In The Cradle of Industry and Liberty

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@ Above: Aerial view of Cramp Shipyard on the Delaware River in lower Kensington, 1892. One of Philadelphia’s largest employers, Cramp was at this location from the 1840s to the 1940s, employing some 6,000 workers at its height. INDEPENDENCE SEAPORT MUSEUM, PHILADELPHIA. Below: Women workers trimming hats at the John B. Stetson hat factory in Kensington, c. 1910. Founded in 1865, Stetson grew to be the largest hat manufacturer in the world, with 5,400 employees. JOHN B. STETSON COMPANY POSTCARDS, LIBRARY COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA. and others that employed thousands of workers and were world leaders in their industries. Entire neighborhoods grew up around these companies, which anchored their communities and provided employment for generations of families. Such huge companies were really just the more visible faces of Philadelphia industry, however; the city’s real strength, as previously noted, was in the overall diversity of its manufacturers and the variety of products they made. Philadelphia was well positioned to support such a diverse manufacturing base. With an abundance of natural resources in its surrounding areas, fairly easy access by water to the important trading centers of the Atlantic world, a strategic central location on the American eastern seaboard, and a large and varied workforce continually strengthened by a steady stream of immigrants, Philadelphia had all the ingredients for intense industrial development. The city’s merchants and industrialists, demonstrating what one historian aptly calls “a vigorous spirit of enterprise,” forged these assets into a dynamic, multi-faceted economy in which manufacturing flourished. Of course, these mercantile and industrial entrepreneurs also had to contend with larger adverse forces such as wars, recessions and depressions, changing government policies, and constantly evolving public tastes and habits of consumption. In later years, labor and environmental issues and changing urban demographics became major factors as well. But for nearly a century and a half, from the early 1800s to the mid-1900s, thousands of Philadelphia manufacturers large and small were able to navigate these challenges successfully. In so doing they developed the city into one of the world’s foremost industrial centers. Ultimately larger adverse forces became too great in the late twentieth century and manufacturing declined precipitously in Philadelphia, as it did in most northern American cities. At the height of Philadelphia’s industrial power in the early 1950s, some 365,600 workers were engaged in manufacturing in the city, over 45 percent of its private sector workforce. As of 2014 there were only 23,000 city workers in manufacturing, just over 4 percent of total private sector employment. The huge “smokestack” industries of the past have largely been replaced by smaller, more specialized firms, often high-tech in nature. The city does still have several largescale manufacturers, however, primarily in transportation equipment and parts, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and food processing. While much smaller, the metropolitan area’s manufacturing sector is not insignificant. Manufacturing in the broader elevencounty Philadelphia region (including the surrounding counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware) accounted for some $105 billion in annual output in 2013. IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBERTY 12
@ Above: Workers at Midvale Steel plant in Nicetown, undated photo, probably early twentieth century. Midvale was one of Philadelphia’s largest manufacturers at the turn of the twentieth century, employing over 7,000 workers. MIDVALE COLLECTION, HISTORICAL & INTERPRETIVE COLLECTIONS OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, PHILADELPHIA. Left: In this c. 1912 photo, passengers board a streetcar made for the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company by J. G. Brill Company in Southwest Philadelphia. Brill was then the largest streetcar manufacturer in the world. J. G. BRILL COMPANY PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER ONE 13
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 and 12: This is a history of manufacturing
Page 13: While other manufacturing centers w
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
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through exploitation of their worke
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@ Left: Yard locomotives at Midvale
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among the largest in the world at t
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factory nearby. This became the lar
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she writes of the sad circumstances
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@ 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
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and a half later from a city of man
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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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