In The Cradle of Industry and Liberty

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@ Above: Harrison Brothers chemical plant on the Schuylkill River in Grays Ferry, 1888. John Harrison began making paint in Northern Liberties in the 1790s and the company moved to Grays Ferry in 1863. It remained a family-run Philadelphia firm until it was purchased by DuPont in 1917. HEXAMER GENERAL SURVEYS, MAP COLLECTION, FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA. Bottom, left and right: Cotton mills and carpet factories were key industries in Philadelphia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, when the city was the largest textile manufacturing center in the world. In these photos, workers tend machines at (left) an unidentified early twentieth-century cotton mill and (right) Hardwick & Magee carpet mill at Sixth Street and Lehigh Avenue in Kensington in 1925. PHILADELPHIA COMMERCIAL MUSEUM COLLECTION, PENNSYLVANIA STATE ARCHIVES. instruments, pharmaceuticals, food products, leather, chemicals, petroleum, paints and varnishes, glass, cutlery, paper, jewelry, and boots and shoes. These are just the industries in which Philadelphia was a major world producer; a full list of items manufactured in large quantities in the city over the years would fill many pages. This amazing variety of products was produced in a wide range of settings, from huge industrial plants to factories of various sizes to small shops. Philadelphia did have massive “fully integrated” companies that controlled all steps in the manufacturing process, but more often than not products made in the city went through several smaller companies in the course of their production, with each firm specializing in a particular aspect of the process. A textile piece could start out as cotton or wool fibers that were spun by one company, woven by another, cut in a third, dyed in yet another, and finished in a final one. Likewise, a metal part could be fabricated in one factory and sent across town to another to become part of a ship or a streetcar. This is another defining characteristic of manufacturing in Philadelphia: a sector comprised not primarily of industrial giants, although the city had its share of those, but of a vast, inter-connected web of specialty companies, large and small, that collectively produced a huge output of finished products. Related to its high percentage of specialized industries is the city’s longstanding tradition of making high-quality custom products rather than mass producing cheaper goods. IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBERTY 10
While other manufacturing centers were known for large-scale production of standardized lesser-quality goods, Philadelphia was known for its specialty companies and its skilled workforce that made a wide variety of high-quality products, from fine clothing to precision medical instruments to specialized tools and machine parts. Many of these companies were family-owned and operated firms rather than publicly traded corporations, often remaining in the family through multiple generations. Philadelphia’s high percentage of such family firms is yet another defining characteristic of its manufacturing history. The wide range of its manufacturers notwithstanding, certain industries grew to be especially large and important in Philadelphia and came to be closely identified with the city. Among these were textiles, iron and steel, ship and locomotive building, and food processing. In certain industries, such as textiles and metal working, it was the sheer number and range of sizes of companies that is striking. There were some 700 individual textile companies and 660 metal working shops in Philadelphia around the turn of the twentieth century, for example. Some were quite large, with thousands of employees, but most were much smaller, employing anywhere from a few to a few hundred workers. For most people, Philadelphia’s storied manufacturing history is best represented by the handful of industrial giants it produced: iconic firms such as Baldwin Locomotive, Cramp Shipyard, Stetson Hat, Disston Saw, @ Above: The Bridesburg Machine Works of Alfred Jenks & Son, 1856. Jenks was a longtime family-run firm in Bridesburg that manufactured specialty cotton and woolen machinery. LIBRARY COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA. Below: Two of Philadelphia’s major nineteenth-century iron founders are shown in this 1856 print: I. P. Morris & Company on the Delaware River in Port Richmond and Merrick & Sons Southwark Foundry at Fifth Street and Washington Avenue in Southwark. LIBRARY COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA. CHAPTER ONE 11
Page 1 and 2: IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBER
Page 3 and 4: IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBER
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS 4 FOREWORD 6 ACKNOWLEDGEME
Page 7 and 8: @ Michael A. Nutter, Former Mayor,
Page 9 and 10: For the historical images that enli
Page 11: This is a history of manufacturing
Page 15 and 16: @ Above: Workers at Midvale Steel p
Page 17 and 18: aircraft that dates to the earliest
Page 19 and 20: would hold into the early nineteent
Page 21 and 22: technology, transportation, and com
Page 23 and 24: age had joined the Religious Societ
Page 25 and 26: Philadelphians lived in the city’
Page 27 and 28: “and many boats, which are useful
Page 29 and 30: Quaker merchant Thomas Masters purc
Page 31 and 32: INDUSTRY INVENTORS Manufacturers in
Page 33 and 34: Quaker upbringing. Known as the “
Page 35 and 36: MAKING A CASE FOR AMERICAN MANUFACT
Page 37 and 38: up cotton manufacturing operations
Page 39 and 40: After receiving a patent for the en
Page 41 and 42: The Globe Mill on the Cohocksink Cr
Page 43 and 44: @ Opposite: Detail from 1849 map sh
Page 45 and 46: of the town’s total population. S
Page 47 and 48: On a positive note, a group of Fran
Page 49 and 50: factories with a powerful energy so
Page 51 and 52: and flagship for Commodore Matthew
Page 53 and 54: @ Left: Penn Steam Engine & Boiler
Page 55 and 56: Garrett & Eastwick Locomotive Works
Page 57 and 58: seen. The episode brought Hagner co
Page 59 and 60: United States, the nation’s de-fa
Page 61 and 62: The turn of the twentieth century p
Page 63 and 64:
in various categories at the Centen
Page 65 and 66:
makers, 20 stove manufacturers, 12
Page 67 and 68:
and lace, in which Kensington manuf
Page 69 and 70:
through exploitation of their worke
Page 71 and 72:
@ Left: Yard locomotives at Midvale
Page 73 and 74:
among the largest in the world at t
Page 75 and 76:
factory nearby. This became the lar
Page 77 and 78:
she writes of the sad circumstances
Page 79 and 80:
@ Clockwise, starting from the top:
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BEER AND TOBACCO Beer making contin
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MILK AND ICE CREAM Like any major c
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the Philadelphia Phillies. Located
Page 87 and 88:
and a half later from a city of man
Page 89 and 90:
After major cutbacks in the auto in
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into countless lunchboxes throughou
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hangar space in 1980 at Northeast P
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is the nation’s largest manufactu
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fuel for local industries, current
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centralize operations in the buildi
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BOOKS AND ARTICLES Bridenbaugh, Car
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Sutcliffe, Andrea J. Steam: The Unt
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Penrose, Bartholomew & Thomas shipy
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PARTNERS IN BUILDING PHILADELPHIA H
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@ Left: An early Kingsbury advertis
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PARTNERS IN BUILDING PHILADELPHIA 1
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Aerodynamics. The name DeVal was a
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packaging and shipping; and nondest
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Another step in product advancement
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PHILLY CASE From the basement of a
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Under Yost’s direction, The Rowla
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The story of Tioga Pipe is a classi
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neighborhood. The increased product
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Humphrys is one of the oldest manuf
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The Doherty brothers realized, to s
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Centrally located off the Pennsylva
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Jersey and Delaware. Outgrowing the
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Philadelphia is famous for its appr
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injection molded plastic to enter t
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had expanded from smaller pieces fo
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for many years and they know the fi
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furnace as well as a custom flame h
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and Salmon Streets. The company wou
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The company capitalized on the stra
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discharges. The supercapacitors are
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products that are custom designed t
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Today manufacturing matters, now mo
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LEADERSHIP SPONSORS Historical Publ
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