In The Cradle of Industry and Liberty

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@ Frankford Arsenal in Bridesburg, 1970s aerial view. Opened in 1816 on twenty acres, the Frankford Arsenal eventually expanded to almost 100 acres and at times employed as many as 22,000 workers. It closed in 1977. In this photo, the Arsenal is framed by Frankford Creek and the Delaware River on the right, Interstate 95 on the left, and Bridge Street running from left to lower right in the foreground. Adjacent to the Arsenal are two chemical companies: Allied Chemical, whose smokestacks are visible at lower left, and Rohm & Haas, located across Frankford Creek on the right. HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. NATIONAL COMPANIES AND FEDERAL FACILITIES In addition to homegrown firms, Philadelphia hosted the manufacturing operations of several national companies beginning in the early twentieth century. General Electric had a major presence in Philadelphia for almost a century, while its main competitor, Westinghouse, had plants just outside the city. GE built the Electric Switchgear Building on North Seventh Street in Callowhill in 1916 to make electrical transmission equipment. Then in the early 1920s it built a huge plant at Sixty-eighth and Elmwood Streets in Southwest Philadelphia. At the latter facility GE employed up to 7,000 workers who made high-voltage switching and circuit breaker devices from 1924 until the plant closed in 2002. The GE plants were part of an important new development in manufacturing in the early twentieth century: the shift from steam to electric power. Just as the introduction of the high-powered steam engine had revolutionized manufacturing in the early nineteenth century, so too would the availability a century later of electric power transmitted by wire from remote power stations. Many Philadelphia industries converted to electric power in this period, often using equipment manufactured in the city. In the paint business, the DuPont Company took over the Harrison Brothers factory on the Schuylkill River in Grays Ferry in 1917 and operated a research and development plant on the site until closing it in 2009. The entire Schuylkill River area from University City south to where the Schuylkill empties into the Delaware River was home to a concentration of chemical firms and oil refineries through the twentieth century. Some of these industries continue to operate on the lower Schuylkill to this day. Philadelphia’s two arsenals, Frankford and Schuylkill, continued operating at their original locations into the late twentieth century, but the Navy Yard had outgrown its Southwark facility by the end of the Civil War. In 1868 the federal government purchased League Island from the City of Philadelphia, an 800-acre island at the confluence of the IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBERTY 76
@ Clockwise, starting from the top: This c. 1905 photo shows one of the dry docks under construction at the Philadelphia Navy Yard at League Island at the southern edge of the city. The U.S. Navy moved to League Island in 1876 and built ships, aircraft, and other equipment there until it decommissioned the Navy Yard in 1996. PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Another Delaware River island at the southern tip of Philadelphia, Hog Island, also figured prominently during World War I. Hog Island was taken over by the federal government in 1917 for conversion to a military vessel assembly complex for the War. Construction of the facility began in December 1917 and was completed in spring 1918, by which time Hog Island employed over 35,000 workers and was the largest shipyard in the world. Vessels were assembled rather than constructed at the facility; their components were manufactured elsewhere and put together at Hog Island. The huge facility was short-lived, however. World War I The Navy also operated an aircraft factory at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Here male and female employees work on the undercarriage of an aircraft bomber in 1942. PHILADELPHIA RECORD PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. A National Guardsman stands on duty at the gate to the Schuylkill Arsenal in Grays Ferry in this undated early twentieth-century photo. Founded in 1799 and renamed the Quartermaster Corps Philadelphia Depot in 1926, the Schuylkill Arsenal made military clothing and textiles for over 150 years before closing in the 1960s. PHILADELPHIA WAR PHOTOGRAPH COMMITTEE COLLECTION, HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers at the southern tip of the city, for conversion to a new navy yard. By 1876 the move to the new facility was complete and the Southwark yard was closed. A series of dry docks were built beginning in 1891 at the new facility, which focused primarily on reconditioning or scrapping existing vessels until World War I, when it began an active program of building new ships. During the latter period, the Navy’s first and only propeller manufacturing facility was built at the Navy Yard. Ship building continues on the site, but League Island as a separate land mass has long since disappeared, the area having been filled in over time and connected to the mainland. CHAPTER FOUR 77
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IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBER
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IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBER
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CONTENTS 4 FOREWORD 6 ACKNOWLEDGEME
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@ Michael A. Nutter, Former Mayor,
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For the historical images that enli
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This is a history of manufacturing
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While other manufacturing centers w
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@ Above: Workers at Midvale Steel p
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aircraft that dates to the earliest
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would hold into the early nineteent
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technology, transportation, and com
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age had joined the Religious Societ
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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: she writes of the sad circumstances
Page 81 and 82: BEER AND TOBACCO Beer making contin
Page 83 and 84: MILK AND ICE CREAM Like any major c
Page 85 and 86: 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
Page 91 and 92: into countless lunchboxes throughou
Page 93 and 94: hangar space in 1980 at Northeast P
Page 95 and 96: is the nation’s largest manufactu
Page 97 and 98: fuel for local industries, current
Page 99 and 100: centralize operations in the buildi
Page 101 and 102: BOOKS AND ARTICLES Bridenbaugh, Car
Page 103 and 104: Sutcliffe, Andrea J. Steam: The Unt
Page 105 and 106: Penrose, Bartholomew & Thomas shipy
Page 107 and 108: PARTNERS IN BUILDING PHILADELPHIA H
Page 109 and 110: @ Left: An early Kingsbury advertis
Page 111 and 112: PARTNERS IN BUILDING PHILADELPHIA 1
Page 113 and 114: Aerodynamics. The name DeVal was a
Page 115 and 116: packaging and shipping; and nondest
Page 117 and 118: Another step in product advancement
Page 119 and 120: PHILLY CASE From the basement of a
Page 121 and 122: Under Yost’s direction, The Rowla
Page 123 and 124: The story of Tioga Pipe is a classi
Page 125 and 126: neighborhood. The increased product
Page 127 and 128: 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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