress of Brazil were present, participating in the ceremonies which were grand and impressive.
May 26. John Hay's waste paper warehouse, northeast corner of Germantown Avenue and Master Street, collapsed from being overweighted with materials during alterations. Three persons were killed and four injured.
June 14. First passenger train run over Philadelphia and Newtown Railroad to Fox Chase.
July 3. Centennial service at Christ Church.
July 4. Centennial anniversary of Declaration of Independence.
Parade of volunteer troops from all parts of the Union; ;exercises in Independence Square, oration by William B. Evarts; poem by Bayard Taylor; Senator Ferry, President of U. S. Senate, presided. Emperor of Brazil and large number of distinguished visitors present; grand music by large chorus and orchestra. In the evening a grand display of fireworks was given in Fairmount Park.
Dedication of the Catholic T.A.B. Fountain in Fairmount Park.
Monument to Alexander von Humboldt, in Fairmount Park, unveiled.
Explosion of chemicals at drug store of Henry F Bucher, Passyunk Road and Moore Street. Four men killed.
Fire at Detwiler & Hartranft's Quaker City Flour Mill, Delaware Avenue above Laurel Street, Landell's soap works, lumber yard of Collins & Co., and B.F Taylor & Co., and Taxis' screwdock; loss, $90,000.
July 7 Fire, yarn mill of James Meadowcraft & Son, Emerald and Sergeant Streets: loss, $25,000.
Long centre span of the Penrose Ferry Bridge fell into the Schuylkill River.August 24 "New Jersey State Day" at the Centennial Exposition. Paid admissions, 56,325. Exhibitors, complimentary, etc., 8,709; total 65,034.
August 31. Prize fight at Pennsville, New Jersey, between Jimmy Weeden and Young Walker for $250.00 a side, won by Weeden. Walker died from the effects of his beating shortly after the fight was concluded. The captains of various boats and the Creedmoor Cutter, a barge, and others, the principal and accessories arrested and held by the Coroner of Philadelphia.
September 3. Fire at Mund & Albrecht's Farm (picnic grounds frequented principally by the Germans) Indian Queen Lane, Falls of Schuylkill. Property entirely destroyed; loss, $50,000.
September 6. Parade of Volunteer Firemen, embodying many of the old volunteer companies of Philadelphia, with companies from other parts of the Union.
September 14. "Massachusetts Day" at Centennial Exposition. Admission to main exhibition, 78,977; live stock show, 6,818; free admissions, etc., 12,075; total, 97,968.
September 22. A number of wooden buildings in Shantytown (in close proximity to the Centennial grounds) were town down by the police under the direction of Mayor Stokley.
September 25. "New York Day" at Centennial Exposition. Paying visitors at main exhibition, 118,719; at live stock show, 3,284; free admissions, 12,585; total, 134,588.
September 28. "Pennsylvania Day" at the Centennial Exposition. There were 274,919 persons in attendance.
October 1. Audience room of the Fifth Reformed Presbyterian Church (General Synod) York Street near Coral, dedicated.
October 2. Edwin Forrest Home, near Holmesburg, opened. "Instituted for the support and maintenance of actors and actresses decayed by age or disabled by infirmity."
October 3. Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad sold at auction at the Merchants' Exchange for $10,000.
October 5. "Rhode Island Day" at Centennial Exposition. Total attendance, 100,946.
October 12. "New Hampshire Day" at Centennial Exposition. Total attendance, 115,422. Monument and statue to the memory of Christopher Columbus, procured by the Italians of Philadelphia, dedicated in Centennial grounds.
October 18. "Reading Day" at the Centennial Exposition. Total attendance, 138,874.
October 19. "Delaware and Maryland Day" at the Centennial Exposition. Total attendance, 176,407.
October 20. Monument statue in memory of John Witherspoon, signer of Declaration of Independence, dedicated in West Park.
October 21. Fire at George Griffith's shovel factory, Locust above Fifth Street; loss, $50,000.
October 22. Cornerstone laid of Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Visitation, Leigh Avenue and B Street.
October 26. "Ohio Day" and "Merchants' Day" at the Centennial Exposition. Attendance, 135,661.
October 27. "Vermont Day" at Centennial Exposition. Attendance, 108,080.
October 30. Girls' Normal School at Seventeenth and Spring Garden Streets, dedicated.
November 2. "German Day" at the Centennial Exposition. Attendance, 128,002.
November 7. "Women's Day" at the Centennial Exposition. Attendance, 87,859.
November 9. "Philadelphia Day" at the Centennial Exposition. Attendance 193,078. In the evening, display of fireworks.
November 10. The centennial Exposition was formally closed with appropriate ceremonies. During the 159 days that it was open the paying visitors were 8,004,274; free, 1,906,692. Total, 9,910,966. The free admissions were mainly those of exhibitors, attendants and employees.
1877
January 1. The Supreme Court took possession of their new apartments, City Hall, Broad and Market Streets.
January 19. Fire at the flour mills of Detwiler & Co., 3042-44 Market Street; loss, $75,000.
January 20. Fire at Baeder & Adamson's glue factory, m Allegheny Avenue and Richmond Street; loss, $20,000.
Fire at sash and blind factory of Keller & Krouse, St. John (American) Street; loss, $30,000.
February 5. New fire station of Truck D, Union Street below Fourth, formally occupied by the company.
February 6. New police station at Girard Avenue and Vienna (E Berks) Street, 11th District, formally occupied.
February 22. Citizens of Philadelphia presented to John Welsh, president of the Centennial Exhibition Board of Finance, $50,000 in commemoration of his zealous and unselfish labors in promoting the success of the Centennial Exhibition. The money was transferred to the University of Pennsylvania for the perpetual support of "the John Welsh Professorship of History and English Literature.
February 23. Synagogue of the Hebrew Congregation Beth-el-Emeth, Franklin Street above Green, rededicated.
February 25. Fox's American Theatre, Chestnut Street above Tenth, with Rodger's carriage factory, and other buildings burned; loss, $300,000. One man killed.
February 26. Meeting of butchers at Institute Hall, Broad and Spring Garden Streets. Strong resolutions against the proposition that all the butchers shall have slaughtering done at the abattoirs.
March 10. Planning mill of Turner, Larrish & Co., Noble Street between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets, destroyed by fire; loss, $30,000.
March 21. Trial of steam passenger cars on the West Philadelphia (Market Street) P. R. W. Co. Seven dummy engines in use.
April 2. An exhibition of the powers of Elisha Gray's telephone at office of Western Union Telegraph Co., Tenth and Chestnut Streets. Music played at Philadelphia was heard in New York by an audience assembled at Steinway Hall.
April 4. Menagerie storage building and stables of Adam Forepaugh, Wister Street near Godfrey Avenue, burned; loss, $20,000.
May 1. Union Banking Co., Chestnut Street above Third, failed. Same day United States Banking Co., corner of Tenth and Chestnut Streets, failed.
May 10. Permanent Exhibition formally opened in Philadelphia by President Hayes and ex-President Grant. Admissions estimated at 100,000.
June 25. Cornerstone laid of new building of Central Presbyterian Church, on west side of Broad Street, north of Fairmount Avenue.
July 8. The new Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railway (narrow gauge) opened by an excursion of officers of the road and others.
July 16. Trial of the transmission of sound through Edison's vocal telephone at the Permanent Exhibition Building. Vocal music at the Central Station telegraph office, at Fifth and Chestnut Streets, was transmitted over the wires, and heard with great clearness at the Exhibition Building.
July 19. Fire at Swift & Courtney's match factory, 219 North Forth Street; loss, $45,000.
August 13. Swimming match on Delaware River between Thomas Coyle, of Chester and George H. Wade, of Brooklyn. Course from Red Bank to Gloucester, 4 miles. Race won by Wade. Time, 1 hour and 40 minutes.
September 17. Jefferson Medical College Hospital, Ransom Street between Tenth and Eleventh Streets, formally opened.
September 22. Great excitement among brokers and bankers in consequence of the discovery of an over-issue of stock of the Market Street Railway Co., which it was subsequently ascertained amounted to about 11,000 shares. John S Morton, President of the company, who with the Treasurer and Secretary had made the over-issue, resigned
the office of President, and also resigned his position as President of the Permanent Exhibition Company.
September 28. John S. Morton and others implicated, bound over to answer a charge of conspiracy to cheat and defraud.
The 101st Anniversary of the adoption of the old Constitution of Pennsylvania celebrated at the Hotel La Fayette (west side of Broad Street below Chestnut, now site of Land Title Building).
September 29. Fire at morocco factory of W. Schollenberger & Sons, S. W. Corner of Mascher and Putnam Streets; loss, $250,000.
September 30. New Roman Catholic Church of Sacred Heart, Third Street below Reed, dedicated.
Siloam Primitive Methodist Church, Otis (E. Susquehanna Avenue) and Moyer Streets, re-dedicated.
October 6. New Farmers' Market, N. .W corner of Broad Street and Columbia Avenue, opened for business.
October 19. First annual regatta of the Fairmount Rowing Association over the national course on the Schuylkill.
November 3. Fox's new American Theatre, Chestnut Street above Tenth (re-built after the fire) was opened for performances.
November 7. Fire at Randolph Mills, Randolph Street above Columbia Avenue, occupied by Weil & Sons, Harvey & Good, and others; loss, $50,000.
November 22. Fire at southwest corner of Ninth and Chestnut Street; loss, $100,000.
November 27. Farewell banquet to Hon. John Welsh, minister to England, at the Aldine Hotel., Public reception at the Academy of Fine Arts on the next day.
December 9. German Lutheran Church of Holy Trinity, Sixteenth and Tioga Streets, formally opened.
December 15. Fire at the building in which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, at the southwest corner of Seventh and Market Streets; loss, $15,000, suffered by Simon & Co., trunk manufacturers, and Longacre & Co., wood engravers.
December 25. The Alhambra Theatre on Broad Street re-opened by John S. Clarke, under the title of the Broad Street Theatre.
1878
January 1. William S. Stokley inaugurated for his third term as mayor of the city of Philadelphia.
January 11. Chatham Mills, Howard and Berks Streets, burned; loss, $50,000.
January 20. New iron bridge at Penrose Ferry, on the Schuylkill, opened for foot-passengers.
January 22. Excitement among dealers in morocco leather, caused by the failure of ten firms engaged in that trade.
January 23. John M. Armstrong, a music typographer, while on a visit to Camden, N. J., murdered. Coroner's jury at Camden found that Benjamin Hunter was guilty of the crime. Hunter, after a trial
at Camden, lasting twenty days, was convicted of murder in the first degree on July 3, 1878.
January 31. Fire at wholesale dry goods store of H. P. & W. P. Smith, 224-226 Chestnut Street; loss, $400,000.
February 2. Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad formally opened for business.
February 10. Nine of the western arches of the South Street bridge feel. Loss estimated at $85,000.
February 14. Fire at the carriage factory of Jacob Rech, south-east corner of Eighth Street and Girard Avenue; loss, $12,000.
February 20. New building of the Kensington National Bank, Frankford and Girard Avenues, opened for public inspection. Business commenced Saturday the 23d.
March 11. The office of Prothonotary of the Supreme Court was removed from State House Row to the new Public Buildings.
March 16. Fire at the bedstead factory of Meyer, Tufts & Co., Richmond Street above Montgomery Avenue; loss, $15,000.
March 25. Fire at southeast corner of Fourth and Cherry Streets in the store of H. K. Wampole, extended nearly down to Arch Street; total loss, $750,000.
April 13. Steam dummy cars, after a trial of almost a year by the Market Street Railway Co., were withdrawn from service. Too expensive.
April 29. The gallery of Pompeiian views deposited with Fairmount Park Commission by John Welsh opened to the public in the Art Building, East Park.
May 6. Ridgway Library building and grounds, corner of Broad and Carpenter Streets, formally transferred to the Library Company of Philadelphia by Henry J. William, executor of the late Dr. James Rush.
May 10. Fire at phosphate manufactory on Venango Street, near the Delaware River; loss, $75,000.
May 16. Iron steamship State of California launched from the shipyard of William Cramp & Sons.
Hall of Moyamensing Lodge, No. 330, I. O. O. F. at Eighth and Reed Streets, dedicated.
Fire at Southwark Cotton and Woolen Mills, Moyamensing Avenue and Moore Streets; loss, $42,000.
June 8. Spring regatta of the Schuylkill Navy. Course, Falls Bridge to Rockland Landing. Pair-oared prize won by University crew, time, 11.20; double sculls by Crescent Club, 10.12 1/4; four-oars by Crescent Club, 9.31.
First regatta of the Schuylkill Yacht Club. Course from Ellsworth street wharf, Schuylkill to Chester buoy and return. First-class, prize won by the T. B. Doyle; second-class, the Bently; third-class, the Vindex.
June 15. Annual regatta of the Schuylkill Navy. Prizes for four-oared boats won by Crescent, time, 9.331/2; for four pair oars by University; double sculls and single sculls by Crescent; four-oared gigs by University; and six-oared barges by Crescent.
June 29. Western section of Brown Street River Market on Delaware Avenue, opened for business.
July 10. Explosion at the blast furnace of S. Robbins & Son, at Beach and Vienna Streets, by which seven persons were injured. John McChesney died. Two others died subsequently.
Rifle contest at Saenger Park (21st and Diamond Streets) between the Norristown Rifle Club and the Keystone Rifle Club of Philadelphia. Eight men on each side, ten shots each. Keystone, 342; Norristown, 339. Average, 423/8. Time, 1 hour.
August 1. Destructive rain and wind storm. The Coliseum market house (iron Building) Broad and Locust Streets, was struck by lightning.
August 5. River pirates attempting to rob the schooner L. Still-man of Great Egg Harbor, N. J., anchored in the Delaware, shot at by the master of the vessel. One thief killed and two wounded.
New American Theatre, Chesnut Street above Tenth, sold by the Sheriff for $75,000 to H.H. Morrel of New York.
August 15, Swimming match between T Butler, of Philadelphia and Robert Ward, of New York, from Bridesburg to Point Airy (southern end of Windmill Island, opposite Spruce Street in the Delaware river) distance, 5 miles. Won by Butler in 40 minutes.
September 2. Ground broken for the building of Eden M. E. Church, Leigh Avenue below Fifth Street.
September 5. Stalls in new (Zimmerman) market house, southwest corner of Frankford Avenue and Adams Street, sold and the market opened. (now site of Weisbrod & Hess brewery).
September 13. New Delaware River Market, at the foot of Brown Street, formally opened.
October 3. International cricket match at the grounds of the Germantown
Cricket Club between the Australian cricketers and a select team of Philadelphia players. The game was closed on Saturday, while unfinished, by the stumps being drawn. Score, Philadelphia, first innings, 196; second innings, 53 total, 249. Australians, first innings, 150; second innings, 56 total, 206.
October 4. The Continental Telegraph Company opened its line between Philadelphia and New York.
October 5. Second annual regatta of the Fairmount Rowing Association on the Schuylkill River, over the national course. Prize for single shells won by C. Hamilton in 11 minutes, 11-1/2 seconds; single shells, J. Schnall, 14 minutes , 46 1/4 seconds; double sculls, W. Tapper and C. Reitze, 12 minutes, 37 3/4 seconds; four-oared barges, Fairmount, 14 minutes, 10 seconds; six-oared barges, Washington, 10 minutes, 43 3/4 seconds.
Fall regatta of the American Rowing Club on the Schuylkill River below the dam, from Callowhill Street bridge to Chesnut Street bridge and return, estimated two miles. Prize for signal sculls won by W. Wood; four-oared barges, Atlantic, 18 minutes, 52 seconds; six-oared barges, Belmont, 15 minutes, 26 seconds; double-outriggers, won by the Eddie; single shell match, three miles, J. Meek, 12 minutes, 42 seconds.
October 7. Free drawing schools of the Spring Garden Institute formally opened at Broad and Spring Garden Streets.
October 12. Hero Glassworks of W. A. Leavitt, at Aramingo, Cedar, Gaul and Adams Streets, destroyed by fire; loss, $60,000.
October 20. Roman Catholic Church of St. Agatha, Spring Garden and Thirty-eighth Streets, dedicated.
October 21. New freight station of Pennsylvania Railroad Company opened at Thirty-first and Market Streets.
October 23. Great cyclone and wind storm. There was a great flood in the "Neck" which submerged the whole territory below Miffin Street from the Delaware to the Schuylkill. Loss of life, about ten persons, thirty injured. Properties destroyed, 4 church steeples blown down. Immense loss.
November 5. Edward Shippen school house, Cherry Street above Nineteenth, destroyed by fire; loss, $15,000.
November 9. Fire at ice house of Bergner & Engel Brewery, Thirty-second and Thompson Streets; loss, $150,000.
November 12. Fire at chair factory and lumber yard of Hutchinson, Nichols & Co., American Street above Susquehanna Avenue; loss, $10,000.
November 14. Rifle shooting contest at Saenger Park, Twenty-first and Diamond Streets, between Keystone Riffle Club of Philadelphia and Norristown Rifle Club, 100 yards, offhand. Score: Norristown, 354; Keystone, 345.
December 1. Norris Square M. E. Church, Mascher Street above Susquehanna Avenue, dedicated.
December 11. Offices of Department of Highways removed from Sixth and Chestnut Streets, and opened in the new public Building, Broad and Market Streets.
December 17. John S. Morton, formerly president and Samuel B. Hahn, formerly treasurer of the Market Street Passenger Railway Company, sentenced to pay a nominal fine, the costs of trial, and to undergo ten years imprisonment, for fraudulently issuing stock of the company.
December 30. Meeting of citizens of Twenty-third Ward, formerly of the township of Byberry and Moreland, at which it was resolved to petition the Legislature to separate that territory from the city of Philadelphia and annex it Bucks County.
1879
January 6. Octavius V. Catto school for colored children, Lombard Street above Twentieth, formally opened.
January 6 and 7. Largest sheriff's sale of real estate ever known in Philadelphia. Nearly 700 properties were levied upon and advertised to be sold.
January 10. Benjamin Hunter, convicted of the murder of John M. Armstrong, music typographer of Philadelphia, hanged at Camden, N. J.
January 15. United States Centennial Commission met for the last time at the Continental Hotel, and received and adopted the final report of the committee on finance and accounts.
January 20. Cotton and wollen mills of John Brown & Son, corner of Eighth and Tasker Streets, burned; loss, $200,000.
February 8. Machinery Hall, Fairmount Park, originally built for the use of the Centennial Exhibition, and which cost the city of Philadelphia $634,867.48, was sold at auction to W. P. Allison & Son for $24,600. The building consisted of a main hall 360 feet wide and $1,402 feet long, and an annex 208x210 feet.
March 1. Cracker bakery of Walter G. Wilson & Co., 212-214 North Front Street, destroyed by fire; loss, $40,000.
March 10. The building formerly the Arch Street opera House, opened as "The Park Theatre," under the management of George K. Goodwin.
March 24. Fire at packing establishment of Washington Butchers' Sons, 146-148 North Front Street; loss $30,000.
March 25. British bark Tulchen, while being towed from Kaighn's Point, N. J., to Girard Point, capsized and sunk in twenty-two feet of water at the mouth of the Schuylkill.
March 31. Fire and explosion at Belmont Oil Works, Twenty-fourth and Miffin Streets. Two men burned to death; loss, $80,000.
April 6. Fire broke out in factory building, northeast corner of Race and Crown (Lawrence) Streets, extended to the building northside of Race Street; loss, $21,000.
May 15. The directories of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company announced that they had leased for a period of 990 years the North Pennsylvania Railroad to Bethlehem, with its connection, and the Bound Brook Railroad to New York, lease to date from May 1, 1879.
June 11. Lightning struck the oil canning shed of LaComte & Perkins, at Point Breeze, setting it in fire. The flames were communicated to several vessels moored at the wharves; loss, over $150,000.
June 14. Annual regatta of the Schuylkill Navy. Course from below the Falls Bridge to Rockland, one and a half miles straight away. Prizes as follows: Four-oared shells, won by Crescent Club, 9.30; two-oared shells, Philadelphia Club, 10.46; double shells, Quaker City, 10.48; four-oared gigs, College Club, 10.35; single shells, Pennsylvania Club, 10.47.
Steamer Wanderer, for New Orleans and Havana Line, launched from shipyard of Birely, Hillman and Streaker, foot of Montgomery Avenue.
June 20. Fire at factory building, Ridge Avenue below Master, G. W. Smith, furniture finishers; loss, $20,000.
June 24. Inter-collegiate regatta between the crews of Columbia and Princeton colleges and University of Pennsylvania, on the Schuylkill River. National Course, Falls bridge to Rockland, one and a half miles. Won by the University crew in 9.23.
June 27. Fire at southeast corner of Seventh and Cherry Streets, doing great damage to Hasting's gold leaf establishment, Stern's printing office, etc.; loss $20,000.
Steam boiler exploded in the planing mill of Alphas Wilt & Sons, Front Street, below Brown. Four persons killed and several injured.
July 17. fires at the stores 7-9 South Water Street; loss, $30,000.
July 31. Seventeenth and Nineteenth Streets Passenger Railway formally opened as a portion of the Continental Passenger Railway formally opened as a portion of the Continental Passenger Railway.
August 14. An excursion train on the Philadelphia and Atlantic (Narrow gauge) Railroad, came into collision with a freight train near Clementon; five persons killed and several injured.
August 28 and 29. International Cricket match at the Young American grounds at Stenton, between the Hamilton Club, of Hamilton, Canada, and the Young America Club, of Philadelphia. Score: Young America, first innings, 28; second innings, 50; total, 78. Hamilton, first innings, 74; second innings, 5; total, 79 with ten wickets to spare.
October 23. Match game of cricket between the Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire players of Draft's English professional team, reinforced by English players. Score: Nottinghamshire, first innings, 148.
September 25, 26, and 27. International cricket match at the grounds of the Germantown Cricket Club, near Wayne Station, between the Gentlemen of Ireland and a picked team of Philadelphia. Score: Irish Gentlemen, first inning, 58; second inning, 82; total, 140. Philadelphia, first and only inning, 149.
September 28. Return game between the Irish and Philadelphia Cricketers. One inning, Ireland 122; Philadelphia, 108.
September 30. Cricket match between the Irish twelve and fifteen of the Merion Club on the grounds at Ardmore, Score: Ireland, first inning, 138; second, 170; total, 308. Merion, first inning, 81; second, 130; total, 211.
Keystone wool and yarn Mill, Callowhill Street above twenty-fifth, destroyed by fire; loss $28,000.
October 2. Boat race on the Schuylkill between six-oared barges of Fairmount and Neptune Clubs. Course from Chestnut street bridge to the red buoy at Gibson's Point, three miles. Won by Fairmount in 19 minutes, 29 seconds.
October 4. Annual fall regatta of the Schuylkill Navy, National course, Schuylkill River. Prize for a single sculls won by W. B. Cobb, Pennsylvania Club, 11.2; double sculls, Vesper Club (no opponents); four-oared gigs, Malta, 9.531/4; senior singles, C.V. Grant, Philadelphia Club, 10.53; eight-oared shells, Undine, 8.55.
October 5. Cornerstone laid of new Roman Catholic Church of the Gesu, to replace church of the Holy family, Eighteenth and Stiles Streets.
First through train from Philadelphia to New York run from the Reading Railroad depot, Ninth and green streets, via the Bound brook railroad.
October 10, 11, and 13. International cricket match at Germantown Cricket grounds, Nicetown, between Daft's English professional eleven and fifteen selected amateurs. Score: English, first inning 149; second, 133; total, 282. Philadelphia, first inning, 70; second, 67; total, 137.
October 12. Cornerstone laid of new building of the German Evangelical Reformed Bethlehem Church, Blair and Norris Streets.
October 17. Cricket math between Draft's All-English professional eleven and Young America eleven at Stenton. Young America, first inning, 64; second, 47; total, 111. Draft, first and only inning, 171; second, 22 (when the game was stopped with the first wicket down); total, 170. Yorkshire, first inning, 51 second, 118; total, 169.
November 1. Fire at the grain storage house of Brooke & Harper, 1729-33 Market Street; loss $50,000.
December 4. The controlling interest in the Union Passenger Railway company, 12,600 shares, purchased by a combination, principally composed of officers and stockholders of the Continental passenger Railway Company, at $100.00 a share, (this was the nucleus to the formation of combinations, eventually forming the Philadelphia rapid Transit Company).
ridge Avenue Passenger Railway Company commenced to sell five tickets for the conveyance of passengers for 25 cents. Single fares remained at 6 cents.
December 8. Work commenced on dismantling and taking down the Coliseum Building, corner Broad and Locust Streets (site of Hotel Walton) in order to remove the same to Boston
December 8. Work commenced on dismantling and taking down the coliseum Building, corner Broad and Locust Streets (site of Hotel Walton) in order to remove the same to Boston.
December 16. Grand public reception of general U.S. grant upon his return to Philadelphia and the conclusion of his journey around the world. military and civic procession which required four hours and 40 minutes to pass a given point. It was 6-1/2 miles in length, and was estimated to have been participated in by 40,000 persons and seen by 350,000 spectators.
December 25. George Sheppard badly injured in Shackamaxon Street above Richmond, by oil of vitriol being thrown on him, as was alleged, by George Wood.
1880
January 12. Brickmakers' Union formed at a meeting held at \federal Hall, Seventeenth and Federal Streets.
January 14. Fire at spring factory of John Scott, Newmarket and Pollard Streets, which also destroyed Jacob J. Plucker & Co.'s
furniture factory and damaged the furniture factory of S. Oetzel, J. Worthington's machine shop, and J. Buckley & Co.'s hub and spoke works. Loss, $55,000.
January 15. The Darby Plank Road from Forty-ninth Street to the county line passed into the possession of the city by purchase.
January 25. Fire at the establishment of Stephen S. Whitman & Sons, S. W. corner. of Twelfth and Market Streets. Loss, $70,000.
January 26. Twenty-two locomotive engines belonging to the Reading Railroad Company were seized at the Port Richmond depot by U. S. Internal Revenue Collector, by instruction from Washington, upon a claim of the U. S. Government for taxes on scrip issued by the company in 1878-79.
February 2. Fire at furniture factory of John A. Elbert, on Edward and Lydia Streets, above Hancock. Loss, $60,000.
Fire at Keystone Flour Mill, corner. of Leopard Street and Girard Avenue, occupied by Stetler & Co., millers. Loss, $25,000.
February 9. Fire at Clifton Mills, Berks Street between Hope and Howard Streets. Loss, $191,000.
Meeting a subscribers to a proposed bank, at which it was resolved that the institution should be organized with a capital of $600,000, under the title of "The Merchants' National Bank of Philadelphia."
February 19. Philadelphia Library building, N. E. corner. Fifth and Library Streets, closed.
March 8. Birth of a female elephant, said to be the first born in captivity, at Cooper & Bailey's London Circus and Menagerie stables, Ridge Avenue and Twenty-fourth Street.
March 25. The new Merchants' National Bank commenced business at the former building of the Provident Insurance Company, Fourth below Chestnut Street.
Stable of the Richmond branch of the Union Passenger Railway Company, Thompson and Norris Streets, burned. Loss $20,000.
April 1. Fire at N. W. corner. Twelfth and Noble Streets, factory occupied by J. Conaway & Co., manufacturers of umbrella frames. Loss, $100,000.
April 7. Fire at the tea and coffee store of John Lamont (an eccentric character) 51 South Second Street. Loss, $20,000.
April 11. Mrs. Elizabeth E. Goersen died at the house of her husband, 255 East Cumberland Street. Coroner's jury found that her death was occasioned by poisoning with arsenic, administered by her husband, Dr. Alfred G. F. Goersen. On the 19th of April Corner's jury also found that Mrs. Elizabeth F. Souder, mother-in-law of Dr. Goersen, who died on the 25th of March, was poisoned by him. Dr. Goersen was convicted of murder.
April 29. Under the name of Ridgeway Park, Smith's Island, in the Delaware opposite the city, improved with new buildings and other arrangements, was opened to the public as a place of resort.
May 17. Fire at Gardener's Continental Brewery, Twenty-first Street and Washington Avenue. Loss, $75,000.
May 21. Reading Railroad Company and Reading Coal and Iron Company suspended payment, causing great excitement.
June 4. Fire at Patton, Allison & Jones cotton-mill, Washington Avenue above Twelfth Street. Loss, $30,000.
June 16. New railroad to Atlantic City, via the West Jersey Railroad to Newfield, formally opened.
June 24. Fire at Nice's Sash Mill, Third and Marriat Streets. Loss, $100,000.
June 28. Inter-collegiate boat race for the Child's' challenge cup, on the Schuylkill River, between the crews of Columbia College, N. Y.; University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton, N. J., won by Columbia, beating the University 7 inches. Time, 9.043/4.
Fire at hosiery mills, Crease Street above Girard Avenue. Loss, $30,000.
July 4. Steamboat Argonauta, of the Ridgeway Park line, ran down a small boat near the foot of Otis Street. Kate Mahey and three children were drowned.
July 7, 8, 9. Eighth annual regatta of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen, national course, Schuylkill River. Prizes, single sculls, J. A. Whitaker, Pawtucket Club, R. I., 10.43; senior single sculls, F. J. Mumford, Perseverance Club, New Orleans, La.; double sculls, Pawtucket Club, R. I., 9.41; pair-oars, Gorman Bros, Albany Club, N. Y. 10.17; four-oared shells, Hillsdale Club, Mich., 8.53; six-oared shells, Mutual, Albany, N. Y., 8.51; eight-oared shells, Douglas, New York City, 8.53.
August 11. Excursion by congregation of St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church to Atlantic City by the West Jersey Railroad route, carrying about 1,300 persons. Collision between two sections of the train on the return trip at May's Landing, N. J. at 6:30 P. M. One person was killed outright. Thirty-two persons were scalded by escaping steam, of whom twenty-five subsequently died.
August 18. Arrival of the steam yacht Anthracite, claimed to be the smallest steam vessel that ever crossed the Atlantic. Length, 85 feet; breadth of beam, 16 feet; depth of hold, 10 feet; tonnage, 28 tons.
August 25. Fire at the W. B. Thomas flour-mill, N. W. Thomas corner. Thirteenth and Noble Streets. Loss estimated at $200,000. William Miller, foreman of the mills, overwhelmed in the falling ruins and killed.
September 3. Fire at Marshall Bros.' Rolling Mill, Beach and Marlborough Streets. Loss $50,000.
September 6. Tenth anniversary of the Declaration of the French Republic celebrated at Rising Sun Park, Allegheny Ave. and Germantown Ave.
September 12. monument and bronze statue of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks dedicated at Mount Moriah Cemetery.
September 13-14. International cricket-match at the Nicetown field between twelve Canada and twelve United States players. Score, United States, first inning, 70; second inning, 168; total, 238. Canada, first inning, 83; second, 7; total, 90. There were six wickets down in
the second Canada inning when at night the stumps were drawn, and the game declared a draw, according to the rules.
September 15-16. Cricket at Ardmore between the Canadian players and the Merion Club. Score, Canada, first inning, 57; second inning, 85 total, 142. Merion, first inning 138; second, 6; total, 144, with eight wickets to go down.
September 20. The new Chestnut Street Opera House, formerly Fox's American Theatre, rebuilt and refurnished, opened for the first time, under the management of George K. Goodwin, with the drama of the Danicheffs.
October 4. The epizooty, or horse disease epidemic in the city , Large numbers of animals affected, but the disease much milder than was the case in 1872.
October 12. Stone flour mill, Mill Street, Holmelsbuth, totally destroyed by fire. Loss, $12,000. This mill was the oldest in Pennsylvania, having been erected in 1697.
October 17. New Roman Catholic Church of St. Joachim, Frankford, dedicated.
October 22. Fore at the yarn factory of Dixon & Roberts, Canal Street above Lawrence Street and Girard Ave., also occupied by Alexander & John McConnell, morocco manufacturers. Loss, $86,000.
October 27. Cornerstone laid of East Baptist Church, Hanover Street above Girard Avenue.
November 3. New House of the Good Shepherd, Thirty-fifth and Silvertown Ave., Roman Catholic, first occupied by the sisterhood.
November 7. St. Peter's P.E. Church, Germantown, was consecrated, being out of dept.
Fourth Moravian Church, Hancock Street above Dauphin, dedicated.
December 23. Fire at B. Crawford's tannery, Sixth Street east side) above Thompson. Loss, $25,000.
1881
January 2. Delaware River frozen over from shore to shore. Persons passed over the ice to Camden; skating lasted for some days.
January 5. New building of Beneficial Savings Fund society, S. W. corner twelfth and Chestnut Streets, opened for business.
January 14. Fire at Columbia Shoddy Mill, Columbia Avenue and Fifth Street. Loss, $15,000.
January 18. Fire in the carpet-yarn mill of James Whitaker, Trenton Avenue and Sergeant Street. Loss, 16,000.
January 19. Malt-Mill of G. F. Rothacker, Thirty-first and Master Streets, burned. Loss, $30,000.
January 31. Beth-Eden Baptist Church, N. W. Corner Broad and Spruce Streets, totally destroyed by fire. Loss, $60,000.
February 1. Fire in the six- and eight-story factories, 212-224 Carter Street. Loss, $200,000.
February 2. Waltzing against time by Julian and Constantine Carpenter, at Carpenter's Dancing Hall, Thirteenth and Chestnut Streets, who waltzed for sixteen and a half hours without stopping. "The best time on record."
February 6. Tioga M. E. Church, corner Nineteenth and Tioga Streets, dedicated.
February 10. The ice above Columbia Bridge, Schuylkill River, started, but formed a gorge at the bridge, backing up the water as far as Manayunk. The river rose from 15 to 18 feet, flooding the mills and other buildings on the banks of the Schuylkill and overflowing Ridge Avenue, stopping horse-car traveling.
February 16. First train run over the new elevated railroad of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, on Filbert Street to Broad, with an excursion-party composed of members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.
February 20. New Oxford Presbyterian Church, cor. Broad and Oxford Streets, built on the site of one destroyed by fire December 3, 1879, dedicated.
February 22. Pythian Temple, Pine Street below Third, built for the order of the Knights of Pythias, opened for inspection.
March 6-7. Farewell services ices at Trinity M. E. Church, Eighth Street above Race, the congregation having abandoned the building and united with the Sixteenth Street M. E. Church.
March 9. Fire at Belmont Oil Works of Works of W. L. Elkins & Co., Long Lane near Twenty-fourth and Mifflin Streets. Loss, $80,000.
March 21. Retail Grocers' Association formed at a meeting held at Association Hall.
March 24. The trustees of the University of Pennsylvania accepted an endowment of $100,000 from Joseph Wharton for the foundation of the Wharton School of Finance and Economy in the University.
March 26. Iron steamship Perseus, built for Iron Steamship Company of New York, launched from Cramp's Shipyard.
April 5. Farmers' bone and fertilizer works and ninety boat houses of the Southwark yacht Club destroyed by fire. Loss, $110,000.
April 7. Iron steamboat Pegasus, built for Iron Steamboat Company of New York, launched from Cramp's Shipyard.
April 9. Iron Steamship Caraccus, built for New York and Venezuela line, launched from Cramp's Shipyard.
June 1. Steam-boiler in dye-house of Thomas Gaffney & Co., 2430 Collins Street, exploded, causing the death of three, and injuring five others. Loss, $31,000.
Children's Sanitarium at Point Airy (Windmill Island) opened for the season.
All Saints Roman Catholic Church, Brown and Bockius Streets, Bridesburg, struck by lightning and damaged by fire.
June 11. First annual meet of Bicycle Club at West Park and road race to Ardmore, in which 67 wheelmen participated.
June 24. A syndicate represented by the People's (Callowhill Street) Railway Company and others bought 15,309 shares of stock in the Germantown City Passenger Railway Company, being a controlling interest.
July 6. Inter-collegiate boat race for the Child's' challenge cup on the Schuylkill between the crews of Princeton College and University of Pennsylvania. The University came in ahead, the Princeton being a quarter of a mile behind. The cup was awarded to the Princeton crew upon the ground that one of the crew of the University Club was ineligible.
July 16. Annual regatta of the American Rowing Association on lower Schuylkill. Course from Callowhill Street bridge to Market Street and return. Prizes for six-oared barges won by the Riverside; four-oared, Pythias; double sculls, the W. J. Temple crew; single scull, John Hobbs.
July 20. Cornerstone laid of the new building of Heidelberg Reformed Church, cor. Nineteenth and Oxford Streets.
Fire at Pequea Cotton and Woolen Mills, Pennsylvania Avenue and Twenty-second Street. Loss, $160,000.
July 27. The Lombard and South Street Passenger Railway leased to the West End and Angora Passenger Railway Company.
July 28. The trotting mare Maud S. undertook, at Belmont Park, to exceed her previous performance of one mile in 2.10 1/2. She trotted three heats as follows: First, 2.12; second, 2.13 1/4; third, 2.12 1/2. This was stated to be the quickest time on record for three consecutive one-mile heats.
August 1. Eighth Street Theatre, Eighth Street below Vine, opened for the first time. Address, music and the play "Little Emily."
August 5. Four colored men appointed substitutes on the city police by Mayor King, they being the first in Philadelphia.
August 6. Iron screw steamship Allegheny, built for the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company, launched from the shipyard of William Cramp & Sons.
August 10. A fast train on the Camden and Atlantic Railroad made the trip from Camden to Atlantic City in 76 minutes.
August 22. Meeting of colored citizens at Liberty Hall, Lombard Street above Seventh, to return thanks to Mayor Samuel G. King for his course "in recognizing the just and equal claims of colored men in his appointments to the police force."
August 26. Lager-beer brewery of Henry Mueller, Thirty-first and Jefferson Streets, burned. Loss, $75,000.
August 29. Fire at Globe Mills, Germantown Avenue below Girard Avenue, occupied by Schatchard & Hoffman, silk-yarn spinners, and the Midnight Yarn Co. Loss, $15,000.00.
September 3. Steamship Berkshire for Merchants and Miners Transportation Company, launched at shipyard of William Cramp & Sons.
September 14. Fire at the Union Hub, Spoke and Wheel Works of Fitler & Dubois, cor. Otter and Leopard Streets. Loss, $30,000.
September 15. Swimming-match for the championship of the Delaware from Blockhouse to Ridgway Park, a distance of 7-1/2 miles; 8 contestants. First prize won by Dennis F. Butler; second, Duke Marr, of Schuylkill; third, George Bird, of Atlantic City; fourth, Thomas Coyle, of Chester.
September 19. Intelligence of the death of President James A. Garfield, who died at Elberon, N. J., at 10.35 P.M., received before midnight.
September 20. Public buildings, churches, stores, factories, etc., draped in mourning colors. In the evening all the theatres and places of amusement were closed.
September 26. Day of humiliation and prayer in consequence of the death of President Garfield. General suspension of business.
David Kalakaua I, King of the Sandwich Islands, arrived in the city and took lodgings at Continental Hotel.
September 27. Cornerstone of Cookman M. E. Church,. Corner Twelfth and Lehigh Avenue, laid.
September 29. Fire at stables of Adams Express Company, Twenty-second Street below Market. Loss, $10,000.
Swimming-match on the Delaware River, for the championship and a purse of $400 between Joseph Marrow and Dennis F. Butler. Course, from the red buoy at Chester to Ridgway Park, 15 miles. Upon reaching the old Greenwich Point docks, a distance of about 12-1/2 miles, Butler succumbed, and the prize was awarded to Marrow. Time, 3.50m. This was said to be the longest swim yet accomplished in the United States.
October 1. Linseed-oil works of Grove & Brothers, at Greenwich Point, First Ward, burned. Loss, $50,000.
International cricket match commenced at the grounds of the Germantown Club, near Nicetown, between Alfred Shaw's English professional team and twelve amateurs of Philadelphia, selected from the Young America, Merion, Germantown and Girard Clubs. Scores: Englishmen, first inning, 227; Philadelphians, first inning, 126; second, 47.
October 7. International cricket match at the grounds of the Germantown Club, near Nicetown, between Shaw's professional team and eighteen Americans chosen from Philadelphia, New York and
Boston clubs. Score: Englishmen, first inning, 114; second, 166. Americans, first inning, 71; second, 77.
October 12. Fire at the Randolph cotton and woolen mill, occupied by Charles H. Landenberger, Randolph Street above Columbia Avenue. There were thirty-eight workman and girls in the building, all of whom were cut off from escape by the rapid progress of the flames. Nine were killed by jumping from the windows or burned to death while in the building, or died afterward from their injuries; thirteen were seriously maimed or injured; sixteen escaped. Loss by the fire on the building, $10,000; on stock and machinery, heavy.
October 18. BY vote of 18,463 shares in favor to 3,501 against the proposition, the stockholders of Germantown Passenger Railway (Fourth and Eighth Streets) resolved to leave their road and franchises to the People's Passenger Railway (Callowhill Street) for 999 years at a maximum rental of $4.50 per share, or nine per cent. on the capital stock.
Steamship City of Puebla, 2,900 tons burden, for New York and Havana line, launched from shipyard of Cramp & Son.
October 24. Fire at the stationary store of William F. Murphy's Sons, Chestnut Street above Fifth. Loss, $25,000.
November 7. The disease called "pink-eye," or epizooty, affecting horses, made its appearance in this city, and continued about three weeks. Probably ten thousand horses belonging to passenger railway companies, etc., were affected, but few fatally.
November 27. Thomas E. Conaty and Owen Burns instantly killed while riding on a car on Fourth Street above Master by the pole of a steam fire-engine drawn by runaway horses.
December 3. Chestnut Street first illuminated with the electric light (forty-nine lamps) from the Delaware to the Schuylkill.
December 5. New Broad Street Station of Pennsylvania Railroad Company, connected with the elevated railroad at Market and Broad Streets, opened for business with the regular running of passenger trains.
1882
January 16. Telegraph line of Bankers' and Merchants' Telegraph Company, from Philadelphia to New York, first opened for business.
January 26. Keystone hub, spoke and wheel works, Charles Scott's railway car spring factory, and N. H. Harned's silk fringe factory, New Market Street above Laurel, destroyed by fire. loss estimated at $125,000.
March 18. Iron steamship Valencia launched from shipyard of William Cramp & Son, for New York and Venezuela Line. Dimensions, 260 feet long, 34.6 feet beam, 22 feet deep. Engines, 900 horsepower, 1,800 tons.
Directors of union Passenger Railway Company resolve to adopt the cable-motor system for propulsion of their cars on Columbia Avenue branch from Twenty-third Street to East park entrance.
March 19. Cornerstone laid of German Roman Catholic Church of our Lady of the Nativity, at Allegheny Avenue and Belgrade Street.
March 23. The boiler of the tug-boat Henry C. Pratt, at Pier No. 8, South Wharves, exploded, killing five persons and totally destroying the boat. The tug-boat Ella, lying near by, caught fire and was destroyed. Station of Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railroad burned and adjoining property damaged. loss, $20,000.
Last rail of the River Front Railroad laid on Delaware Avenue and thereby complete railroad connection made between the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks at Greenwich point and the tracks of the same road and the Reading Railroad at Kensington and Port Richmond.
March 25. Fire at cork manufactory of C. N. Rossel, Third Street above Callowhill; adjoining buildings damaged. Loss, about $45,000.
March 29. Store-building of Jacob Rorer & Son, Old York Road, Branchtown, totally destroyed by fire. Loss $30,000.
Ground broken for new armory for First Regiment infantry, National Guards Pennsylvania, southeast cor. Broad and Callowhill Streets.
April 1. Fire at Philadelphia Sewing machine Company's works, N. W. cor. Thirteenth and Buttonwood; property of R. Moorehouse damaged. loss, $25,000.
April 8. Philadelphia Recreation Park, Ridge Avenue and Twenty-fourth Street, opened for sports with a game of baseball.
April 9. Armory of Third Regiment National Guards of Pennsylvania, N. E. cor. Twelfth and Reed Streets, opened with religious services, Bishop Stevens, of P.E. Church, officiating..
April 19. Cornerstone of the armory building for First Regiment National Guards of Pennsylvania laid at Broad and Callowhill Sts. by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania with Masonic ceremonies, a military parade, review, and an oration. Reception in the evening at the Academy of Music.
April 22. Mill buildings, Sophia St. between Edward and Van Horn, occupied by Isaac Casson & Co., machinists, Joseph Weiss, and Roher & Noell, furniture manufacturers, destroyed by fire. Loss, $30,000.
April 29. Four-oared gig race between the classes of the University of Pennsylvania, National Course, Schuylkill River. Distance, 1-1/2 miles. Sophomores, 9 min. 22 sec.; Seniors, 9 min. 24 sec.; Juniors, 9 min. 39 sec.; Freshman time not taken. The Sophomores' time was faster by 9 seconds than any previous 4 oared gig-time on the course.
May 16. Composing-rooms and foundry of the Public Ledger lighted for the first time by means of the Edison incandescent electric light.
June 6. Spruce and Pine Streets Passenger Railway cars commenced to run for five-cent fares to Fairmount and Gray's Ferry from Delaware Ave.
June 13. Fire at round-house of Philadelphia and Atlantic City (narrow gauge) Railroad, Bulson St., Camden. Seven locomotives destroyed. Loss, $100,000.
June 17. Spring regatta of Schuylkill Navy; twenty-nine entries. National Course, 1-1/2 miles straight away. Prizes as follows: Junior singles, to West Philadelphia Club, 12.14 1/2; Senior singles, to Quaker City, 11.15 3/4; four-oared shells, College, 10.16 1/4; pair-oars, West Philadelphia, 11.44 3/4; Junior four-oared gigs, College, 10.40 3/4; Senior four-oared shells, College, 10.31 1/4; six oared barges, Vesper, 10.40 3/4.
June 20. Lombard and South Street, and Spruce and Pine Street Passenger Railway Companies (five-cent fare roads) began a system of exchanges for six cents over both roads, between West Philadelphia, Zoological Garden, Delaware Ave. and Dock St. and Exchange, Fairmount Park and Gary's Ferry.
June 20. Lombard and South, and Spruce and Pine Street Passenger Railway Companies (five-cent fare roads) began a system of exchanges for six cents over both roads, between West Philadelphia, Zoological Garden. Delaware Ave. and Dock St. and Exchange, Fairmount Park and Gray's Ferry.
June 23. Inter-collegiate boat-race for the childs' challenge cup, on the Schuylkill River between the crews of Princeton College and University of Pennsylvania. National Course, 1-1/2 miles straight away. Won by the University of Pennsylvania by two or three lengths. Time, 9 min. 32 sec.
June 24. At a special meeting of the stockholders of the Camden and Atlantic railroad Company, resolution adopted in favor of the purchase of the interest of William Massey in the Philadelphia and Atlantic City (narrow gauge Railroad Company for $500,000, which included stock, first, first-mortgage bonds, claims for interest, floating debt track, motive-power and rolling stock, worth at par and full value $824,807.57, payment to be made in bonds of Camden and Atlantic Railroad. Stock vote in favor of purchase, 13,057 shares; against purchase, 312. Subsequently (July 26) the Chancellor of New Jersey granted an injunction prohibiting the sale and transfer as contrary to law.
July 1. Auction-house of M. Thomas & Son, 139 and 141 South Fourth St. totally destroyed by fire. Loss, $20,000.
July 14. Fire at malt-house of Berger & Engel's Brewery. thirty-second and Thompson Sts. Loss, $20,000.
July 26. Stockholders West End Passenger Railway Company, by a vote of over 6,000 shares to 3,000, agree to consolidate their company with Lombard and South Streets Passenger Railway Company. Same day Court of Common Peas granted a preliminary injunction to restrain the consolidation.
August 3. Excitement in business circles in consequence of the discovery of extensive forgeries and frauds by Charles M. Hilgert, sugar-refiner, refinery, Lawrence St. Below Girard Ave., estimated to amount to $ 1,000,000. Hilgert absconds.
August 20. Roman Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at Allegheny Ave. and Bellgrade St., dedicated.
August 22. Eighth General Convention of the American St. Cecilia Society for the culture of Catholic church music assembled at St. Peter's roman Catholic Church, Fifth and Girard Ave.
August 24. Iron steamship San Pedro, built for Central Pacific Railroad Company launched at shipyard of William Cramp & Son. Length, 350 feet; breadth, 42 feet; depth, 30 feet carrying capacity 3,500 tons.
September 1. Warrant issued for the arrest of Major Ellis P. Phipps, superintendent of the Almshouse, on a charge of defrauding the city out of $5,000 by a fraudulent warrant. Phipps entered bail to appear before a magistrate, and then absconded. Subsequently large quantities of goods and supplies belonging to the almshouse were found on premises in which Phipps resided.
September 2. Boat-race for a champion flag for barges between the Falls of Schuylkill and George W. Mallison barge clubs; four oars and coxswain. National course 1-1/2 miles straight away. Won by Falls of Schuylkill Club. Time, 10 min. 30 sec.
September 15. Public reception of Chief Engineer Melville and Seamen Noros and Nindermann, survivors f the Jeanette Arctic expedition, at Continental hotel.
September 18. Ellis P. Phipps arrested at Hamilton, Ontario.
September 19. First railroad car lighted by electricity arrived at station of Pennsylvania railroad Company, being also the first using this light in American in American.
September 20. Sanitarium (Point Airy) closed. During the season there were received and made comfortable there 36,860 children.
September 28. Fire at candy manufactory of Philip Wunderle, New Market St. above Pegg. Loss $40,000.
October 4. President and directors of the People's Passenger Railway Company, (Callowhill Street) , which also controlled the Germantown, Fourth and Eighth, Girard Avenue and Green and Coates Street lines, resigned, and Charles J. Harrah, who had obtained the controlling interest of the stock, was elected president, with a new board of managers.
Buildings in Rising Sun Park, Germantown Road at. Rising Sun Lane, destroyed by fire. Loss, $11,000.
October 8. New edifice of St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Reed St. below Ninth, consecrated.
Cornerstone laid of new Roman Catholic hospital of St. Agnes, corner broad and Mifflin Streets.
October 12 and 13. International cricket -match between the Australian eleven and the Philadelphia eighteen at Nicetown grounds. Score: Philadelphia, first inning, 82; second inning, 76. Total 158. Australia, first inning, 106; second inning, 53. Total, 159, with nine wickets to spare.
October 16. At Hamilton, Ontario, Judge Sinclair decided that Ellis P. Phipps, formerly steward of the Philadelphia Almshouse, was subject to extradition on charge of forgery. Phipps' counsel appealed.
Freight and passenger station of Philadelphia and Atlantic City (marrow-gauge) Railroad at Pier 8, South Wharves, destroyed by fire, also steam-tug, Major, belonging to the company. Steam-tug Argus, with some adjoining shipping, considerably damaged. Loss estimated at $40,000.
October 24. Landing Day. Bi-centennial celebration. A vessel representing the ship Welcome, bearing as passengers persons representing William Penn and other Friends, came up the river, followed by a grand procession of steamboats and tugs.
October 25. Trades' Day. Procession including persons engaged in different industries.
October 26. Festival Day.
October 27. Military Day.
December 5. Arrott's mill, N. W. Corner Coral and Taylor Sts., destroyed by fire January 31, 1881, having been rebuilt, reopened.
Arrott's mill, N. W. Cor. Coral and Taylor Sts., occupied by Joseph Greer, cotton and woolen manufacturer, Jaggard & Jones, Henry Grant, Stead Bros. And Robert Beatty, yarn spinners, burned. Loss, $115,000.
Fire at Rebman & Ruhland's iron foundry, Twenty-second and Master Sts. Loss, $25,000.
December 6. Great excitement in the southern part of the city in consequence of the discovery that a number of graver had been robbed of the dead in Lebanon Cemetery for Negroes, and that the bodies had been carried to a medical college.
December 20. Goldsmith's Hall, Library St. East of Fifth, totally destroyed by fire. Occupants, E. G. Haehnlen & Co., dealers in chamois skin; E. C. Markley & Sons, printers; A. C. Farley & Co., manufacturing stationers; Lehman & Bolton, Lithographers; Custom House and note-brokers, lawyers, etc. Loss, $350,000.
December 25. Joseph Jarvis, police-officer, stabbed severely, while in the discharge of his duty, at Leopard St. And Girard Ave., by William Rusk, with whom at the time was Jacob Rusk (twin brothers). The two escaped to Trenton, New Jersey, where, having learned that officers of the law were in pursuit of them, they committed suicide by drowning.
1883
January 3. Bucks and Montgomery County Farmers' Market opened in building some years abandoned, formerly erected for market-house purposes, at S. E. Cor. Of Sixth St. And Columbia Ave.
January 26. Underground electric light apparatus on the Thompson & Houston plan went into operation for business purposes on Market St. Between Seventh and Eleventh Sts.
January 29. New freight-station of Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Shackamaxon St. And River-front Railroad, open for business
January 30. James F. Brown, ex-storekeeper in the Almhouse, charged with forgery and conspiracy with Ellis P. Phipps, ex-steward, to cheat and defraud the public, was found guilty.
Fire at 2540-256 N. Broad St., occupied by Leve, Knowles & Co., J. Allen & Co., E. H. Graham & Co., flour and grain merchants, Edmund Hill & Co., machinists, and E. W. Siegeman & Co., dealers in agricultural implements. Loss, $20,000.
February 5. Furniture manufactory of Julian Kraan, 942 N. Ninth St., No. 914 Broad Street, formally opened.
March 14. New building of the Homeopathic Hospital for children, No. 914 Broad Street, formally opened.
March 24. United States steel-plated monitor Terror launched from the shipyard of Cramp & Sons. Length between perpendiculars, 250 feet, 3 inches; depth of hold, 14 feet, 8 inches. Keel' laid October 2, 1874.
April 7. Cable-motor branch of Union Passenger Railway, Columbia Ave., from Twenty-third St. To the Park, commenced regular operations.
The iron steam pleasure yacht Atlanta, built for Joy Gould, of New York, launched from the shipyard of Cramp & Sons. Length from knighthead to taffrail, 230 feet, 3 inches; beam, 26 feet, 4 inches; depth, 16 feet; rigged with three masts. No. 246.
April 10. Warrant for the extradition of Maj. Ellis P. Phipps to Philadelphia, signed by the governor-general of Canada.
April 13. Maj. Ellis P. Phipps, extradited from Canada, brought back to the city and lodged in the county prison.
April 14. Fire at the plumber's metal-works of C. A. Blessing, Montgomery Ave. bel. Sixth St. Loss, $70,000.
April 26. Fire at the Arch Street Opera House, by which the interior was burned out. Loss, $18,000.
April 28. Four-oared gig-race between the classes of the University of Pennsylvania, national course, Schuylkill River. Distance, 1-1/2 miles. Juniors, class of '84, 9 min., 15 5/8 sec; Seniors, '83, 9 min., 33 sec.; Freshmen, '86, 9 min., 33 sec.; Freshmen, '86, 9 min., 30 sec. Medical class time not taken. The Junior time was 6 1/8 sec. faster than any before made on the river by four-oared gigs.
May 3. Iron steamship Alameda, built for the Oceanic Steamship Company, San Francisco, launched at the shipyard of Cramp & Sons.
Fire at S. E. cor. Germantown Ave. and Master St., occupied by D.F. Rawle, flour dealer; John Richardson, furniture manufacturer; Montague & White, hosiery; Walton Ritter, cotton goods. Loss, $23,000.
May 4. Maj. Ellis P. Phipps, tried for forgery, committed as an officer of the Almhouse, found guilty in the court of Quarter Sessions and sentenced, June 30, to five year's imprisonment, at hard labor.
May 6. Cornerstone laid of new Roman Catholic Church and school of St. Edward the Confessor, N. E. cor. Seventh and York Sts.
New chapel of Trinity M. E. Church, Fifteenth and Mount Vernon Sts., dedicated.
May 13. Fire at 1512-16 Spring Garden St., occupied by North American Smelting Works; Pennsylvania Brass Works; D. W. Bing, foundry and machine shops; D. B. Birch, miller; Fayer, cigar-moulder, and James Kerr, manufacturer. Loss, $35,000.
May 22. Fire at saw and planning mill and steam packing-box factory, Marshall Sr. above Girard Ave., occupied by W. H. Howard, Williwar & Yiest and William Stone. Loss, $11,500.
May 27. Cornerstone laid of Mount Airy Presbyterian chapel, Germantown Ave. and Mount Pleasant St.
June 12. Cornerstone laid of infirmary attached to Presbyterian Home for Widows and Single Women, Fifty-eighth St. and Woodland Ave.
Ground broken for Cohocksink M. E. church, S. W. cor. Seventh and Norris Sts.
June 15. Inter-collegiate boat-race for the Childs challenge cup on the Schuylkill River between the crews of Princeton College and the University of Pennsylvania. National course, 1-1/2 miles straight away. Won by the University of Pennsylvania by two clear lengths. Time 9.311/5 minutes.
June 23. Spring regatta of Schuylkill Navy, National course, Schuylkill River, 1-1/2 miles straight away. Prizes, Junior single scull to Vesper Club, time, 10.19; Senior singles, Malta, 10.271/2. Pair-oared shells, West Philadelphia, 11.121/2. Junior four-oared gigs, Malta, 9.18. Senior four-oared shells College, 8.39. Double sculls, Cresent, 9.101/2. Six-oared barges, Malta, 9.423/4.
July 1. Henry Disston Memorial M. E. Church, Tacony, dedicated.
July 19. At 12 o'clock M. the telegraph operators of the Western Union Telegraph Company, to the number of two hundred and forty, struck and left their work-a movement which was general with the operators of that company all over the United States at the same hour. The strike lasted until August 17th, when the members of the Brotherhood were officially informed by their officers, "The strike is a failure. All the members who can return to work immediately."
July 23. The direction taken by the cars on the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Streets Passenger Railway reversed, running up Thirteenth St. and down Fifteenth.
August 7. Fire at stable and ice-house of Knickerbocker Ice Company, Willow Street Wharf; thirty-three horses and four mules burned to death. Loss, $35,000. Reading freight depot, adjoining, damaged.
Fire at chemical works of Hance Bros. & White, N. W. cor. Marshall and Callowhill Streets. Loss, $28,000.
August 8. Exhibition of "walking on the water" on the Delaware River by C. D. Fort. He wore shoes of light cedar. Course, from Walnut St. Wharf to Ridgway Park. In consequence of a strong tide, which carried the walker far out of his course, the time required to reach the goal was two hours.
August 22. Collision in the Delaware River, off Point Airy, between the ferry-boat Dauntless, of the Gloucester line, and the steam-yacht Emma A. Kline. The latter was sunk, and William Young, drowned.
August 29. Fire at wollen-mill, N. W. cor. Cumberland and Third Sts., occupied by Gilmour & Morris, finishers; Lee & Bowers, woolens; Robert Laycock, woolens; Garner & Co., worsted; Joseph P. Murphy, shawls, etc. Loss, $50,000.
August 30. Accident on Philadelphia and Atlantic City Narrow-Gauge Railroad, near Pleasantville, New Jersey, caused by defect in a switch. Cars overturned, twenty-eight persons seriously injured.
September 3. William J. Menow shot and killed on Front St. above Poplar by Mrs. Emily Bickel, who claimed to be the wife of Menow.
September 12. Steamboat Mosses Taylor, of the Bridesburg and Tacony line, sunk at Bridesburg Wharf.
September 17. The new Arch Street Opera House, Arch St. west of Tenth, rebuilt after being burned, opened by Rice's Comic opera Company.
September 19. Saw and planing mill, Norris and Richmond Sts., occupied by Jesse W. Taylor & Sons, and Henry Bradshaw, hardwood goods, burned, and adjoining property damaged. Loss, $30,000.
Fire broke out in the lumber yard of James Gill, 1168 N. Third St., which spread and destroyed nearly the whole block of buildings bounded by Gill's lumber yard, Eagle Iron Works of Hoff & Fontaine, and from fifteen to twenty dwelling houses, shops and other buildings. Loss estimated at $75,000.
September 19. Workman commenced laying the cable road of the Union Passenger Railway Company on Columbia Avenue east of Twenty-third Street.
September 20. Philadelphia and Atlantic Railroad (narrow-gauge) sold at public sale at Camden, N. J. and bought by G. W. R. Kercher for the Reading Railroad Company.
September 24. New Central Theatre, on site of old Grand Central Theatre, Walnut St. above Eighth, opened. Front, 80 feet; depth, 135 feet, height to the cornice, 58 feet; auditorium, 76 feet deep; stage, 74 feet wide, 40 feet deep; height of rigging-loft, 76 feet; proscenium opening, 28 feet square. Seating capacity (orchestra, orchestra circle, balcony and gallery), 2,600.
New hall of Philadelphia Turn Verein, 433 and 435 N. Sixth St., dedicated.
September 29. Saw and planing mill, Willow between Eleventh and twelfth Sts., property of the assignees of William B. Thomas and occupied by J. J. Crout & Son, sash, blind and door manufacturers, and Henry A. Hunsincker, planing mill, burned. Loss, $20,000.
First annual meeting of the Pennsylvania division of the League of American Wheelmen at Fairmount Park, followed by the bicycle races at the Gentleman's Driving Park. About four hundred wheelmen in line.
October 1. Filemyer's brewery, 2527 N. Broad St., partly destroyed by fire. Loss, $15,000.
Reception of the Athletic Base Ball Club after its return from the West, where it had won champion pennant of the American Base Ball Association. Parade participated in by base ball clubs, yacht clubs, social clubs and other organizations.
October 8. Improvements in Franklin Square having been finished it was opened to the public and illuminated for the first time with electric lights.
October 24. The Letitia house, the cottage of William Penn. built in 1682, which was the first State House of the providence and was the oldest mansion in the city, having been removed from Leticia Court to Fairmount Park, was formally presented to the park Commissioners on behalf of the Bi-Centennial Association of Pennsylvania.
November 10. Iron steamship San Pablo, built for the Pacific Improvement Company, Launched from shipyards of William Cramp & Sons. Length, 350 feet; width, 42 feet; depth, 29 feet; engines, 2,000 horse-power; carrying capacity, 4.000 tons.
November 17. Fire at the sheds of the American Line Steamship Company at Christian St. Wharf. Cotton and other merchandise intended for shipment burned, also the tugboat Palls, some hosting floats, lighters and other vessels. Loss estimated at $120,000.
November 18. The new eastern standard of time adopted by the railroad companies of the eastern division of the country went into operation at noon. By resolution of City Councils, the public clocks were set thirty-six seconds faster than the current time, that being the time of the seventy-fifth meridian and the difference at Philadelphia.
November 28. The Fences of Carpenter St. and on Washington Ave., on the line of Fifteenth ST., which blocked up travel by reason of the occupancy of the ground by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, taken down.
1884
January 1. New Hall of the Improved Order of Red Men, 928 Race St., formally opened.
January 15. Fire at hosiery mill of J. R. Bridges & Co., 1347 N. Front St. Loss $11,000.
January 21. New post-office building at Ninth and Chestnut Sts., opened for the first time to the public, a session of the United States Circuit Court being held there.
January 26. Perseverance Woods Works of Mahlon Fulton, Ninth St. above Oxford, totally destroyed by fire, loss $75,000.
January 27. Farewell Services in Cohockink M. E. Church, Germantown Av. above Columbia Av., building then abandoned by the congregation.
January 28. New post office, Ninth and Market Sts., put in use by the opening of the Money Order Department.
February 6. Workshop of the Phillips Underground Electric Cable Manufacturing Company, Willow St. above Twelfth, destroyed by fire; four firemen injured. Loss, $27,500.
February 16. Fire at the flour warehouse and depot of E. Lathbury & Co., Vine St. above Broad. Loss, estimated , $60,000. The western wall fell on February 17th, crushing in adjacent buildings on Vine St. and Leeds Ave., and killing two men, one of them being a firemen.
February 22. New armory of the First Regiment Infantry, Cor. Broad and Callowhill Sts., formally opened.
Hall of St. Michael's T. A. B. Society, Germantown Ave. above Columbia Ave. dedicated (formerly Cohocksink M.E. Church).
February 29. Fire in the laboratory of the chemical works of Powers and Weightman, extending from Brown to Parrish St., and from Ninth to Knox St. Loss, estimated $200,000.
March 6. Fire at the oil-cloth works of George W. Blabon & Co., Nicetown, destroying the coating, grinding and printing buildings. Loss, $150,000.
March 15. Fire at spice manufactory of A. Colburn & Co., Broad St. above Arch. Loss, $75.000.
March 31. The first trains run on the Schuylkill Valley branch of the Pennsylvania R. R., from Broad Street station to Bala, Philadelphia city.
April 7. New city government organized. William B. Smith inaugurated as Mayor; James R. Gates elected president of Select Council and Charles Lawrence president of Common Council.
Fire at malt-house of Frederick Fischer, Thompson St. west of thirty-second. Loss, $55,000.
May 7. Fire at the Philadelphia home-made bread and biscuit bakery of George W. Jones, 1429-1431 N. Twelfth St. Loss, $16,000.
May 11. Cornerstone laid of monastery of the Redemptorist Fathers of St. Bonifacius' Church, Hancock and Diamond Streets.
May 12. Stockholders of the West Philadelphia Passenger Railway Company ratified a lease of their road to the Philadelphia Traction Company for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, on a contract to pay each stockholder ten dollars per share annually, in half-yearly payments.
New Schuylkill Valley branch of the Pennsylvania P. R. Company formally opened as far as Manayunk.
May 14. Iron side-wheel steamer Hero, built for service on the Orinoco River, South America, launched form the yard of the America Shipbuilding Company, Port Richmond. Length, 110 feet; beam, 22 feet; depth of hold, 8 feet.
May 18. West Tasker Street Presbyterian mission chapel, Eighteenth and Tasker Sts., dedicated.
June 4. Iron steamship Eureka, built for the Morgan Line; between New York and New Orleans, launched from the shipyard of William Cramp & Son. Length, 350 feet; breadth of beam, 42-1/2 feet; depth of hold, 32-1/2 feet; engine, 1800 horse-power.
June 14. Collision on the Camden and Amboy R. R. near Ashland; two trains going in opposite directions on the same track ran into each other. Eight persons killed and nine badly wounded.
June 15. Spring regatta of Schuylkill Navy National Course; 1-1/2 miles straight away. Prizes: Junior sculls West Philadelphia Club, 10 m. 39-1/2 s.; Senior sculls, Pennsylvania, 10 m. 17-1/2 s.; pair-oar shells, West Philadelphia, 10 m. 38-1/4 s.; ;light four-oared shells, Crescent, 9 m. 46-1/2 s.; Junior four-oared gigs, Pennsylvania, a.m. 30 s.; Senior four-oared gigs, Pennsylvania, 9 m. 1 s.; six-oared barges, Malta, 9 m. 23 s.; eight-oared shells, University, 8 m. 12-1/2 s.
June 17-19. Tournament of the Quaker City Bicycle Club for all wheelmen in the United States and Canada commenced at Jumbo Park, Broad and Dickinson St.
June 18. Fire at Carr & Crawley's hardware and malleable iron works, Ninth and Jefferson Sts. Loss, $45,000.
June 19. Sixth inter-collegiate boat race for the Childs challenge cup, between the crews of Princeton College, New Jersey, of Cornell University, New York, and of the University of Pennsylvania. Flat-Rock course, on the Schuylkill; 1-1/2 miles straight away. Won by the University of Pennsylvania by half a length. Time, 7 m. 6-1/4 seconds.
June 20. Second race between the trotting-horse Scotland and John S. Prince on a bicycle at Jumbo Park; 10 miles. Won by Prince in 33. Minutes and 35-1/4 seconds.
June 29. Closing exercises at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church, cor. Of Broad St. And Penn Square, the building having been sold by the congregation.
June 30. Stockholders of the Union Passenger Railway Company at a special meeting agreed to lease their road to the Philadelphia Traction Company for nine hundred and ninety-nine years.
July 10. Eight-oared boat-race for the Sharpless challenge cup over the National Course, Schuylkill River, 1-1/2 miles. Won by the Columbia Boat Club, of Washington, D. C., in 8.06-3/4, being 5-1/4 seconds faster than any previous record.
July 17. Ground broken at N.E. cor. Susquehanna Av., and Twentieth St. for the hospital of the Woman's Homeopathic Association.
August 1. The old Chestnut Street skating rink, N. W. Cor. Twenty-third and Chestnut Sts., occupied by John Wanamaker for the manufacture of furniture and for storage purposes, and Phelan's lumber-yard, Twenty-third St., burned, together with considerable property on the south side of Chestnut between Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Sts. Loss, $160,000.
August 4. Machine-shop, store-room and pattern-loft of Baldwin Locomotive Works, Broad and Buttonwood Sts., partially burned. Loss, $150,000.
August 10. At 2:09 P.M. an earthquake shock, followed by another was felt in the city, accompanied by a rumbling sound. Buildings were shaken, bells rung, sashes rattled, doors sprung, various articles in some places thrown off of the shelves and tables, and people prostrated. The time of continuance of the shock was estimated at from 4 to 8 seconds.
August 13. Fire at drying-room of Theodore Morganstern's dye-house, Third and Huntingdon Sts. Loss, $35,000.
August 15. At Belmont Park the trotting-horse Jay-Eye-See, on a trial with the intention of excelling the former record of a mile in 2.1, trotted one heat in 2.1-1/4. Phallas, with the intention of beating his former record of 2.13-3/4, trotted one heat in 2.13 1/4.
August 20. Most Rev. P. J. Ryan, D. D., LL. D., archbishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, installed at the Cathedral by bishops and clergy of the Roman Catholic Church.
September 2. International Electrical Exhibition, under the auspices of the Franklin Institute, formally opened by Mayor William B. Smith and Governor Robert E. Pattison. Main Exhibition Building bounded by Lancaster Ave., Thirty-second and Thirty-third Sts. Front on the avenue, 283 feet; towers at the corners, 60 feet high; main roof central Gothic arch, 100 feet span, with two smaller arches 30 feet span. There were annexes, principal among which was the old Pennsylvania Railroad Station, on the east side of Thirty-second St. With railroad sheds and other buildings. Exhibition closed October 11th. Visitors, 285,000.
September 4. Councils passed resolutions directing the superintendent of electrical department to notify all telegraph, telephone, and electrical-light companies operating in city to remove their overhead wires, in compliance with ordinance of June 13, 1882, and place the same under ground before January 1, 1885.
September 12. Saw-mill of Bonta & Fenderich, Nos. 1063-1067 Germantown Ave., Loss, $15,000.
September 13. Annual regatta of the Fairmount Rowing Association on the National Course, Schuylkill River. Huhn challenge cup won by N. Hayes; time, 10.03-1/5. Four-oared shells won by the Hayes crew, 9.38-1/2; six-oared barges, Walsh crew, 10.34.
September 14. Cornerstone laid of new parochial building of St. Vincent de Paul's Roman Catholic Church, Germantown.
Cornerstone laid of new building for Monumental Baptist Church, Forty-first above Chestnut St.
September 15. Fire at wood carpet factory of J. W. Boughten & Co., Willow St. below Thirteenth. Loss, $50,000.
Forepaugh's Dime Museum, Eighth St. Below Vine, opened for the first time.
September 18. Bronze equestrian statue of Major General John Fulton Reynolds, by John Robers, sculptor, unveiled on the northern front of the new City Hall.
September 20. Fire at repairing-shop of W. D. Rodgers & Co.'s carriage-works, Tenth and Chestnut Sts. Loss, $50,000.
September 21. Chestnut Street Dime Museum opened in the old Masonic Hall building, Chestnut St. Above Seventh. Closed October 29th.
September 23. Annual convention of the National Council of the Order of United American Mechanics, at Elks' Hall, Eleventh and Chestnut Sts.
September 25. Penn National Bank commenced business in its new building, S. W. Cor. Seventh and Market Sts.
September 26. New building of the P .E. Church of the Crucifixion, Bainbridge St. above Eighth, dedicated.
September 29. Centennial celebration of the foundation of Freemasonry in the United States among colored persons by the establishment of African Lodge at Boston, Mass. Parade of Grand and Master Masons' Lodges of fourteen States and a reception.
October 1. New grounds of the Philadelphia Cricket Club, Wissahicken station, Schuylkill Valley Railroad, formally opened.
October 5. Cornerstone laid of Roman Catholic Church of St. Leo, cor. Keystone and Unruh Sts., Tacony.
Track of the Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railroad between Camden and Atlantic City changed from narrow gauge to standard gauge.
October 13. Collision of trains on West Jersey Railroad, Camden. One man killed and six injured.
October 21. Fire at oil-refinery of Crew, Levick & Co., 111 and 113 Union St. Loss, with damage to adjoining buildings, $30,000.
November 23. St. Mark's German Reformed Church, Fifth St. above Huntingdon, rebuilt, rededicated.
Fire at furniture manufactory of W. T. Richardson, 1204-1210 Frankford Ave. Loss, $15,000.
November 24. New Line of People's passenger Railway Company, via Susquehanna Ave., from Eighth to Twenty-second St., and by way of Islington Lane and Twenty-third to Norris St. and east on Norris to Germantown Ave., on Fourth St., to Walnut, and Eighth St., to Susquehanna Ave., opened for travel.
December 9. Fire at 526 and 528 North St., occupied by Scott Paper Company (Limited), Edwards & Docker and Henry P. Heppe, paper-bag manufacturers, and George Miller & Son, confectioners. Loss, $60,000.
December 10. Fire in furniture-factory of Clark Bros. & Co., 239, 241, 243 Levant St. Communicated to adjoining properties on Levant St. And west side of Second St. Loss, estimated, $145,000.
1885
January 8. New monastery of Redemptorist Fathers attached to Roman Catholic Church of St. Boniface, Diamond St., Norris Square, dedicated.
January 26. Cable passenger railway of the Philadelphia Traction Company went into operation on Columbia Ave. and Master St.
January 29. Fire in livery stable of Charles S. Smith and John D. Cooper, 716, 718 and 720 Marshall St., with injury to adjoining buildings. Thirty-four horses burned to death, a large number of carriages and sleighs destroyed, with other property. Estimated loss, $35,000.
February 12. Insane department of Philadelphia Almshouse, Blockley, totally destroyed by fire; twenty-four lives lost.
February 16. High-tide in the Delaware River. Delaware Ave. was flooded from Callowhill to Chestnut St. The water in some places entering first floor of stores. Kaighn's Point ferry-house flooded and a portion of Eighth Ward submerged. Freshet on the Schuylkill, water 6 feet above ordinary stages.
February 19. Fire on Chestnut St. east of Second, north side, which destroyed or greatly damaged adjoining properties.
February 21. Fire at 504 and 506 Market St., occupied by Ruth, Bennett & Co., china and glassware; S. A. Rudolph, paper; Joseph I. Meaney, boots and shoes, with some damage to adjoining buildings. Loss, estimated, $100,000.
March 29. Parish building of Trinity P. E. Church, Forty-second St. and Baltimore Ave., dedicated.
April 2. John L. Sullivan and Dominick McCaffrey, professional pugilists, who had arranged for a contest at Industrial Hall, arrested for violating the laws in reference to prize-fights, and bound over each in $5,000 to answer for conspiracy, and in $5,000 to keep the peace.
April 22. Repair-shops of Pullman palace Car Company, Forty-first St. and Pennsylvania R. R., burned. Loss, $150,000.
April 26. Malt-house of Continental Brewing Company, Twenty-first St. and Washington Ave., burned. Loss, $50,000.
May 9. Fire at station and stables of Knickerbocker Ice Company, Noble St. and Delaware Ave., nine horses and mules burned. Loss, $25,000.
May 10. Cornerstone laid of new St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, at Seventh St. and Montgomery Ave.
May 12. Fire at planning-mill of A. H. Higham & Sons., Nos. 1043-1053 East Cumberland St. Loss, $12,000.
May 24. Services in new P. E. Church of the Annunciation, Twelfth and Diamond Sts.
Cornerstone laid of Roman Catholic convent of Immaculate Heart of Mary, adjoining St. Teresa's Church, Broad and Catharine Sts.
Closing services at P. E. Church of Evangelists, Catharine St. above Eighth, before tearing down the building.
May 28. Explosion of benzine and fire at the furniture-store and manufactory of Henry Vehmeyer, S. W. cor. Second and Market Sts., with damage to hat-stores of Henry Kayser and Evans & Betts, adjoining. One lady passing by in the street killed by the falling walls, and two persons injured. Loss, $60,000.
May 29. Shackamaxon Bank, cor. Frankford Road and Norris St., failed in consequence of the allowance and payment of heavy over-drafts upon the funds.
May 31. First appearance of the cicadas, usually called "Seventeen-year locusts," in Washington Square.
June 13. New cable of the Traction Company, on Columbia Ave. between Twenty-third St. and East Park, put into operation.
June 17. Lard-oil works of Washington Butcher's Sons, Moore St. above Sixth, totally destroyed by fire. Loss, $120,000.
June 19. Fire at Farmer's Western market-house, Twenty-first and Market Sts., used as a depot for the sale of Bradley's Chicago beef. Loss, $10,000.
Seventh intercollegiate boat-race for the Childs cup, between Cornell University, New York, and the University of Pennsylvania. Course, Shawmont, above Flat Rock, on the Schuylkill, 1-1/2 miles straightaway. Won by Cornell by a length and a third. Time, 8 m. 51 s.; Pennsylvania, 8 m. 54 s.
June 27. Annual regatta of the Schuylkill Navy course, 1-1/2 miles straightaway; 21 entries. Prizes: Junior single, Bachelor Club, 11 m. 50-3/4 s.; senior single, Pennsylvania; four-oared gigs, Pennsylvania, 10 m. 24-1/4 s.; pair-oared shells, West Philadelphia, 11 m. 32-1/4 s.; senior four-oared gigs, Pennsylvania, 10 m. 23-1/4 s.; senior four-oared shells, College, 9 m. 37-3/4 s.; double sculls, Pennsylvania, 10 m. 28-1/2 s.; eight-oared shells, Malta, 8 m. 54 s.
July 3. Mayor Smith signed the ordinance, which had previously passed Councils, authorizing the construction of the Baltimore and Philadelphia and the Schuylkill River East Side railroads within the city.
July 7. William H. Bumm, George W. Bumm and Samuel P. Milligan, late teller of Shackamaxon Bank, bound over on the charge of conspiracy to defraud the bank.
July 9. Eight-oared boat-race for the Sharpless challenge cup. National course, Schuylkill river, 1-1/2 miles; 5 entries. Won by Fairmount Rowing Association of Philadelphia, beating Columbia, of Washington, D. C., by two-thirds of a length. Time, 8 m. 32s.
July 12. East Montgomery Avenue M. E. Church, rebuilt, reopened.
July 14. Walls of boiler-house of Star Mill, Mascher and Jefferson Sts., fell in. One person killed; nine injured.
Ninety-sixth anniversary of destruction of the Bastile, celebrated by French societies and citizens at Renz Park.
July 18. Fire in operating-room of Western Union Telegraph Company, N. W. cor Tenth and Chestnut Sts., destroying all the wires there. Loss, $20,000.
July 23. News of the death of Gen. U. S. Grant, at Mount McGregor, N. Y., received at Philadelphia at 8.12 A. M. The State House bell was tolled sixty-three times, one stroke for each year of his age. Immediately flags were hoisted at half mast in all parts of the city. The Mayor's office was draped with mourning, and emblems of woe were displayed at public and private offices, stores, factories, dwellings and other buildings.
Cornerstone laid of the new building of Young Maennerchor Vocal Society, N. W. cor. Sixth and Vine Sts.
August 3. Heavy rains at intervals, with sharp lightning and thunder from 11.35 A. M. to 9:50 P.M. About 3.30 P.M. a tornado of great force crossed the river Delaware from Gloucester Point. Three large buildings in the Neck at the Pennsylvania salt-works were entirely prostrated, and other property in the neighborhood was damaged. The course of the wind was nearly north by east. The tornado crossed the Delaware to New Jersey. The steamboat Major Reybold, of the Salem Line, and the Peerless ferry-boat, of Gloucester line, were struck by it in the river, had all their upper works, pilot houses and cabins carried away, and the pilot of the Reybold was drowned. At Kaighn's Point the storm took the shore and pursued a northwardly course, by way of Front, Second and Third Sts., to Federal and Linden Sts., extending eastward to Fourth and Fifth Sts., and then upward to Cooper's Point where again crossing the Delaware, it struck the Port Richmond coal-wharves, at the foot of William St., passed to the north to the neighborhood of Harrowgate Lane and Kensington Ave., where its force was spent. In Camden large factory-buildings were thrown down or greatly damaged. The round-house of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was totally demolished and locomotives damaged. Dwelling-houses, stores, etc., were unroofed or the walls blown in; trees in great numbers were thrown down; 400 buildings were damaged. In Kensington similar destruction took place. Houses were partially blown down, walls blown in and roofs taken off, with other damage; 150 buildings in this part of the city were damaged. The value of property destroyed was immense. In the city there were 3 lives lost and 38 persons injured; in Camden 4 were killed and 48 injured. In Camden the damage to real estate was estimated at $500,000, in Kensington, at $250,000. The value of personal property destroyed was impossible to compute. The course of the tornado was from 200 to 300 yards in width. In the afternoon there was a heavy flood in the Schuylkill. At the Falls the water, rushing down from the streets and descending to Ridge Ave. rose on the road 7 feet, carrying away small houses and fences, flooding cellars and the first stories of mills and buildings.
August 8. Day of funeral solemnities of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in New York observed with due solemnity throughout the country. The State House bell was tolled from 10 to 12 o'clock A.M. and bells of churches and public buildings. There was a general suspension of business throughout the city.
August 9. Fire at the Richmond paper-mill of Alexander Balfour, corner of Brabant and Tioga Sts. Loss, $22,000.
August 17. Explosion, supposed to be by dynamite, on the steamboat Samuel L. Felton, of the Wilmington Line, shortly after leaving Chestnut St. Wharf. About 175 passengers were on board. Eleven or twelve persons were injured, one of whom afterward died. Damage to the boat estimated at $4,000
September 14. Temple Theatre and Egyptian Musee, Old Masonic Hall building, Chestnut St. between Seventh and Eighth Sts., opened for the first time, with the comedy of "Sealed Instructions."
September 19. International cricket-match, between the "Gentlemen of England" and "Gentlemen of Philadelphia." Result: Philadelphia, 200, second inning, 178, total 378; Gentlemen of England, first inning, 147, second inning 122, total 269.
September 25 and 26. Second International Cricket game at Nicetown. Gentleman of England first inning, 293, second inning, 317, total 510; Gentlemen of Philadelphia, first inning, 147, second inning, 120, total 267.
September 29. Industrial Art School under control of the Board of Education, opened in Hollingsworth schoolhouse, Locus St. above Broad; 150 pupils.
October 8. Robert White attacked and killed, by the elephant Empress at winter-quarters of Forepaugh's circus and menagerie, Lehigh Ave. and Edgemont St.,
December 3. New hall of young Maennerchor Musical Society N.W. corner Sixth and Vine Sts. dedicated
New gymnasium of the University of Pennsylvania formally opened.
December 6. Consecration of new building of St. Luke's Lutheran Congregation, at Seventh St. and Montgomery Ave.
December 7. At the winter quarters of Forepaugh's menagerie, Lehigh Ave. and Edgemont St. the Nubian lion, Prince, escaped from his cage and attacked the elephant, Bolivar. He was disabled by a blow from the trunk of the latter, who finished by tramping upon the lion's body.
December 16. Fire in five-story building, 224 Carter's Alley below Exchange Place, occupied by Morrell & Bros., printers and bookbinders, Electric Motor Supply Company, Newman & Ergen, shirt manufacturers. Loss, $60,000.
December 24. Cornerstone laid of Girard Avenue Farmers' Market cor. Ninth St., and Girard Ave., 198 ft. on Girard Ave, by 194 ft. on Hutchinson St.
1886
January 10. Tugboat James Kelly caught fire off mouth of Pennypack Creek. Loss, $5,000. Fire consumed the whole block of buildings between Emerald and Letterly, Taylor and Coral Sts., Thirty-first ward.
January 13. Tug William G. Boulton, Capt., Peterson, sunk by ice on Fourteen-Feet Bank lightship, Delaware River.
January 16. A majority of the stock in the People's Passenger Railway (Callowhill Street) Company, which was the lessee of the Fourth and Eighth, Green and Coates, Girard Avenue and Norris and Susquehanna roads, sold to a syndicate composed principally of stockholders of the Lombard and South Streets, P. R. W. Company, and reorganized by the latter.
January 20. Fire and explosion at the oil and lamp-fixture establishment of R. J. Allen, Son & Co., 115 Arch Street. The flames spread to premises of King, Son & Co. and the Riverside Oil Company, Nos. 113, 117 and 119. One person was killed by the explosion. Loss, $50,000.
January 25. Tenth National Bank (new) cor. Columbia Ave. and Camac St. (below Broad), opened for business.
January 26. Great fire on Arch St. west of Seventh, which commenced in the five-story Morris building, Nos. 715, 717 and 719, occupied by Monroe Brothers & Co., shoe-dealers, Lehman & Bolton, lithographers. William H. Butler, lithographer. The Crosscup & West Engraving Company extending on the west to the building formerly occupied by the Fourth National Bank and tax receiver's office, used by S. May, millinery straw-goods, Julius Gerstler, artificial flowers and feathers, Schoedler & Hilery, kid glove importers, and Weaver Electric Mail-Box Company on the east to the St. Cloud Hotel, kept by G. K. & G. H. Mullen, the upper stories of which were burned and all the furniture and contents damaged by fire and water; on the north dwelling-houses on Winfield place were overwhelmed by falling walls and partially burned. The flames crossed to the south side of Arch St. and burned the upper stories of No. 712, Fred. Gutekunst, photographer, No. 714, Fahy & Co., furs, No. 716, p. P. C. Fulweiler, tobacco and cigars, No. 718, George S. Harris, printing, 720, Gillender & Son, glassware, No. 722, Hunter & Brother, laces, Nos. 724-726 Custer & Son, millinery, with injury to adjoining properties on the west. Total loss, estimated, $500,000.
February 9. New building of First Unitarian Church, Chestnut St. east of Twenty-second, dedicated.
February 14. Brick dwelling-house No. 1225 Lawrence St. fell to the ground and totally destroyed; eleven persons in it at the time injured and bruised by the falling walls, joists and floors.
February 16. Fire at Nos. 613 and 615 Cherry St. which also damaged Nos. 611 and 617. Loss, $28,000.
March 3. Fire at the stable of People's Passenger R. W. Company, at Eight and Dauphin Sts. Loss, $5,000. It contained 128 horses, which were rescued.
March 20. Steam ferry-boat Cooper's Point, owned by the Camden and Atlantic R. R. Company, burned at her dock, Camden, and passenger-cars near by damaged. Loss, $24,000. Daniel Coyle, electrical engineer in employ of the Northern Electric Light Company, instantly killed at No. 1116 N. Second St. while readjusting a light, by the full current of electricity being turned on.
March 27. Hand type-setting contest at Dime Museum, Ninth and Arch Sts., which continued for 11 days and 3 hours. First prize won by Alexander Duguid, for the Cincinnati Enquirer, total, 69,200-1/4 ems. Other contestants were Joseph McCann, New York Herald, 68,907-1/2; W. C. Barnes, New York World, 655,714-1/4; Thomas Levy, Chicago Herald, 61,299-1/4; Peter Thienes, Philadelphia Times, 59,498; J. A. Washington, Philadelphia Inquirer, 53,289-1/2; James J. Nolan, Philadelphia North American, 52,575-1/2; W. A. Crane, Philadelphia Evening News, 447,434-1/4.
April 2. The traction company withdrew the night cars running on the Richmond, Columbia Ave., Seventeenth and Nineteenth Sts., and Chestnut and Walnut Sts. branches.
April 8. Fire at the Academy of Fine Arts, Broad and Cherry Sts. Forty paintings burned, among them St. Sebastian, by Murillo. Loss to the academy and artists, estimated, $70,000.
April 14. New line of night-cars commenced, on the Hestonville, Mantua and Fairmount (Arch St.) Railway from Second and Arch Sts. to Forty-third St. and Lancaster Ave. Night-cars resumed running on the railways formerly furnished, with that service by the traction company.
April 18. St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Seventh St. And Montgomery Ave., consecrated. New building of Second Reformed Presbyterian Church, Seventeenth St. below Race, formally opened.
April 21. Iron steamboat Newburgh, intended for passenger service on the North River, launched from the shipyard of Neafie & Levy, Kensington. Length, 245 feet; beam, 43 feet; depth of hold, 15 feet; engines, 1100 horse-power; burden, 1000 tons.
April 23. Spinning-mill of J. Meadowcraft & Sons, Emerald and Sergeant Sts., burned. Loss, $29,000.
May 3. East Baptist Church, Hanover St. below Thompson, dedicated.
May 6. New Northwestern National Bank opened for business at No. 1812 Girard Ave.
May 8. Steamboat John S. Ide, of Bridgeton and Philadelphia Line, sank at the mouth of Cohansey Creek.
May 9. St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Fourth St. And Willing's Alley, remodeled, rebuilt and improved, formally re-opened.
May 11. The first train, carrying the president and other officers of the Baltimore to Ohio Railroad, passed over the railroad from Baltimore to the western abutment of the new bridge, below Gray's Ferry.
May 12. The Hayes Mechanics' Home, established under the will of George Hayes, who died in 1857, was formally opened on Belmont Ave. Near Christ Church Hospital.
May 24. Fire at paint and chemical works of Harrison Bros. & Co., Gary's Ferry Road. Loss, $60,000.
June 6. Basement of St. Stephen's Roman Catholic Church, Broad and Butler Sts., dedicated.
June 10. Formal opening of the new grounds of Belmont Cricket Club, at Forty-ninth St. Station, Pennsylvania R. R. Fire at the J. & P. Baltz brewery, Thompson St. above Thirty-first. Loss, $5,000.
June 11. Cornerstone laid of the parish building of St. Barnabas Protestant Episcopal Church, Third and Dauphin Sts.
June 21 Fire at George Smith's scroll and carpenter mill, Philadelphia St. between York and Dauphin. Loss, $10,000.
June 22. The four-oared shell of the College Club of the University of Pennsylvania rowed over the course on the Schuylkill River, and won the Childs cup, there being no competitors.
June 24. Cornerstone laid of the new house of the Bicycle Club, at Twenty-sixth and Perot Sts.
June 25. Iron steamship El Monte, built for the Morgan Line, between New York and New Orleans, launched from the yard of Cramps' Shipbuilding Company. Length, 338 feet; beam, 42 feet 8 inches; depth of hold, 31 feet 8 inches; carrying capacity, 9,000 bales of cotton; engines, 2500 horse-power.
June 26. Annual regatta of the Schuylkill navy, National course, 1-1/2 miles straightaway. Twenty entries. Prizes: Junior singles, Pennsylvania Club, 11m. 28-1/2s.; senior singles, Malta, 11m 57-1/2s.; junior four-oared gigs, Iona, 10 m. 1-1/2s.; double sculls, 10 m. 32-1/2s.; four-oared shells, Undine, 9m. 11-1/2s.; senior gigs, Iona, 9m. 21s.; pair-oared shells, Undine, 10m. 13s.; eight-oared shells, Malta, 8m. 11-1/2s.; being 43-1/2s. faster than the best record heretofore made, that by the Dauntless in 1880. Commodore's prize, single paper shell, to the Malta Club, for the most entries, crews coming in not more than 40s. behind the winning boat.
June 28. Fire at warehouse and factory, Northeast cor. Oxford and Randolph Sts., occupied by C. W. Hall, chair manufacturer, and B. F. Richardson, furniture manufacturer. Loss, $11,500.
June 30. Defalcation discovered in the accounts of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, amounting to $652,200.60; of this sum, $615,260 was an over issue of bonds of the company. J. L. Wilson, treasurer and secretary, and Henry V. Lesley, charged with being the guilty parties, absconded.
July 1. New Produce National Bank opened for business at No. 104 Chestnut St. The Casino, formally Lauber's Garden, Broad St. Above Columbia Ave., opened for the production of light operas with the "Crimson Scarf," by Legroix, and the "Cantrabandista," by Sir Arthur Sullivan.
July 5. Fairmount Park lighted with electric light for the first time, ten double-arc lights being placed on the Lemon Hill Observatory, 225 feet above the ground.
July 7. Ground broken for the new Park Avenue M. E. Church, at Park Ave. snd Norris St. New bridge of the East Side Schuylkill (B. and O.) R. R. Company across the Schuylkill at Gray's Ferry finished and put in use.
July 10. Cornerstone laid of new building of East Montgomery Ave. M. E. Church, Montgomery Ave. and Frankford Road.
July 13. Fire at packing-box factory and saw-mill of Tunis Manufacturing Company, Otsego and Moore Sts. Loss, $10,000. Eight-oared boat-race for the Childs Challenge cup, on the National course, Schuylkill River, 1-1/2 miles. Two entries. Won by the Malta Boat Club by two Lengths; time 8m. 6-1/2s.
July 19. Southwestern National Bank (new) opened for business, on Broad St. above South.
July 23. Southern section of Long Beach R. R. to Beach Haven, N.J., formally opened by Pennsylvania R. R. Company.
July 31. Samuel R. Shaw was struck by a stone while on a boat near Pine St. Wharf, Delaware River, knocked overboard and drowned. John, Timothy and Richard McLaughlin, George Flynn and Thomas, all boys, were held to answer and John Hillard as accessory
August 2. Swimming match for the championship of America, in on the Delaware River, between Dennis F. Butler, American champion, and W.B. Johnson, champion of England. Course, from off Cooper's Point to Ridgeway Park, 1 mile. Won by Butler in 15m 45s.
August 5. Second champion swimming-race on Delaware River between Butler and Johnson; 3 miles. Won by Butler in 45m.
August 7. Fire at shoe factory of John Mundell & Son, cor. Thirteenth and Cherry Sts. Loss $10,000.
August 14. Third and last swimming match on Delaware for championship of America between Butler and Johnson. Won by Butler. Course 5 miles; time 1h. 12m. 55s. New Columbia Theatre opened in rink building, formerly Ridge Avenue P. R. W. depot, N.E. cor. Twenty-third St. and Columbia Ave.
August 16. Baltimore and Ohio R. R. Company open depots for reception of freight for transmission to all points at Pier 35-1/2 N., at Brown St.; Pier 24 S., foot of Lombard St., and Piers 62 and 63 S., at Dickinson St., on the Delaware river.
August 28. Steamship Cherokee launched from the shipyard of William Cramp & Sons, built for William P. Clyde & Co. Length, 290 feet; beam, 43 feet; depth, 29 feet; measurement, 2500 tons.
August 29. Cornerstone laid of Cayuga Presbyterian Chapel, Sixteenth St. below Cayuga.
September 8. The assessors of the different wards made returns of the number of voters in the election divisions of the city as 229,092 an increase of 8,510 over last year.
September 16. First regular passenger-train over the Schuylkill River East Side (B. and O.) R. R. left station Twenty-third and Chestnut Sts., for Baltimore.
September 17. Wholesale grocery store and warehouse of Thompson Fry & Co., No. 131 Market St., destroyed by fire. Confectionery manufactory and store of Knight & Horebach, adjoining, wool-house of Coates Brothers and hardware stock of Robers, Duer & Miller, damaged by fire. Loss, $100,000. Fire at the bonded Warehouse of Fitzpatrick & Pemberton, at Front and Lombard Sts.; Section A, at the Corner of Lombard St., entirely destroyed. Loss, estimated, $50,000.
September 18. Ground broken for the new Third Regiment Armory, east side Broad St. above Wharton.
September 21. Fire at No. 25 N. Seventh St., occupied by Buchanan Smedley & Bromley, dealers in photographic materials, Davis Brothers, printers, D. W. Odiorne, umbrella materials, and Enterprise dining-rooms. Loss $25,000.
September 23. First international cricket match, at Nicetown Park, between Gentlemen of England, and Gentlemen of Philadelphia. Score, Philadelphia, first inning, 168; second inning, 70 total, 238, England, first and only inning, 323.
September 24, New temple of the Jewish congregation, Adath Jeshurun, Seventh St. above Columbia Ave., consecrated.
September 25. Cornerstone laid of the new building of Park Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, cor. Park Ave. and Norris St. Iron Steamship Seminole launched from the yard of William Cramp & Sons, ship and engine builders; vessel built for William P. Clyde & Co. Length, 290 feet; beam, 43 feet; depth, 29 feet, measurement, 2500 tons.
September 28. Planning and sash-mill of Gotlieb Hoersch, American St. above York, burned. Loss $16,000.
September 30. Windsor Theatre, Vine St. below Eighth, opened for the first time by Mahn's opera Company, with "Olivette."
October 3. Fire at the terra-cotta works of Harvey, Moland & Co., Seventh and York Sts. Loss $27,5000.
October 4. New Fourth Street National Bank, capital $1,500,000 commenced business on the east side of Fourth St. below Chestnut. Second international cricket match at Nicetown Park, between Gentlemen of England and Gentlemen of Philadelphia. Score: Philadelphia, first inning, 128; second inning, 146, total, 274. England, first inning, 235; second inning, 40 for four wickets, total, 275.
October 6. Fire in the finishing department of the shovel-works of T. Rowland's Sons, on Tacony Creek. Loss $20,000.
October 9. Cornerstone laid of Presbyterian Church of the Evangel, Eightieth and Tasker Sts.
October 10. New building of Temple Baptist Church, Twenty-second and Tioga Sts., dedicated. Cable-cars commenced running on the Columbia Ave. branch of the Union Passenger Railway.
October 24. Fifth Reformed Church (Dutch Reformed), Otis St. near Cedar, dedicated.
October 25. Bronze statue of Schiller by Henry Manger, sculptor, formally unveiled in West Fairmont Park, near Horticultural Hall.
October 30. New Girard Avenue Farmers' market-house, Girard Ave. and Ninth St., opened for business.
November 1. New buildings of the Second National Bank of Frankford, Main St. below Unity, opened for business.
November 10. Fire at John Brombly & Sons' carpet-mills, Front and Jasper Sts. Loss, $10,000. Fire at Nos. 22, 24, 26, and 28 N. Front St. occupied by J. M. Sharpless & Co., and others. Loss, $65,000.
November 11. Explosion and fire at cigar-box factory of Henry H. Sheip & Co., Randolph St. above Columbia Ave. One woman killed; fourteen persons burned and injured. Cornerstone laid on grounds of German Hospital of the Mary J. Drexel Home, for old men and women, Mother House for Deaconesses and Nurse-training School, the gift of John D. Lankenau.
November 25. Fire at furniture factory of John D. Raggio, Fourth and Reed Sts. Loss $75,000.
November 28. New building of Beacon Presbyterian Church, Cumberland and Cedar Sts., dedicated.
December 3. Fire at factory-building, Callowhill St. above Twelfth, occupied by Philadelphia Drop Forge Company and F. A. Wheeler & Co., straw-board linings. Loss $10,500..
December 4. Old Post-office building, Chestnut above Fourth, sold at auction to A. J. Drexel for 413,000.
December 11. Steamship Herman Winters, for the Metropolitan Steamship Company of New York, launched from the shipyard of William Cramp & Sons. Length, 286 feet, breadth of beam, 41-1/2 feet; depth of hold, 29 feet; burden, 2500 tons.
December 15. New tunnel of the Baltimore and Ohio R.R. on Twenty-fifth St. from Callowhill St. to the Reading Railroad, opened for the passage of freight trains.
December 16. Fire in mill-building at Coral and Dreer Sts., occupied by H. Davenport & Co. and Davenport & Hepworth, manufacturers of curtains and upholstery goods. Loss, $19,000.
December 17. Dye-house of J. G. Haley, Gorgas Lane, Roxboro, burned. Loss, $20,000.
December 20. A portion of Pier No. 54 S. Wharves, occupied by the Pennsylvania R.R. Company and the American and Red Star Steamship Lines, gave way, and sank into the Delaware, carrying down merchandise, etc. Loss, $50,000.
December 21. No. 711 Market St., occupied by Kneedler, Patterson & Co., drygoods, and John M. Maris & Co., druggists' supplies, destroyed by fire. Loss, $150,000.
December 25. Seventy-two hours' walking-match, go-as-you-please at the Elite Rink, Twenty-third and Chestnut Sts., closed. Won by Strokel, 386 miles 3 laps, being 14 miles 3 laps beyond any competitor.
December 27. Temple Theater and Egyptian Musee, old Masonic Hall building, under management of George C. Brotherton, totally destroyed by fire, together with the stores and salesrooms, in the first story, of Fairbanks & Co., scale-manufacturers, Remington Typewriter Co. and the Niles Tool Company. Losses also by Hubbard Bros., publishers and paper-manufacturers, 723 Chestnut St., and at the Washington Hotel, with partial damage to adjoining property. Loss estimated at $450,00. Two firemen killed and one injured by the falling walls.
December 31. Fire in spinning-room of Roxborough cotton and woolen-mill of J. Leech & Brother, Shur's Lane below Pechin St. Loss, $12,000.
Market-sheds and stalls on Girard Ave. between Sixth and Twelfth Sts. sold at auction preparatory to the abandonment of the public markets there.
1887
January 3. Fire at J. R. Applegate's photograph gallery, Eighth and Vine SSTs. Loss, 5,000.
January 7. Fire at the office of the Evening Telegraph newspaper, at Nos. 106 and 108 S. Third St., C. E. Warburton, proprietor, which also damaged the office of Howard Gell & Co., brokers, No. 110, and of MacDonald & Conrad, grain-merchants, No. 106. Loss, $30,000.
January 9. Explosion — supposed of dynamite — in a shanty at Thirteenth and Stiles Sts. Building totally destroyed and a watchman killed. The report was heard as far north as Chestnut Hill and the shock felt at Burlington and Princeton, NJ. Houses on Girard Ave. and from Twenty-eighth to Thirty-first St., and in intersecting streets, suffered by breakage of sashes and window-panes.
January 10. New Lyceum Theatre, Vine St. below Eighth, formerly Miller's Varieties, rebuilt and improved, reopened with the play of Jack Cade by Collier's company.
January 11. Ninth National Bank opened for business at its new building, Front and Norris Sts.
January 12. The examiner and master to whom had been referred the equity suit arising in consequence of the failure of the Shackamaxon Gank filed his report, deciding that the amount; lost by the bank was $430,210,.29, and the defendants, Thomas L. Huggard, cashier of the bank, and Samuel P. Milligan, teller, were chargeable with the whole amount; also that Joseph Concklin was liable for $149,538.23, the estate of William Bumm, deceased, $285,823.42; G. W. and W. H. Bumm, surviving partners, $136,285.13, and G. W. and W. H. Bumm, new partners, $4,720.39. Fire at curled-hair and glue factory of Delany & Co., Hancock and Jefferson Streets. Loss, $12,000. Fire at No. 511 Market Street, occupied by Louis Echner & Bros., manufacturers of neckwear. Loss, $22,000.
January 13. Fire at North Star Hotel, Main Street, Frankford, which destroyed the barn, haysheds and hay. thirty horses perished in the flames. Loss, $26,000.
January 14. Fire at No 236 Market Street, occupied by M. Garlic, boots and shoes; W. Allshin, leather, and Gibbs & Wesley, shoe manufacturers, with damages to Wolf & Marks, clothiers, No. 238. Loss $26,000.
January 23. New chapel of East Montgomery avenue M.E. Church, corner Frankford Road and Montgomery Avenue, formally dedicated.
January 27. Fire at Armstrong, Craig & Co.'s wholesale paper warehouse, Nos., 12 and 14 So. Sixth Street, and Garrett & Buchanan, paper dealers. Loss $50,000.
February 1. New building of the Northwestern National Bank, Ridge and Girard Avenues, opened for business.
February 2. The toboggan slide erected for the use of the public in Fairmount Park at the expense of William M. Signally, used fro the first time. Width of the slide, 34 feet; length of the slide and the ground to be covered, 2200 feet.
February 18. Lawrence Donovan of New York and Brooklyn Bridge into the East River, and from the suspension bridge at Niagara, jumped from Chestnut Street bridge at Niagara, jumped from Chestnut Street bridge, Schuylkill, a distance of 82 feet. When rescued, he was arrested and bound over to keep the peace.
February 21. Six days go-as-please race for the championship of the world commenced at the Chestnut Street Rink. forty-one entries; forty starters. During the week thirty-two men dropped out. final score: Robert Vint, 530 miles, securing diamond belt and large proportion of entrance money. The remainder of money was distributed to F. Hart, 518 miles 8 laps: Peter J. Panchot, 511 miles; A. Bennett, 506 miles 3 laps; George D. Noremac, 500 miles. The other men who were in the race at the close went Elson, 362 miles; Tilly, 352 miles 2 laps, and Newhart, 291 miles 8 laps.
February 25. The Philadelphia Traction Company gave notice that on and after the 1st of April the fare on all lines controlled by the company would be five cents for a single ride, with privileges of transfer at other points formerly freely given.
March 1. The Traction Company announced a reduction of fare to five cents, and transfers without extra charge.
March 4. People's Passenger Railway Company reduced fare for all passengers except infants in arms to five cents, including all existing transfer privileges.
March 7. the Traction Company and all the other passenger railway companies commenced carrying passengers at five cent fares. Exchange tickets between other roads than the Traction, Ridge Avenue and People's Passenger Railway systems seven cents.
March 21. Stable and hayloft of the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Streets Passenger Railway Company, at Cumberland and Carlisle Streets, burned. Loss, $8,000.
March 22. ground broken at N. E, corner Ninth Street and Lehigh Avenue, for new German Lutheran Church of the Cross Church dedicated November 6. The firm of James and John Hunter, manufacturers of cotton goods, at Hestonville and Norristown, failed, and made a general assignment in favor of creditors. the failure was caused by the discovery that of $400,000 worth of promissory notes issued by the firm, less than $55,000 had genuine endorsement; the rest were forged. the assets appraised at $154,34428.
April 4. The amended charter of the city of Philadelphia — usually called the Bullitt Law — went into operation, the principal change being investing in the Mayor full authority to act as the chief executive officer of the city, to cause the ordinances of the city and the laws of the State to get enforced, and to be responsible for the good order and efficient government of the city; the Mayor also to be responsible for the appointment and removal of heads of the departments of Public Safety, Public works, Genl. Louis E. Wagner; Director of Public Safety, William S. Stokley; Director of charities and Correction, Dr. James W. White, president; Richard C, McMurtrie, Dr. Richard A, Cleeman, Robert Laughlin, James Stewart, directors.
April 8. John Wanamaker announced that he would introduce the plan of profit-sharing with his employees.
April 13. Steam ferry boat Atlantic, of the Cooper's Point ferry line, burned in the upper portion at Vine Street Wharf, Camden. Loss, $30,000.
April 25. Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia, formed at a meeting held at the Continental Hotel.
May 1. At midnight, at the Elite Skating Rink, corner twenty-third and Chestnut Streets, six days go-as-you-Please walking match commenced. There where forty-eight entries and forty-one starter. The match ended May 7 with the following records for the winning contestants: there were forty-eight entries and forty-one starters. The Match ended May 7 with the following records for the winning contestants: Strokel, 515 miles; Albert, 505 miles; Noremac, 492 miles; Hart, 485 miles.
May 4. Annual class races of the University of Pennsylvania for the Powel cup, eight-oared shells, won by juniors. time, 8.324/5. The prize was awarded to the sophomores upon claim of irregularity in the makeup of the junior crew.
May 6. Special jury to inquire into the mental condition of W. Ellwood rowan, Sheriffm reported to the Court of Common Pleas that by reason of lunacy he was incapable of managing his estate and that he had been incapable for eight months last past and upward, without lucid intervals.
May 7. Last block of marble required for the construction of the new city hall placed on the tower, at a height of 337 feet 4 inches from the ground.
May 12. hay sheds and other buildings at Burgin & Sons', glass factory, Montgomery Avenue above Girard Avenue, destroyed by fire, with damage to swelling houses on Palmer Street. Loss, $2,000.
May 19. Girard College grounds lighted for the first time with thirty-five electric lights placed upon seven towers, each 125 feet high. iron steamship Josefita, intended for the Cuban trade, launched from the shipyard of Neafie & Levy. Length, 230 feet; beam, 34 feet, depth of hold, 21 feet; 1500 tons register.
May 22. Margaret Harvey, Theodore Murphy, Catharine Murphy, Jeremiah Murphy and Dennis Crimmins drowned in the
November 2. Lease of the Lombard and South Street Passenger Railway lines by the People's Passenger railway company rescinded. Fire at stone factory building, and engine house, Wister Station, Germantown, belonging to estate of John Bromley and occupied by Henry F. Scatchard, William R. Taylor and Stirling & Son, manufacturers of yarns. Loss, $115,000.
November 4. Fire at saw and planing mill Broad and North Streets, occupied by the Fite, Arbelo company and D. W. Nudd, sash, door and blind manufacturer. Loss, $21,000.
November 11. Explosion of gasoline at No. 908 Sansom Street. Fourteen men burned and injured. Six died.
November 12. Fire at saw and planing mill, Nos. 928 and 032 N. third Street, occupied by John Dick, tool-grinder; Casper Miller. Turner; J. H. McClosky, carpet-cleaner; H. B. & J. C. Petty, picture frames and others. Loss, $25,000.
November 21. The southern section East Park Reservoir, being completed, was formally placed in use. Henry V. Lesley and James A. L. Wilson, formerly secretary and treasurer of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal Company, pleaded guilty in the Court of Quarter Sessions to an indictment to defraud the company, and were sentenced respectively to eight and six years imprisonment.
November 26. Six days go-as-you-please pedestrian contest, at Chestnut Street Rink, finished. Score: Littlewood, 569 miles; Albert 530; Panchot, 511; Noremac, 501; Elson, 500.
November 29. the Harbor Commission and the Advisory board of United States Engineers held a meeting at the office of the Wardens of the Port to consult with merchants and citizens, and to hear their views in reference to the improvement of the harbor of Philadelphia by the removal of Smith's and Windmill Islands, in the Delaware, and the extension of wharves into the stream.
December 27. Thomas L. Huggard, late cashier of the Shackamaxon Bank; Samuel P. Milligan, late teller; George W. Bumm and William H. Bumm, directors, put on trial to answer the charge of conspiracy to defraud the bank previous to the failure which took place May 29, 1885. Huggard pleaded guilty, and sentenced to one year and three months' imprisonment; Milligan and George W. Bumm convicted and sentenced to one year's imprisonment each; William H. Bumm acquitted. Gorge W. Bumm pardoned July 17.
1888
January 10. Cable cars of the Traction company began running on Seventh and Ninth Streets between Columbia Avenue and Mckean Street.
February 10. John Wanamaker bought the business stock of Hood, Bonbright & Co., wholesale drygoods merchants.
February 15. Roman Catholic Cemetery of the Most Holy Redeemer, Richmond Street below Orthodox, Twenty-fifth Ward, opened for use.
February 27. George M. Palmer, a baker residing at No. 504 Lehigh Avenue, convicted of causing the death of Louisa Drebel by adulterating cakes and buns with chromate of lead, sentenced to six months' imprisonment. For like adulterations, Frederick Schmidt, a baker residing at Vienna Street and Frankford Avenue, charged with a similar offense, sentenced to six mouths' imprisonment and a fine of $100.
March 11. Commencement of stormy season known as the blizzard. The morning was cloudy. Light rain commenced at 3 P. M. and very heavy rain at 10 P. M. At 11 P. M. the rain changed to snow, and the wind, steadily increasing in violence, soon blew a full gale. The 12th of March came in with heavy snowfall and a violent gale, the wind reaching 46 miles an hour and with frequent terrific squalls. Direction of the wind due North; temperature at 15 degrees. During the morning the temperature continued to fall and the wind to rise, but the fall of snow was checked. Owing to the high wind, which attained a velocity at times of 60 miles an hour, the loose snow was blown into enormous drifts. Streets and roads became impassable, all railroad trains were blocked, telegraphic communication was cut off, and a great amount of damage was done by the blowing down of trees and telegraph poles. Chimneys, roofs and other portions of buildings were also damaged in many parts of the city. At noon on the 12th the snow ceased, but the high wins continued all that day and the next. The greatest difficulty was experienced outside the city in getting communication in any way. The roads and railway-cuttings were drifted full of snow, through which neither carriages nor trains were able to proceed. Many trains were snowed in and either abandoned or lost in the drifts. The first train to reach the city from New York left the latter place on Monday at 6 A. M., and reached Philadelphia on Thursday at 5 P. M.; the first train from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh reached there on the 15th. There was no telegraphic communication in any direction except to Harrisburg through Norristown and Reading. The long-distance telephone to New York, however, acted admirably throughout the crisis. Business on the 12th was almost entirely suspended; the schools, courts and many places of amusement were closed. On the Delaware River and on the coast, especially at the Breakwater, the injury to shipping was very great, especially at the Breakwater, the injury to shipping was very great, over thirty vessels being sunk or stranded, and several of the seamen being drowned. On the 13th the blizzard continued, although traveling was to some extent renewed. High winds continued and the temperature was very low, ranging from 8 degrees minimum to 15 degrees maximum. The force of the wind showed a velocity of 47 miles an hour. The wind gradually subsided, and on the 14th the snow began to melt; but several days elapsed before the interrupted travel could be resumed, and the snow lay in sheltered places for several weeks. Delaware River by the upsetting of a boat, which Coroner's jury found was caused by the carelessness of Thomas O'Connor. The latter pleaded guilty June 29 to indictments for involuntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment.
May 23. Market Street National Bank, capitol $600,000, commenced business at No. 1017 Market Street. Six days walking match, go-as-you-please, commenced at Chestnut Street Rink; fifteen entries. First prize won by Burns, 485 miles.
June 18. Henry V. Lesley, late secretary of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, arrested in Philadelphia, and James H. L. Wilson charged as confederate, arrested in Toronto, for the defalcation of $661,490 which occurred in June, 1886.
June 25. Fire at kindling wood factory of Longton & Crawford, No. 1112 S. Thirteenth Street with damage to John Stockdale public school-house, John A. Smith's coal yard and other adjoining property. Loss, $15,000. Annual regatta of the Schuylkill navy. National course, 1-1/2 miles straight away. Prizes: junior singles, Iona, 10am. 44-1/2s.; pairoared shells, Philadelphia, 9am. 47s.; junior four-oared gigs, Pennsylvania, 10am. 23s.; senior four-oared gigs, Iona, 8m. 56s.; senior singles, Pennsylvania, 10m.; 23s.; eight-oared shells, Vesper, 8m.
June 26. Norris Square M. E. Church, Mascher Street above Susquehanna Avenue, dedicated.
July 3. Cornerstone laid of German Lutheran Church of the Cross, Ninth Street and Lehigh Avenue.
July 5. New Chestnut Street National Bank opened at the N. W. corner Tenth and Chestnut Streets.
July 11. George M. Palmer, a baker residing at No. 504 Lehigh Avenue, held to bail by Corner Ashbridge to answer the charge of having poisoned four persons by adulteration of buns and cakes which he baked with chromate of lead (chrome yellow), used to give the articles a rich yellow color.
July 12. George M. Palmer and F. Schmidt, bakers, and George W. Millett, salesman, charged with poisonous adulteration of food with chromate of lead (chrome yellow), bound over to answer.
July 13. Explosion of two stills filled with petroleum at the oil works of the American Refining Company, Point Breeze, setting fire to three or four other stills and adjoining property. Several persons scaled by the hot oil. Loss, $10,000.
July 15. Fire at mill building corner Mascher and Putman Streets, occupied by William Shellenberger, hides and fats, Bakeman & Smith, card-cloth and carpets, and Gilpin & Martin, hosiery. Loss, $8,000.
July 16. Fire at mill building corner Mascher and Putman Streets, occupied by William Shellenberger, hides and fats, Bakeman & Smith, card-cloth and carpets, and Gilpin & Martin, hosiery. Loss, $8,000.
July 21. Fredrick Schmidt, a baker at baker at Vienna Street and Frankford Avenue, was by the verdict of a Corner's jury found guilty of having caused the death of Anna E. Helm by the use of poisonous matter (chromate of lead) in the preparation of buns and other breadstuffs which were eaten by the deceased.
July 23. A compressor of ammoniacal gas for an ice machine at the Bergner & Engel Brewry, Thirty-second and Thompson Streets, burned. The vapor was ignited and seriously burned nine men (two of whom afterward died) besides setting fire to the building.
July 27. Alfred Krumm, manufacturer of noodles, held to answer on a charge of adulterating them with chrome yellow (chromate of lead).
July 30. The yacht Minerva capsized opposite Kaighn's Point during a squall. Two persons drowned. The Colombian Bank, a State institution doing business on Chestnut Street below Fifth, failed and made an assignment. Capital, $200,000; liabilities stated to be $278,901.32; estimated assets, $278,-901.32; which were appraised at $95,159.25.
August 4. An electric car built by William Wharton, Jr., & Co., and run with the electric power and energy of storage batteries on the car was run from Gray's Ferry over the Spruce and Pine Street Passenger Railway to Dock and Walnut Streets with passengers, making two trips.
August 26. The bulkhead and about 70 feet of the wharf at the foot of Sansom Street fell into the Schuylkill River. It was used for storing cars of the Baltimore and Ohio R, but no cars were on it at the time of the accident. Loss, about $10,000.
September 5. Thirty-third annual fair of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society opened at the grounds, Lehigh Avenue and Broad Street.
September 15. First day of the centennial celebration of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. Grand civic procession, showing the progress of a century in trades, manufactures and industries, also in education, with participation in the parade of societies, firemen, etc. There were floats and wagons with allegorical figures, machinery, persons at work, models, etc., and the procession required about seven hours to pass any point on the route. It was estimated that half a million people were spectators of the display.
October 16. Cornerstone laid of Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Haddington.
October 18. Bronze equestrian statue of General George Gordon Meade, by Alexander Milne Calder, unveiled in Fairmount Park with appropriate ceremonies, which included a parade of the First Brigade, N. G. P., Grand Army Posts, and others.April 3. Claus Speckels, of California, bought 10 acres of ground on the river Delaware, at Reed Street, for the purpose of erecting a new sugar refinery with buildings and machinery to cost $5,000,000. Ground broken May 27.
April 4. Broad Street Theater, owned by John S. Clarke, sold at auction to J. M. Fox, for $141,000.
April 6. Dinner to Dr. D. Hayes Agnew in honor of the fiftieth year of his graduation as a doctor of medicine from the University of Pennsylvania, given by the medical profession at the Academy of Music.
April 11. The pneumatic dynamite gun built by William Cramp & Sons for the Italian Government sent to Fort Lafayette, where it was tested under the direction of Lieutenant Zalinski.
April 17. Meeting of citizens at the Broad of Trade rooms to protest against the erection of the proposed elevated railroad by the Reading Railway Company between Twelfth and Market and Ninth and Green Streets.
April 19. Reading Railroad elevated terminal ordinance introduced into Select Councils and referred to the Railroad Committee.
April 28. Launch of the gunboat Yorktown and the dynamite cruiser Vesuvius from Cramp's shipyard, Kensington. Secretary Whitney and a number of members of Congress and other distinguished guests attended the launching.
May 1. The "State in Schuylkill" the Schuylkill Fishing Company established in 1732, removed its "Castle" from the banks of the Schuylkill below Gray's Ferry to the banks of the Delaware, near Andalusia. The new crematory, at E. Washington lane and Stenton Avenue, Germantown, used for the first time for the cremation of the body of Damon Y. Kilgore.
May 7. The first year of the system of profit sharing adopted by John Wanamaker resulted in the distribution of $109,439.68 to the employees, in addition to their usual salaries.
May 15. St. Agnes' Hospital, at Broad and Mifflin Streets, dedicated and formally opened.
May 21. New Market Street National Bank opened for inspection; ready for business May 24.
May 30. New passenger depot of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Twenty-Fourth and Chestnut Streets, formally opened.
June 1. New liquor licenses went into effect. Number of saloons licensed, 1347; number licensed in 1887, 5773.
June 14. New system of attaching the cars of the Fairmount branch of the Philadelphia Traction Company to the cable motor cars at Franklin and Wallace went into effect.
June 16. A new steamer, the Elizabeth Monroe Smith, the gift of Mr. F. Smith to the Sanitarium Association opened its twelfth season at Red Bank, N.J.
July 19. Industrial school and home of St. Frances de Sales, founded at Eddington and maintained by the Misses Drexel, opened with religious ceremonies by Archbishop Ryan.
July 24. The " Penny Savings Bank" organized by members of the Bethany Presbyterian Church. Opened for business August 1.
July 31. The boiler of a locomotive of the Reading Railroad Co., exploded while standing at Columbia Avenue station, killing Andrew Pond, the engineer, and Peter Graklow, the fireman.
August 4. Steamship Corona, built for the Oregon Steamship Company, launched from the yards of Neafie & Levy. Sailed for San Francisco, October 27.
August 10. Eight-cent exchanges inaugurated on the Traction Company's system.
August 21. A tornado struck the Delaware River below Fort Delaware doing considerable damage to shipping. The same afternoon a heavy rainstorm passed over this city, the total precipitation being nearly two inches. Considerable damage done to sewers, etc.
September 13. A row boat containing two men and two women swept over Flat Rock dam, on the Schuylkill. Frank Carver and Mrs. Minnie Tuful drowned.
September 18. Managers of the House of refuge completed the purchase of 385 acres of ground at Glen Mills, Delaware Co., for a new building and farm for the boys ' department.
September 26. Tug W. W. Graham capsized and sunk in the Delaware off Edgemoor; the engineer, Seth M. Long, drowned. The Graham was successfully raised and towed into port.
October 6. United States cruiser Baltimore launched at Cramps' Shipyard in the presence of the Secretary of the Navy, and a distinguished party from Washington.
October 18. Northeastern Elevated Railroad bill passed by select Councils.
October 20. John D. Criuce fatally burned by an explosion of "flash powder" at Wiley & Wallace's drug establishment.
December 3. Keystone Bank Building opened for business.
December 6. Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadelphia Mother-House of Deconesses, attached to the German Hospital, handed over to the Lutheran Church.
December 17. New building of the Western Saving Fund occupied.
1889
January 11. Dynamite Cruiser Vesuvius on her official trial trip made a speed of 21.64 knots per hour.
January 14. Third Regiment Armory formally opened.
January 18. Portion of the Reading Railway where at the foot of Willow Street sank into the river. No lives lost.
January 26. New building of the Medico-Chirurgical College and the Philadelphia Dental College formally opened.
March 25. Gunboat Yorktown formally accepted by the government.
April 19. The family of the late George L. Harrison presented $200,000 to the Episcopal Hospital to found and endow a building for incurables.
April 23. U.S. warship Yorktown put in commission, and sailed for New York two days later.
May 10. Philadelphia Belt-Line Railroad Company organized, and received a charter.
May 13. A salmon weighing 12-1/2 pounds caught in the Delaware the first salmon caught in the Delaware for many years.
May 31. Walt Whitman's seventieth birthday anniversary celebrated in Camden by a banquet, at which distinguished guests from all parts of the country were present.
June 23. A rowboat containing John H. DeBarry, Jr., William S. Castnett, Mary A. Young and Rosaline Eattock carried over Fairmount dam and the occupants drowned.
August 2. Claus Spreckels announced that he would double the size of his great sugar-refinery at Reed Street Wharf, making a total investment of $4,000,000 to $5,000,000.
September 2. Labor Day. Celebrated as a legal holiday for the first time in Pennsylvania.
September 3. Contact for the metal work of the clock tower of the new Public Buildings awarded to the Tacony Iron and Metal Company, the price to be paid estimated at $325,000 and four years being required to complete the work.
September 6. Mass meeting of property owners and residents along the line of the Cohocksink sewer urged the finance committee of Councils to take immediate measures to prevent further breaks in the sewer.
September 9. Annie E. Leconey brutally murdered at her home, near Merchantville, New Jersey. Francis Lingo was suspected of the crime and was arrested, and subsequently the murdered girl's uncle, Chalkley Leconey, was also arrested and held to answer.
September 12. New Park Theater opened for inspection.
October 1. A storm caused the extension of the break in the Cohocksink sewer. William F. Keppler was carried down in the break and drowned.
October 4. Mr. Joseph Wharton presented $25,000 to the University of Pennsylvania to found a library for the Wharton School of Finance.
October 17. Cornerstone laid of the administration building of the new House of Refuge at Glen Mills, Delaware county.
November 6. The schoolship Saratoga arrived at the League Island navy yard.
November 13. U.S. cruiser Baltimore started on her second trial trip being successfully accomplished.
December 11. Joseph G. Ditman, a well-known wholesale paper dealer, left his home to tale a drive to the park. His horse and carriage were found the same evening on the towpath, but no trace of the missing man's body was found until January 26. The coroner's jury found a verdict of accidental drowning.
1890
January 16. Steamer Edwin Forrest driven on the sand-bar off Burlington Island. No one was injured, and the steamer was afterward floated without injury.
January 20. George W. Wright pleaded guilty to the embezzlement of $38,660.20 from the order of Tonti and was sentenced to pay a fine of $1000 and to undergo an imprisonment of four years and nine months in the penitentiary.
January 26. David Alexander, a monomaniac, fired a shot from a revolver at Bishop Whitmaker of the Protestant Episcopal Church while the was conducting services in St. John's Church. The bullet missed its mark. Alexander was after adjudged insane and sent to the Danville Asylum.
February 1. Spring Garden market house opened for Business.
February 21. The roof of the Grand Opera House fell while efforts were Being made to raise it, injuring seven workmen.
March 1. Cars began running on the Catharine and Bainbridge Street branch of the Philadelphia Traction Company. Coaches of the Philadelphia Traction Company. Coaches of the Omnibus Company General began running on broad Street.
March 10. A special train on the Bound Brook division of the Reading Railway made the trip between Philadelphia and Jersey City in 85 minutes, Claimed to be the fastest time ever made between these points.
April 30. The Bank of America and its numerous branches suspended payments. On the following day the Gloucester City National Bank suspended. This was followed by the suspension of the Fidelity Surety Trust and Safe Deposit Company of Camden and its branches through their officers, as was the American Life Insurance Company, which suspended business on May 10, in compliance with a writ of quo warranto issued by the Attorney-General of the State. Numerous suits were brought against the officers of the various institutions involved.
May 1. Parish house of St. Simeon's Protestant Episcopal Church dedicated. The new building of the First Penny Savings Bank of Philadelphia opened for business. Lehigh Avenue electric cars began regular service with six cars.
May 14. Steamer City of Seattle launched at Neafie & Levy's shipyard.
May 28. Steamer Essex launched at Cramp's shipyard.
May 29. Smith's and Windmill Islands formally transferred to the United States in the mayor's office.
May 30. John C. File, late treasurer of the Lutheran Orphan's Home, confessed that he had made away with almost the whole endowment fund of the institution.
June 3. The dynamite cruiser Vesuvius Formally transferred to the Government by Cramp & Sons. She sailed for the Brooklyn navy yard on June 18.
June 6. Announcement made that Cramp & Sons had increased their capital stock to $3,500,000 for the purpose of establishing new and extensive shipbuilding yards near Greenwich Point. Severe electrical storm. Alice Farrel, six years old, killed by lightning. Lightning also stuck G. & H. Barnett's oil storehouse, setting it on fire and burning 38,500 gallons of oil. Many minor casualties occurred. City Avenue Bridge over the Schuylkill formally opened.
June 12. A freight train wreck at Beach and Otis Streets threw two freight cars into the Aramingo Canal and killed John Fallack, a rolling mill employee.
June 16. A street car struck by a railroad train at Ninth and Green Streets. Several passengers injured, one seriously.
June 19. Two men fatally scaled by the bursting of a mash tub at Betz's brewery.
June 24. Joseph Buecher shot and killed Dennis Crowley at Fourth Street and Girard Avenue.
July 2. The Fairmount Park Motor Company to build and operate a gravity railroad in the Park, formed.
July 14. New police station at Manayunk opened.
July 17. Severe storm. One man drowned in the Delaware River. Part of the roof of the Second and Third Streets car stables fell on a car, killing a horse. Numerous minor accidents caused by high wind and lightning.
July 24. Gambling establishments at Gloucester raided by Camden county constables.
July 29. Wooden steamer Pawnee launched at Charles Hillman & Co.'s shipyard.
July 30. Conference of citizens with the Board of United States Engineers on the matter of improving the harbor and removing the islands of the Delaware.
August 19. lighthouse-tender "Armenia" launched at Dialogue's shipyard.
August 21. A severe windstorm partially demolished the car stables of the Twelfth and Sixteenth Streets and the Tenth and Eleventh Streets railway companies. Six persons were killed and seven injured. Considerate other damage was done by the storm.
August 25. A forty-six-inch supply pipe of the Corinthian Avenue Reservoir burst, doing considerable damage.
September 4. A Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive overturned while rounding a curve at Beach and York Streets, killing the engineer and firemen and seriously injuring the conductor.
September 5. Roman Catholic High School dedicated.
September 18. New public manual training school on Howard Street below Girard Avenue, began in regular sessions.
September 25. Mrs. Annie miller brutally murdered near Merchantville. N. J. Francis lingo arrested for the crime.
October 14. The Master Brewers' National Convention opened at Mannerchor Hall. Delegates from all parts of the United States attending. Entertainment of delegates, Kommers, banquet, drive through Fairmount Park, etc.
November 19. Contract for building a new reservoir at Roxborough awarded to John B. Reilly.
November 20. Barker Brothers & Co., bankers, suspended and made an assignment. The senior member of the firm had been in active business for fifty-three years.
December 1. First day of the run on the Keystone National Bank, which, though temporarily allayed, finally led to the suspension of the bank, the exposure of its fraudulent methods and those of other bank officers and of City Treasure Bardsley.
December 20. The cruiser Newark left Cramps' shipyard for her trial trip, which took place on December 22. The trip was very successful.
1891
January 16. The main building of John and James Dobson's carpet-mills at the Falls of S Schuylkill destroyed by fire. Loss, about $1,000,000.
January 20. The contract between the city and the Philadelphia and Reading Terminal Company signed. The company entered a bond of $1,000,000.
January 23. Three floors of a building on Willow Street, occupied by the John Y. Huber Publishing Company, the Bunting Iron Car-Seat Company and A. Falkenau, machinist, fell through to the basement, owing to a heavy weight of paper on the upper floor.
February 5. Market Street Elevated Railroad ordinance passed finally by both branches of Councils. The mayor signed the bill on February 16.
February 25. Lewis E. Pfeiffer pleaded guilty to a charge of re-hypothecating stocks and securities in connection with the failure of the Bank of America, and took the witness-stand against his coconspirators, George F. Work and James S. Dungan. The latter were convicted of the crime on February 27. Pfeiffer was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Work to four years' imprisonment and Dungan to three years' imprisonment in the Eastern Penitentiary.
March 5. The J. O. Schimel preserving Company's building, Eighth and Berks Streets, burned. Loss, $125,000.
March 20. The keystone Bank closed by order of the Controller of the Currency. later investigation showed gross frauds by the president, cashier and other officers.
March 24. Dr. Edward Brooks elected Superintendent of Public Schools by the Board of Education.
March 28. Reading Railway offices and station at Kaighn's Point destroyed by fire. loss, about $80,000. Cresswell's Eagle Iron Foundry, 812-820 Race Street, burned. Loss, $75,000.
April 9. Bids for the removal of the islands in the Delaware river opened. The lowest bid was $2,229,220, made by James A. Mundy & Co.
April 23. Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan's steel yacht Corsair launched at Neafie & Levys yard.
April 26. The National Publishing Company's five-story building at Eighth and Cherry Streets, destroyed by fire. Loss, $200,000.
May 3. Joseph Beusher, who shot and killed Dennis Crowley at Fourth Street and Girard Avenue, convicted f murder in the first degree. Sentenced to be hung. Afterward sentenced to life imprisonment. After a lapse of about four years pardoned.
March 4. Gideon Marsh, late president, and Charles Lawrence, ex-cashier, of the Keystone National Bank were arrested. charges accumulated against them and they finally pleaded guilty of charges or fraud and conspiracy.
June 9. John Bardsley pleaded guilty to charges against him. He was sentenced on July 2 to fifteen years solitary confinement at labor in the Eastern Penitentiary, and to pay fines aggregating $237,530.
June 14. Martin Fuller & Co.s abattoir at the Philadelphia stock-yards, West Philadelphia, destroyed by fire. Loss, $373,000. Charles Hocke fatally injured by an explosion.
June 24. Mayor Stuart signed the Northeastern Elevated Railway ordinance.
July 24. Campbell & Elliott's textile mills, Twelfth and Washington Avenue, destroyed by fire. Loss, $750,000.
August 1. The permit for the construction of the Reading Terminal Depot at twelfth and Market Streets, issued by the building inspectors.
August 15. A. G. Elliot's textile mills, Twelfth and Washington Avenue, destroyed by fire. Loss $60,000.
August 17. Francis W. Kennedy, president; H, H, Kennedy, cashier, of the Spring Garden National Bank, and Charles Lawrence, assistant cashier of the keystone national, pleaded guilty to the charges against them. the latter was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment and a fine of $100. The Kennedys were each sentenced on September 15 to ten years' imprisonment.
August 28. Guano & Raggio's macaroni factory. Seventh and Marriott Streets, burned. Loss, $35,000. Two firemen were severely injured.
September 25. International cricket match between Gentlemen of England and Gentlemen of Philadelphia begun. The Philadelphia won the first game, the visitors the subsequent game.
September 28. Phillips & Cunninghams's oil warehouse, the Jessup & Moore Paper Co.s warehouse, and other buildings on Water Street near Race burned. Nine firemen were injured during the fire. Total loss $220,000.
September 29. The commission appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to recommend a site for the new Mint reported in favor of the block bounded by Walnut, Sansom, Sixth and Seventh Streets.
October 3. School-ship Saratoga arrived in port, after a journey to Madeira and the Azores.
November 7. Inter-collegiate football match between the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton College. the latter won, 24 to 0.
November 9. Lippincott, Johnson & Co.'s cloth warehouse, Market Street below Seventh, destroyed by fire. Loss, $300,000.
November 23. The Mayor approved the bond presented by the Northeastern Elevated Railroad. The Board of Highway Supervisors granted the company permission to begin work on the public streets on November 25.
December 2. The new armored cruiser New York launched at Cramp's shipyard.
December 6. William F. Shaw's music publication house, Vine Street Below Eighth, destroyed by fire. Loss, $2,00,000.
December 15. fire caused by an explosion of benzene destroyed a large building on Delaware Avenue near Fairmount Avenue, occupied by several firms. Aggregate loss, about $50,000.
December 16. The Associated Alumni of the Central High School gave a reception to Dr. Edward Brooks, the Superintendent of Public Schools.
December 29. Policeman Elmer E. shot and instantly killed by Robert j. Cascadem, aged eighteen, whom he detected in the act of breaking and entering a store. Another policeman was shot in the arm by the youthful desperado, who was shot in the arm by the youthful desperado, who was, however, captured.
1892
January 28. Applegate's carrousel, or "Palace of Flying Animals" raided by the police, About 215 persons, of whom 106 were females, were arrested.
February 9. The Quaker City Elevated Railroad bill passed Councils finally. The ordinance was signed by the mayor on February 21.
February 11. Ontario Mills, Second Street and Columbia Avenue, destroyed by fire. Loss, $15,000.
February 15. Dobson's blanket mills at the Falls of Schuylkill, burned. Loss, $150,000.
February 17. The trustees of Jefferson Medical College confirmed the purchase of the ground on South Broad Street, for the new college and hospital buildings.
February 23. The directors of the newly-organized Philadelphia Bourse selected the plot of ground bounded by Fourth, fifth, Merchant and Ranstead Streets, as the site for their new building.
February 25. rev. Dr. Ignatius f. Horstmann consecrated as roman Catholic Bishop of Cleveland by Archbishop Elder of Cincinnati, at the cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, with imposing ceremonies. the attending prelates and clergymen were entertained at a dinner at the Academy of Music in the afternoon.
March 1. The will of Mrs. Anna H. Wilstach made public, It bequeathed about $2,000,000 to the city for an art-gallery, and bequests amounting in all to about $5,000,000 were made to the various charitable institutions. Permission granted by Councils to the Society of the Cincinnati to erect a monument of Washington in Independence Square. the Mayor signed the ordinance on March 10.
March 11. Greaves & Bro.'s cotton and woolen yarn factory in Nicetown destroyed by fire. Loss, $50,000. James Graves, a member of the firm, was suffocated by smoke, and died a few days later.
March 14. The steamer Hartford launched at Neafie & Levy's shipyard.
March 16. The barrel factory connected with the Spredkels sugar refinery destroyed by fire. Loss, about $200,000.
March 17. A portion of the Philadelphia Market Company's building at thirtieth and market Streets, destroyed by fire. Loss about $200,000.
March 22. The Schuetzen Park site approved by Common Councils as the best situation for the new subsiding reservoir.
March 26. John Bromley & Sons' mill, front and Lehigh Avenue, damaged by fire. Loss estimated at $375,000.
March 27. The jury in the case of Robert Cascaden, charged with the murder of Policeman Findlay, discharged, being unable to agree. Fire at H. O. Wilbur & Son's cocoa and chocolate manufactory on Third Street near New. Loss, about $175,000.
April 1. The Frankford and Southwark Passenger Railway company took possession of the Tenth and Eleventh Streets Passenger Railway.
April 3. The Mutual Banking, Surety, Trust and Safe Deposit Company closed by order of the State Commissioner of Banks.
April 5. The work of demolishing the Twelfth street Market to make room for the Reading Terminal was commenced.
April 21. The Methodist Episcopal Hospital at Broad and Wolf Streets was dedicated by Bishop Foss.
April 27. A fire which originated in the Central Theater destroyed that building, the Times newspaper office on Sansom Street above Eight Street, and several stores on Eight Street. Six performers were buried in the ruins of the theater, and seven persons in the audience were fatally injured. The loss amounted to nearly $1,000,000.
May 7. Applegate's Place of Flying Animals was destroyed by fire.
May 8. The Reading Railway in-bound freight depot, at Delaware Avenue and Noble Street, sustained about $50,000 damage by fire.
May 11. Police Captain Joseph M. Schooley committed suicide by shooting in the City Hall.
May 12. the Hammett-Souder ordinance, authorizing the Mayor to grant to the Traction Company the privilege of operating their cars by the trolley system, was passed by both branches of City Councils.
May 14. the coroner's jury which investigated the Central theater fire, found that the lease of the theater was grossly negligent in not providing sufficient means of escape.
June 26. The fast, protected cruiser, Columbia, claimed to be the most formidable war-vessel in the world, was successfully launched at Cramp's shipyard. the vessel was formally christened by Miss Edith Morton, daughter of the Vice-president of the United States.
August 3. James Hunter who for five years had been a fugitive from justice in South America, returned to Philadelphia to make answer to the charges of forgery to be made against him.
August 12. The Board of Port Wardens unanimously voted in favor of granting permission to the Belt Line Railroad Company to build its roadway along the Delaware river front at Bridesburg.
August 15. The construction of the Traction Company's electric trolley line on Catharine and Bainbridge Streets was commenced.
August 16. the officers of the Mutual Banking, Surety, Trust and Safe Deposit Company made an assignment for the benefit of creditors to A. E. Stockwell.
August 18. Stockholders of the Ridge avenue Passenger Railway Company leased the line to the Traction Company, the lease to go into effect September 1.
August 19. The construction of the Quaker City elevated railroad begun by the breaking of ground at Belmont and Elm Avenues.
September 3. The steam-yacht Yankee Doolde, which her owners claimed to be the fastest boat afloat, was destroyed by fire off Tinicum Island.
October 17. The first free public library established by the city was opened at the Wagner Institute.
1893
December 1. The old Thorton Worsteded Mills, at Tenth Street and Columbia Avenue, owned and operated by James E. Cochran & Brother, were destroyed by fire. Total loss, about $225,000.
December 11. Henry S. Cochran, ex-Chief Weigher of the Mint, who pleaded guilty to stealing gold from that institution, was sentenced in the United States District Court to seven years and seven months in the Eastern Penitentiary and t pay a fine of $1,000 and costs.
December 27. Common Council passed an ordinance reducing the price of gas to $1.00 per 1000 feet.
1894
January 10. Theodore F. Baker, paying Teller of the Consolidation National Bank, admitted to the bank officers that he had embezzled about $47,000 of the bank's funds in small sums during the last twenty years. He was committed in default of $15,000 bail to answer in the United States District Court. On January 13, Matthew J. Van Dusen, individual bookkeeper of the Consolidation national Bank was placed under arrest, charged with aiding Theodore F. Baker in embezzling its funds. Baker pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to seven years and six months in the Eastern Penitentiary on March 3. Van Dusen, on February 24, was acquitted.
February 3. George W. Childs, editor and philanthropist, died, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.
February 13. Robert Ellis Thompson, D., elected President of the Central High School.
March 14. Fire destroyed the building of Haney, White & Co., 2730-32-34 North Broad Street, and caused an estimated loss of nearly $100,000. Four horses belonging to the firm were burned to death.
March 19. Mill buildings on Huntingdon Street, extending from Palethrop to Hancock Street, were by destroyed by fire; total loss on the buildings estimated at $138,000 total insurance at $250,000.
May 20. The millinery establishment of the Julius Sichel Company was totally destroyed and the wholesale millinery stores of L. Dannenbaum & Co., were partially destroyed by fire. Loss estimated at about $350,000.
June 5. The new cruiser Minneapolis left Cramps' shipyard on her builders' trial trip, in which she showed a speed of 21.75 knots per hour.
June 13. John Kauffman, fifty-five years old, of Cramer hill, near Camden, driven to desperation through poverty, murdered his wife and three children by cutting their throats, and then ended his own life by hanging.
June 14. The terra-cotta coping of an ornamental balcony on the third-story front of the Tenth National Bank, Broad Street and Columbia Avenue, fell. One person was killed and others injured, one dangerously.
August 1. The Secretary of the Navy accepted as a site for the new Mint the property bounded by Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Spring Garden and Buttonwood Streets.
August 2. A fire in a mill building at Jefferson and Randolph Streets resulted in the suffocation of two firemen and the loss of $70,000.
August 6. Fire destroyed the pavilion and field seats of the Philadelphia Ball Park, and burned the buildings of the Omnibus Company General, a car barn of the Philadelphia Traction Co., and damaged several dwellings. Loss about $100,000.
August 7. The boiler of the American Dredging Company's steam dredging machine, Philadelphia, exploded, killing two men and injuring five others. Eleven horses were burned to death at a fire which also destroyed the stable of Stead & Murphy, 2107 East Somerset Street.
August 12. Trolley cars of the People's Traction Company began running to Mt. Airy.
September 18. Charles F. Phillips, ex-President of the Colombian, Bank, which failed in 1887, held in $10,000 bail on the charge of embezzlement.
October 4. The new annex to the Penn Asylum for indigent Widows and Single Women dedicated.
October 12. The will of Richard Smith, type-founder, authorizing the erection of a monumental arch in West Fairmount Park, at a cost not exceeding $500,000 admitted to probate.
October 16. At the first annual meeting of the Electric Traction Company, it was reported that during the year the Company had carried 41,046,346 passengers; the receipts were $1,823,562.82.
October 18. The Home for Wives and Widows of Odd Fellows, at 3519 North Seventeenth Street, was opened and dedicated.
October 20. The cornerstone of the new Central High School for boys, at Broad and Green Streets, was laid by President Sheppard.
October 24. The Bronze equestrian statue of General George B. McClellan was unveiled inn the presence of a distinguished gathering.
October 28. The shoe factory of John Mundell & Co., Thirteenth and Cherry Streets, was damaged by fire to the extent of $30,000.
October 29. Exercises commemorating the landing of William Penn were held in the public schools.
November 9. The People's Passenger Railway Co. reduced the fare to Germantown from ten to five cents.
December 8. The five-story brick building at the northwest corner of Front and Walnut Streets, damaged by fire to the extent of $35,000. The fire was of incendiary origin, and started in the factory of the Quaker City Paper Box Company, on the second floor. The Washington Hotel, on Chestnut Street above Seventh, closed its doors, being unable to meet expenses.
December 9. The agreement between the People's and Electric Traction Companies, under which free transfers are made at nearly every point where lines intersect, went into effect.
December 19. The new police and patrol station on Fairmount Avenue above Third Street, opened; the Mayor and other city officials being present.
1895
February 12. Isaac R. Sheppard sent to the Board of Education his resignation as President of that Board. The Board refused to accept it, but granted Mr. Sheppard six months' leave of absence, and elected Simon Gratz, President, pro tem
February 17. Madge Yorke, 22 years old, an actress in the "Baggage Check" Company, was shot and killed in her room at Zeisse's Hotel, by her lover, James B. Gentry, 30 years old, a member of Willie Collier's Company. Gentry, who was very drunk at the time, escaped, but afterwards arrested.
February 27. The new fire station on Fourth Street above Girard Avenue, the largest in the city, opened.
March 14. The Hotel Bellevue and the residence adjoining on Walnut Street purchased by George C. Boldt, in order to erect on the site a palatial hotel, at an estimated cost for the stricture alone of $1,500,000.
March 25. About 30,000 people assembled in and about Cramps' shipyard to witness the launch of the big American Line steamer St. Paul for the International Navigation Company. The vessel stuck on the ways owing, it is said, to the quality of the tallow furnished the builders and the launch was postponed. The funeral of ex-Mayor Richard Vaux was held.
April 12. The explosion of a gasoline stove in George Kurzschenkel's bakery, 1174 North Third Street, set fire to the clothing of Mrs. Mary Kurzschenkel, aged 27 years, and her infant son, Charles, aged 7 months, and both were burned to death.
April 15. The magnificent new house of the Mercantile Literary and Social Club, Broad Street below Jefferson, was dedicated in the presence of a large and brilliant assemblage.
April 18. The bakery of the New York Biscuit Company, on Front Street above Race, destroyed by fire. William Dreydoppel's soap factory adjoining, was badly damaged. Loss, $250,000. Five firemen were injured.
April 21. By the capsizing of a small sailboat in the Delaware, on the eastern shore of Petty's Island, Julius Haefelin, aged 18 years, his brother Ernest, aged 16 years, and John Miller, aged 16 years were drowned.
April 29. Stephen Borden, aged 45 years, and George West, aged 19, entered the Pegg's run sewer at Third and Willow Streets, to clean out a drain from John A. Duncan & Co.'s morocco factory. They were swept off their feet by the current and carried to the Delaware River. Borden was drowned, but West kept afloat, and on reaching the Delaware was saved by a tugboat.
May 28. In the suit brought in 1875 by the Ridge Avenue Passenger Railway Company against the city to recover $100,000 damages occasioned that company by certain changes of grade in the roadbed of Ridge Avenue Turnpike, made in 1873 and 1874, the referee decided in favor of the city.
June 29. The Veteran Fireman's Association dedicated its new hall at 803 North Tenth Street.
July 19. While the hose cart of Engine Company No. 18 was going to a fire upset at Nineteenth and Vine Street. Hoseman John F. Ryder was killed, and four other firemen who were riding on the cart were injured.
July 22. Leading stockholders of the People's and Electric and the Philadelphia Traction Companies agreed to consolidate and form a company with a capital of $30,000,000, a charter for which was afterwards obtained and consolidation effected, dating from October 1.
August 5. Announcement was made that arrangements had been effected for a partnership between the Baldwin Locomotive Works and the Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing Company, of Pittsburgh, for the purpose of constructing electric locomotives and electric motive power equipment, and the development of a new electric railway system.
August 13. Archbishop Ryan signed the agreement for the purchase of the Davis Farm at Fatlands, Montgomery Co., containing 184 acres for the site of the Catholic Protectory for Boys.
September 24. Fire destroyed the building No. 116 Chestnut Street, occupied by Charles J. Webb & Co., wool and yarn merchants, and all its contents. Loss estimated at $250,000.
September 29. The American Line's new steamship St. Paul sailed for the Massachusetts coast for her official trial trip. About 20,000 people inspected the vessel at Cramps' shipyard, and between $4,000 and $5,000 was received from the sale of admittance tickets.
October 1. The plant of the Horn & Brannen Company, manufacturers of gas and electric fixtures, at Broad and Willow Streets, was destroyed by fire. Loss on buildings, stock and machinery, $175,000. Fire destroyed Dingee's brick works, at Twenty -sixth and York Streets and a number of dwelling houses and stables at Twenty-seventh and Huntingdon Streets, two squares away. Loss, $80,000.
October 2. The armored cruiser, Brooklyn, was successfully launched at Cramps' shipyard. Miss Ida May Schieren, daughter of the Mayor of Brooklyn, christened the vessel. Postmaster General Wilson and Mayor Schieren were prominent among the spectators.
October 6. The lease of the Philadelphia Traction Company to the Union Traction Company was signed, and the consolidation of the Philadelphia, People's and Electric Traction systems was consummated, the Union Traction Company taking control. John R. Beetem, General Manager of the People's Traction Company, was appointed General Manager of the Union Traction Company.
October 16. Directors of the Union Traction company decided to fix the rate of fares on all lines at five cents for a straight ride, except to certain suburban points, with eight cents for exchange ticket, abolishing free transfers.
November 16. The Orphans' Court took formal possession of its new quarters in the City Hall. Addresses were delivered by Samuel C. Perkins, ex-Judge F. Carroll Brewster and Judge Hanna.
December 10. The oil-storage plant of the Crew-Levick Company at Swanson and Jackson Streets, were burned. The loss was estimated at from $50,000 to $75,000.
December 17. The strike declared against the Union Traction company by the Amalgamated association of Street Railway Employees was inaugurated. Cars were run during the morning on most of the Company's lines, especially the lines of the People's Division, where almost the regular service was maintained. Disorder and rioting began early in the morning, and was continued until late in the afternoon. Motormen were pulled from their cars windows broken and cars disabled. Mayor Warwick issued a proclamation requesting citizens to observe peace and order, and in the evening quiet was restored but no attempt being made to run cars.
December 21. Two passenger trains running in opposite directions on a single track on the Frankford branch of the Reading Railway, collided near Orthodox Street. Daniel hart, seventy years old, and George Anderson, aged sixteen, passengers on the train from Frankford were killed, and nine others were injured.
December 25. There was a tie-up on the Girard Avenue line of the Union Traction Company, because the employees who had been on strike claimed that in starting the cars early in the morning preference was given by the company to men who came here from other cites to take the strikers' places. A committee of dissatisfied employees was sent to the company's office at Eighth and Dauphin Streets, and after a conference with officials, the trouble was adjusted and cars began running regularly again early in the afternoon. Several cars in charge on non-union men were attacked by rioters, and one motorman and one conductor were wounded and several cars were wrecked. Ten men, charged with inciting to riot, were arrested near Second Street and Girard Avenue during the afternoon.
December 26. A bronze tablet inscribed "Joseph Jefferson, the actor, was born here 20th February, 1829. Here's your good health and your family's, may you all live long and prosper," was place on the house at the southwest corner of Sixth and Spruce streets.
December 31. The bourse was dedicated. Addresses were delivered by Mayor Warwick, Cyrus Borgner, chairman of the Building Committee, President George E. Bartol. Dr. William Pepper and John f. Lewis.
1896
January 4. The handsome club house of the Merion Cricket Club at Haverford, with all its contents was destroyed by fire of unknown origin. The Casino building, adjoining was also burned. The loss was estimated at $75,000, nearly covered by insurance.
January 30. The third floor of 132 South Third Street was discovered to be ablaze, and a firearm found the charred body of Dr. Alfred L. Kennedy, formerly a widely-known physician and scientist, who occupied the apartments. It is supposed the fire was caused by an explosion of chemicals with which the doctor was experimenting. he was in his seventy-eight year.
February 20. The four-story building, 36 South Second Street, owned and occupied by A. J. Widener, lamps, china and glassware, was destroyed by fire. Mr. Widener, lamps, china and glassware was destroyed by fire. Mr. Widener estimated his loss at $50,000, on which there was about $40,000 insurance.
March 9. The first train crossed the new bridge over the Delaware River. It carried President Roberts and many other officials of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
March 11. A fire in the basement of Crew, Levick & Co.'s., also tobacco dealers, 115 Arch Street, nearly $70,000 their stocks being greatly damaged by water and smoke.
March 28. The battleship Iowa was launched at Cramps' shipyards, Vice-President Stevenson, Secretary of the Navy Herbert and other distinguished men came from Washington to witness the launch.
March 31. Ira Gibson, a florist and truck farmer, residing near Woodbury, shot and killed Sallie March, proprietor of a farmers' hotel near Second and South Streets, and then fired a bullet into his own head, inflicting a mortal wound.
April 8. Trustees of the Jefferson Medical College bought the northwest corner of Tenth and Walnut Streets, 118 feet 6 inches on Walnut Street by 107 feet 5 inches on Tenth Street to Medical Street, and will erect thereon commodious hospital buildings.
April 13. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its incorporation.
April 18. The old passenger station of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at Thirty-second and Market Streets was destroyed by fire, causing a loss of nearly half a million dollars, of which more than $300.000 was on rolling stock. Assistant Chief Engineer William Staiger and Hugh McGranigan, a tillerman of Truck F., were killed, and a dozen firemen were injured by falling walls.
May 18. By the explosion of benzine, with which the contents of the parlor of 2013 North Twelfth Street had been sprinkled, preparatory to the departure of the family for the summer, Rosie Griggs was fatally burned and the house destroyed. The explosion is ascribed to spontaneous combustion.
May 30. The Garfield Monument, in Fairmount Park, was unveiled with impressive ceremonies.
June 7. The new Methodist Episcopal Church of St. Luke, at Broad and Jackson Streets, was dedicated by Bishop Foss.
June 21. Archbishop Ryan laid the cornerstone of the new Catholic Proctectory for Boys at Fatlands, Montgomery County, in the presence of about 25,000 people.
September 3. Viceroy Li Hung Chang, the Special Ambassador of the Emperor of China, spent six hours in Philadelphia.
September 23. The property of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company and the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company was sold at auction under the decree of the United States Circuit Court in the foreclosure suit brought by the trustees of the general mortgage bongs, The total of the bids was $20,500,000. The properties were purchased for the reorganization managers, represented by J. P. Morgan & Co., of New York, who were the only bidders.
November 10. The Fairmount park trolley was formally opened, a party of three hundred guests being taken over the completed portion of the line in the West park.
November 13. The battleship Iowa returned from her builders' trial trip. In a Two-hours' burst of speed the vessel averaged 16.27 knots per hour, and in other respects the runs were satisfactory.
November 17. The Philadelphia and reading Railroad Company, the successor of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, organized with Joseph S. Harris as President, and these Directors: George F. Baer, of Reading; Charles H. Coster and Francis Lynde Stetson, of New York; Thomas McKean, George C. Thomas and J. Lowber Welsh.
November 25. A sub-committee of Councils' Committee on City property agreed to recommend a plot of fifty-four acres in the Twenty-fifth Ward, fronting on the Delaware River, north of Pennsylvania Railroad's new bridge, as a site for a municipal hospital. The price asked for the property was $200,000.
December 11. Henry Macmillan's box factory, at Frankfort Avenue and Harridan Street, was almost destroyed by fire. Several adjoining properties were slightly damaged by the flames. The loss was estimated at from $15.000 to $18,000.
December 19. The revenue cutter Hugh McCullogh was launched at Cramps' shipyard.
1897
January 4. The Board of Education reorganized and elected Simon Gratz, President, and Samuel B. Huey, Vice-President.
January 26. Fire which was discovered on the basement of the grocery store of Hanscom Brothers destroyed nearly all the buildings in the block bounded by Market, Filbert, Juniper and Thirteenth Streets, including those occupied by Hirsh & Brothers, Blum Brothers, Hanscom Brothers and S. W. Dennett. The clock tower of John Wanamaker's store was burned, and only the most strenuous efforts of the firemen saved the building from destruction. The establishment of the Dunlap Printing Company sustained about $50,000 damage. The losses aggregated nearly $1,125,000 and in most cases were covered by insurance. Fire in the upholstery department of John & James Dobson's carpet warehouse caused about $50,000 damage.
February 4. The breaking of a water pipe in Lit Brothers' store damaged goods to the extent of $15,000.
February 12. A fire in the meat and provision warehouse of Swift & Co., Ninth Street and Girard Avenue, caused a loss of about $45,000 of which amount $25,000 was sustained by F. Guetekunst, who occupied the third floor as an electrotyping and photo-engraving establishment.
March 3. The large power house of the Union Traction Company, at Thirteenth and Mount Vernon Streets, was destroyed by a fire that was started, it is thought, by the chain of a traveling crane touching the armature of a generator. the roar of steam escaping from a bursted supply-pipe caused a stampede of spectators and frightened the horses attached to a chemical engine, which knocked down and fatally injured Aug. A Binder, aged 30 years, and William P. Brown, aged 26 years. A score of people were injured. About a dozen lines of street cars were blocked for almost four hours. the loss on buildings and machinery was estimated at $400,00.
March 8. The Northwest Public school building on Race Street below Fifteenth, was badly damaged by fire, the loss being estimated at from $10,000 to $15,000.
March 22. The breweries of John Roehm, Spaeth, Krautter & Hess, Welde & Thomas company, Excelsior Company, John C. Miller & Sons, and the Mutual Company, consolidated, under the title of the Consumer' company, with a capital of more than $5,000,000.
March 23. By a collision with the tugboat Asa W. Hughes, the tugboat fidget was sunk in the Delaware river, opposite Gloucester.
April 8. the new building of the Apprentices' Library company, at Broad and Brandywine Streets, was thrown open for public inspection.
May 6. Lincoln Park on the Delaware was sold at auction to ] Savage, of New York, for $4,400, subject to incumbrances aggregating $119,500.
May 15. President McKinley unveiled the Washington Monument in the presence of a vast assemblage, and the remainder of the official programme was carried out in a highly successful manner.
May 20. The bronze statue to Stephen Girard on the plaza west of the City Hall was unveiled with impressive ceremonies. James M. Beck delivered the oration. Addresses were delivered by Mayor Warwick and Governor Hastings.
June 8. The Land Title and Trust Company awarded the contract for the erection of its new 16-story building on the Southwest corner of Broad and Chestnut Streets, to be completed May 1, 1893, to Charles McCaul.
June 12. The steamboat John Ericsson, built for the Baltimore and Philadelphia Steamboat Company, was launched from Neafie & Levy's shipyard.
June 21. The National Saengerfest of the Northeastern Saengerbund opened in the new Saenger Hall, in the presence of 10,000 people. Mayor Warwick delivered an address of welcome to which Major Carl Lentz, of Newark, N.J. President of the Northeastern Saengerbund, responded. A concert concluded the day's programme.
July 5. While James Seebeth, 65 years old, was dozing on a chair in front of the club house of the William Penn Volunteer Hose Company, Girard Avenue above Frankford Avenue, a cannon cracker in his coat pocket was ignited and exploded, causing injuries which proved fatal.
July 16. Philadelphia tugboat A. R. Gray was burned to the water's edge off Andalusia while coming to this pot from New York by way of the Raritan Canal.
August 4. During a fire at the Jayne Chemical Works, Frankford, two employees and thirteen firemen were burned, some of them seriously. Several explosions of highly inflammable oil made the work among the flames exceedingly hazardous. The loss did not exceed $10,000.
August 16. William C. Wilson aged about 60 years, proprietor of Wilson's Circulating Library, 1117 Walnut Street, was brutally murdered on the first floor of his library between 6 and 7 P.M. His head was beaten into a jelly. No clue to the murderer was discovered.
September 6. Warehouses Nos. 128, 130, 132 and 134 North Delaware Avenue and Nos. 121, 123, 125 and 127 North Water Street destroyed by fire. Many firemen overcome by smoke and several injured, but none dangerously. The total loss estimated at $255,000 fully covered by insurance.
September 20. The sixtieth anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of the Boy's High School was celebrated at the school. Addresses were delivered by Dr. Robert Ellis Thompson and Professor Zephaniah Hopper, who was a member who was a member o the first graduating class.
October 2. Fire damaged the tanning and finishing works of the Quaker City Morocco Company, at Second and Oxford Streets, to the extent of $80,000.
November 12. Mayor Warwick signed the ordinance leasing the Gas Works to the United Gas Improvement Company and made public a statement giving his reasons therefor.
November 14. The Cramp Shipbuilding Company was awarded the contract for building four steamships, each 290 feet in length, for a syndicate, which chartered them to the Boston Fruit Company to be run in the West India trade.
November 18. The new building of the Kensington Hospital for Women, on Diamond Street opposite Norris Square, was formally opened.
November 28. Apt Brother's dry goods store, 39 and 41 North Eighth Street, was almost destroyed by fire. The firm estimated the value of its stock at $75,000, on which there was an insurance of more than $50,000. Adjoining properties were damaged by water. Three firemen were injured, but none seriously.
December 6. The Board of Judges filled vacancies in the Board of Education caused by the resignation of Avery D. Harrington, Second Section, and the death of A.M. Spangler, Fourteenth Section. George M. Lowrey, Secretary of the Second Sectional Board, was elected to succeed Mr. Harrington and Joel Cook to succeed Mr., Spangler.
December 11. Fire of unknown origin destroyed the building of John & James Dobson, carpet manufacturers and retailers, on Chestnut Street above Eighth. Falling walls and water damaged the building and stock of Sharpless Brothers, adjoining on the east, and the building of the Commonwealth Title and Trust Company and the establishment of William H. Hoskins on the west. The total loss was estimated at $750,000 fully covered by insurance.
December 15. The building at 1025 Market Street, owned by ex-Judge Hare, and occupied by Conway Bros., dealers in novelties, china and glassware; Gately & Fitzgerald, dealers in installment goods, Henry J. Bartle, manufacturer of blank books, and F.W. Klinger, manufacturer of leather goods, was badly damaged by fire, the total loss being about $75,000. A fireman came in contact with an electric light wire and was hurled to the pavement from the fifth floor, sustaining dangerous injuries. Three other firemen were severely injured and one was overcome by smoke. The road jury in the case of the projected League Island Park, Bounded by Eleventh and Twentieth Streets, Pattison and Government Avenues, filed its report, awarding $399,670 to property owners who claimed $1,502,529.
December 20 George D. Widener was elected President of the Philadelphia Traction Company, to succeed the late D.W. Dickson. The Chestnut Street National Bank, of which William M. Singerly was President, was closed for business and put in the hand of United States Bank Examiner Hardt. The publicity announced cause of the closing was an impairment of the capital. The capital was $500,000 and surplus $150,000.
December 24. The Chestnut Street trust and Saving Fund Company made an assignment for the benefit of creditors to George H. Earle, Jr., and Richard Y. Cook.
December 30. The number of school children in this city between the ages of 6 and 16 years was reported by the Real Estate Assessors as 196, 375.
1898
January 3. At the annual meeting of the Board of Education, Samuel B. Huey was chosen President, to succeed Simon Gratz, who declined a renomination and Henry r. Edmund's was elected Vice-President.
January 14. The Trustees of the Northern Liberties Gas Works announced a reduction in the price of gas from $1.25 to $1 per 1,000 cubic feet.
January 29. George F. Ott's copper, brass finishing and machine works sustained $100,000 damage by fire.
February 1. The Union Traction Company took possession of the property of the Hestonville, Mantua and Fairmount Passenger Railway Company.
February 16. the steamer Ericsson, of the Galtimore and Philadelphia Steamship Company (Ericsson Line) was capsized by the high wind in the Delaware River near Wilmington, and sunk. Her sixty passengers ere rescued by the tug Laura B.
February 18. E. L. Beeler, who is said to have escaped from the County Prison in 1867, after serving one month in a five years' term, was arrested at the Betz Building, where he had gone to appear as a witness in a proceeding in which a well-known politician as contractor who married Beeler's wife in 1882, sought divorce.
February 20. Fire destroyed the barrel factory of Christopher Koch, at McKean and Swanson Streets, causing about $14,000 damages, on which there was $11,000 insurance. Six horses were suffocated.
February 21. A freight engine jumped from the track at Beach and Ball Streets, stove a hole through a thirty-inch wall of Cramps' machine shop, and, falling over, crushed Engineer Isaac Quigley.
March 3. The Seventh National Bank, at Fourth and Market Streets, went into voluntary liquidation, and transferred its business to the Fourth Street National Bank which several months before absorbed the National Bank of the Republic.
April 9. The Commercial National Bank was leased to the Atlantic City Railroad Company, controlled by the Reading Railway Company.
April 23. Mines were placed in the Delaware River, near Fort Delaware, under the direction of Major C. W. Raymond, United States Engineer, to increase the effectiveness of the system of defences. They were removed at the end of the war.
May 9. The Philadelphia tug-boat Thomas G. Smith foundered off the Delaware Capes. Her captain and crew were rescued by a schooner.
May 11. A fire destroyed the toy and fancy goods store of McCadden bros., 619 Market Street, and a number of adjoining buildings were badly damaged by fire and water, and caused a loss of $200,000. Three persons, William McCadden, aged 58 year; Charles S. Richardson, 35 years, and Evelyn G. Caldwell, were burned to death.
May 13. The old monitor Jason was placed in commission at League Island.
May 18. The battleship Alabama was launched at Cramps' shipyard at 12.49 P.M. Miss Mary E. Morgan, daughter of the Alabama Senator, christened the battleship. Only a few persons, mainly members of congress and naval officers, were present, owing to a request for privacy from the Government.
May 27. The gunboat Princeton was placed in commission at League Island.
June 18. On her builders' trail trip the Japanese cruiser Kasagi, built at Cramps' yard, made twenty-three knots an hour, half a knot more than her contact called for.
June 22. The Public Buildings Commission agreed to contract with the Johnson Temperature Regulator Company, of Milwaukee, for a tower clock for the City Hall, for $27,960.
June 25. fire destroyed the oilcloth manufactory of Thomas Potter Sons & Co., causing a loss of half a million dollars.
June 30. the John Dickinson Square, at Fourth and Tasker Streets, which had been equipped as a public playground under the auspices of the Culture Extension League, was formally opened.
July 10. The five-story brick factory building, at the northwest corner of Diamond and American Streets owned by Thomas J. Holton and John Shoemaker, was destroyed by fire. The Philadelphia Linen Company, Champion Machine Company, Olner, Lupton & Company (Women's coatings), and the Franklin Silk Mills, carried on business in the burned structure, and each sustained a heavy loss. The total damage was about $100,000.
July 12. The Board of Education elected J. Monroe Willard, principle of the Normal School for Girls, and Andrew J. Morrison to succeed Mr. Willard as principal of the Northeast manual Training School.
August 7. Over 100 survivors of Picketts's division of Confederates soldiers arrived in the city from Richmond, Virginia, and attended a Low Mass at the Cathedral, where Archbishop Ryan presided and made an address. the sermon was preached by the Rev. James F. Loughlin, D.D. In the afternoon they were taken to Washington Park.
August 20. A yawl, in which there were there were five young men, was run down by the Wilmington Line steamer Brandywine, at the mouth of Schuylkill, and three occupants of the small boat were drowned. They were
Harry J. B. Smith, aged 22; James Barr, 20; James G. Lynch, 21. Hugh Coyle and James Bradley were rescued.
August 22. The auxiliary cruiser St. Louis arrived from New York to be restored to her former condition, so that she might resume her trip between New York and Southampton.
August 31. The auxiliary cruisers Yosemite and Yankee, and the monitor Jason, arrived at League Island.
September 8. The officers and crew of the Japanese cruiser Kasagi, nearing completion at Cramps' arrived from Japan and took up quarters on the vessel.
September 11. What is believed to have been an explosion of gasoline in the grocery store of Samuel Scottenstein, 1444 South Street, caused the destruction of that and the two adjoining stores and dwellings, the loss of five lives and injuries to sixteen persons.
September 13. Peter Schemm, the brewer, committed suicide by jumping from the Goat Island bridge into the rapids at Niagara Falls.
September 17. Fire of unknown origin destroyed the four-story grain and storage warehouse of J.T. O'Rourke & Co., 2229-33 America Street, causing a loss of $40,000, on which there were $27,000 insurance.
October 4. The will of colonel Joseph M. Bennett, deposited with the Register of Wills, contained a bequest of the Chestnut Street Opera House and adjoining properties, as well as three properties at Thirty-fourth and Walnut Streets, to the University of Pennsylvania to aid in the co-education of women and girls. Colonel Bennett made a number of bequests to relatives and friends, gave 2,000 each to five charitable institutions, and devised his large residuary estate to the Methodist Orphanage. The will was contested by Imogene E. Bennett-Wellens, whom he refused to recognize as his daughter.
October 24. The Admiral Schley, one of the four vessels being built for the American Mail Steamship Company, was launched from Cramps' shipped The cruiser Kasagi was transferred by her builders, the Cramps, to Japanese Government.
November 23. John W. Keely, inventor of the Keely Motor, was buried at West Laurel Hill.
December 9. Harmonie Hall, Eleventh and Brandywine Streets, owned by the Harmonie Singing Society, was damaged by fire to the extent of $40,000
1899
January 2. The Board of Education reorganized and re-elected Samuel B. Huey, President; Henry R. Edmunds, Vice-President, and Andrew F. Hammond, secretary.
January 9. An illicit whisky still, between fifty and sixty gallons of whisky, and fourteen barrels of mash, were seized in an establishment on Germantown Ave. below Venango Street. Four alleged proprietors were arrested and held in bail for a hearing.
February 3. A fire which started in the building at the northwest corner of Thirteen and Hamilton Streets, occupied by William S. Cooper, manufacturer of brass goods, destroyed that structure and the Stewart Building, extending from Hamilton Street to the Reading Railway crossing on Thirteen Street. This building was occupied by the Stewart Cracker Company, the DeKosenko Manufacturing Company, makers of gas and electric fixtures; P. P. Mast & Co., agricultural implements; B. Hooley & Townsend, Machinists, and the lithographers' establishment of Hoover & Co., 450 North Thirteenth Street, were also damaged. The total loss was estimated at $465,000. One fireman was slightly injured by a falling wall.
February 4. T.B. Rice's box factory, near Miffin Street Wharf, Delaware River, was damaged by fire to the extent of $ 75,000.
February 15. The keel plate for the new battleship Maine was laid at Cramps' shipyard on the anniversary of the destruction of the Maine in the harbor of Havana.
February 16. Fire destroyed the three building, 1224,1226 and 1228 Market Street, and the parochial building of St. John's Roman Catholic Church. The total loss was estimated at $7000,000 of which 320,000 was on the drug house of William R. Warner & Co., 1228 Market Street, and $245,000 on N0. 1226, owned by John Wanamaker and occupied as a laundry upholstering establishment, and for the storage of carpets, etc. Fernberger Bros.' liquor store, N0. 1230 Market Street, was badly damaged, as was the Emerson Shoe Store, No. 1224.
February. 17. More than two hours after it was believed that the fire at thirteenth and Market Streets was under control, Hugh Duffy, aged 45 years; William J. Chance, aged 25 years, and George W. Steinte, aged 35 years, horsemen, were killed by the fall of floors of the building, 1224 Market Street. Eight other fireman were injured, but not dangerously. At five o'clock in the morning it was found that St. John's Roman Catholic Church was on fire, and despite the utmost efforts of the fire department it was damaged to the extent it was estimated, of $60,000. Several valuable paintings were saved.
February 19. Fire in the spinning department of George Campbell & Co.'s Continental Worsted Mills, Twenty-first and Ellsworth Streets, caused about $25,000 damage, covered by insurance.
February 23. Stockholders of the Camden and Philadelphia Steamboat Ferry Company and the West Jersey Ferry Company voted in favor of the adoption of a joint agreement of consolidation and merger of the two companies, both of which are controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
March 13. The charter of the Philadelphia Proctectory for Boys, of which Archbishop Ryan and a number of Roman Catholic clergymen were incorporators, was approved by President Judge Biddle, of Court No. 1. The plant of the Charles Scott Spring company, manufacturers of car springs, occupying about one-half the block bounded by Germantown Avenue. Hancock, Mascher, and Pollard Streets, was destroyed by fire. The loss was estimated at $90,000.
March 16. George C. Boldt purchased the minority interest in the Hotel Stratford, and announced his purpose to erect on its site a hotel of a design similar to that of the Waldorf-Astoria, New York City.
April 4. The Ward Line steamer Mexico was successfully launched at Cramps' shipyard.
April 5. As to the right of the Board of Education to select school sites, the City Solicitor declared that its discretion in such matters is not in any manner under the control of any other body whatsoever; not can such power and duty so imposed by law upon it be by it delegated to others.
April 10. A jury was obtained and the taking of testimony was begun in the trial of ex-United States Senator Quay on charges of conspiracy with the late John S. Hopkins, cashier of the People's Bank, to misuse State moneys on deposit in that institution.
April 21. M. S. Quay was acquitted by the jury in the Court of Quarter session of the charge of conspiracy under the indictment upon which he was tried.
April 27. The heroic bronze equestrian statue of General Grant, erected at Fountain Green by the Fairmount Park Art Association, was unveiled by Miss Rosemary Sartoris, a granddaughter of the General, in the presence of a distinguished assemblage, including President McKinley, Mrs. U. S. Grant, General F. D. Grant, General Miles, members of the Cabinet, Governor Stone and officers of the Army and Navy.
May 3. Fire destroyed the clothing store of Bacharach & Co., which covered the triangular block bounded by ridge Avenue, and Thirteenth, Green and Mount Vernon Streets. Sixteen buildings on Thirteenth Street, five on green Street and three on Ridge Avenue were damaged by the flames. A number of firemen were overcome by the intense heat or injured, but none fatally. The total loss was estimated at about $150,000.
June 9. A. J. Cassette was elected President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at a special meeting, to succeed the late Frank Thompson. James McCrea, of Pittsburgh, was chosen a Director to fill the vacancy caused by Mr. Thompson's death.
June 14. The statue of Benjmanin Franklin, erected on the South plaza of the Post Office building as a gift to the city by Justus C. Strawbridge, was unveiled by Miss Margaret Hartman Bache. Postmaster General Smith made the speech of presentation, and Mayor Ashbridge accepted the memorial for the city.
June 19. Eight or ten masked men entered the office of the Fairmount Park Transportation company, near Belmont, after the cars had ceased running for the night, and after overpowering the receiver and five other employee's, whose hands and feet they bound with wire, threatening them with death if they resisted or made any noise, force opened the safe with powder or dynamite, and abstracted $3,355.57, the receipts of Saturday and Sunday, with which they escaped. The robbers took the precaution of cutting telephone wires. Three men were arrested in the Park on suspicion of being implicated in the robber, and were held for a further hearing.
June 22. fire destroyed the storehouse and baldly damaged the factory building of the glazed kid works of Charles J. Matthews & Co., northwest corner willow and American Streets. Two factory buildings at 209 and 211 willow Street were slightly damaged by the flames. Loss was estimated at $50,000.
July 1. The New York Ship Building Company purchased the property of the Manufacturers' Land and Improvement Company, in south Camden, above Newton Creek, and commenced the erection of its big plant.
July 27. The Board of Education removed its executive offices to the City Hall.
August 22. While Harney R. Ward, a Bustleton plumber, was repairing an iron pump in the basement of the Lower Dublin Baptist Church, the pump came in contact with an overhead iron gas pipe, which seems to have been charged with electricity. Ward was killed by the shock, and a fellow workman was severely stunned.
August 26. Gill & Co.'s glass works, East York and Thompson Streets where, destroyed by fire. The loss is estimated at between $75,000 and $100,000, partly covered by insurance.
August 28. The battleship Alabama left Cramps' shipyard on her builders' trial trip.
September 2. Five vessels of the North Atlantic Squadorn the battleships Indiana, Massachusetts and Texas, and the cruisers New York and Brooklyn — anchored in the Delaware River.
September 5. Thousands of persons viewed the electric illumination of the vessels of Admiral Sampson's squadron.
September 8. Encampment week was practically ended with the naval parade, which was a most successful and imposing demonstration. A long line of crowded river craft passed in review around the ships of the North Atlantic squadron, and to the firing of cannon and screeching of steam whistles was added the cheering of many thousands of people afloat and ashore.
September 12. by a vote of 26 to 9 the Board of Education adopted the report of its Committee on Property recommending that the lot at Twenty-eight and Huntington Streets, selected by Councils as a school site, be purchased, if the owner will accept $22,000 instead of $25,000 the price first asked.
September 19. The Board of Education Property Committee was advised by William D. Price that he is willing to accept the Board's offer of $22,000 for the lot at Twenty-eighth and Huntingdon Streets, on condition that settlement be made as of January 2d last, when the ordinance for the purchase was signed by the Mayor. The lot was accepted, and settlement left to the City Solicitor.
September 27. The building 1707 and 1709 Filbert Street, occupied by the Reliance Storage Company, and the one adjoining, 1711 Filbert Street, were damaged by fire to the extent of about $70,000.
September 29. The matter of the purchase of a school site at Twenty-eighth and Huntingdon Streets again came before the Board of Education, the owner having requested that body to adopt a resolution accepting the ground for $22,000 and accrued interest and taxes from January 2d, amounting to $1,200.
October 12. Some four hundred representatives of trade and commerce from every quarter of the globe, members of the Diplomatic corps and National, State and municipal officials, were present at the opening of the International Commercial Congress, at the National Export Exposition.
October 14. Harmonie Hall, Eleventh and Brandywine Streets, dedicated.
October 19. Select Council adopted a resolution instructing Congressmen and members of the Legislature to vote and work for the repeal of the Civil Service Reform laws.
November 29. A fire which started in the stores of Partridge & Richardson, Eighth Street above Market, destroyed those buildings, the establishments of J. B. Lippincott Company, publishers, Filbert Street below Eighth, and Partridge & Son, and Bailey & Co., Eighth Street below Filbert, and damaged the stores of Lit Brothers, Strawbridge & Clothier, P. T. Hallahan, P. J. Hallahan, H. Mosebach & Sons, Samuel D. Long, F.W. Bean & Co., Artman & Treichler, and others. The total loss was estimated at $1,250,000. Eight firemen were injured, but none dangerously. Nearly 2,000 persons were deprived of employment.
December 4. The Board of Judges appointed James Pollock as a member of the Fairmount Park Commission to succeed the late James McManus.
December 7. P. A. B. Widener purchased thirty-six acres of land, fronting on Old York Road, near Logan Station on which he established the Widener Industrial Home for Crippled Children. Mr. Widener spent $2,000,000 in improving the property and endowing the institution. An ordinance was introduced in City Councils, and subsequently passed, to strike from the city plan streets which would intersect the tract.
December 29. It was learned that the recently announced gift of $250,000 to the University of Pennsylvania was from the estate of H. H. Houston, who shortly before he died contributed a like sum to the same institution.
