In The Cradle of Industry and Liberty

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tanneries and slaughterhouses in the 1730s to the Fairmount Park Commission demolishing factories along the Wissahickon Creek and Schuylkill River in the 1870s to protect the city’s water supply to the current work of a host of regional environmental groups. Striking the appropriate balance between the needs of industries that must impact natural resources to operate profitably and residents who want safe, healthy environments in which to live and work has often been difficult. Air and water pollution and ground contamination from industry have been ongoing problems in many parts of the city, particularly in communities such as in Southwest Philadelphia, Bridesburg, and Port Richmond, where oil refineries, chemical companies, and gas works have been concentrated over the years. The Schuylkill River presents a revealing case study of the impact of competing agendas on the landscape. The section of the river above Center City where industries were removed in the nineteenth century is one of Philadelphia’s most picturesque and popular recreation areas, while large parts of the lower Schuylkill in Southwest Philadelphia have long been an industrial no man’s land of chemical plants and oil refineries. Efforts to reclaim once heavily industrial areas along the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers for public enjoyment have intensified in recent years, with public and private groups working to create attractive riverfront trails along these waterways. Negotiating the often competing agendas of industry and the environment will continue to be a challenge, especially as Philadelphia seeks to become a major energy hub in the early twenty-first century. PHILADELPHIA AS ENERGY HUB A number of Philadelphia business leaders and government agencies are actively working to develop the city as an international energy hub. Spearheaded by Philip Rinaldi, CEO of Philadelphia Energy Solutions, which owns the city’s two oil refineries, these efforts seek to build on Philadelphia’s long history and established infrastructure for oil refining and chemical processing to have Pennsylvania’s large deposits of natural gas, as well as fuel sources from other areas, transported to the city for processing, use in local industry, or export. Just as in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when huge quantities of coal were shipped to Philadelphia from north and west of the city to be exported or serve as IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBERTY 94
fuel for local industries, current city leaders envision Philadelphia as a hub once again for the raw energy materials that power industry. If successful, these efforts have the potential to spur a major revival of manufacturing in Philadelphia and re-establish the city as an important industrial center. Manufacturers will gravitate to Philadelphia where energy sources are cheaper and more reliable, proponents of the plan argue, and industry will flourish in the city once again. There are many hurdles to overcome in bringing this vision to reality: infrastructure must be built or upgraded, safety and environmental concerns must be addressed, and zoning and other government regulations must be revisited. More fundamentally, Philadelphians must decide what they want their city to be—do they view heavy industry as an undesirable relic of the city’s past and prefer that the local economy remain primarily knowledge- and service-based, or do they support the vision of Philadelphia becoming a manufacturing powerhouse once again, with all of the benefits and downsides that such a scenario entails? Can the city be both? If so, how will the inevitable compromises be made, where will the balances be struck? The answers to these questions are unknown as of 2015. It will be up to future historians to determine whether the early twenty-first century was a transformative moment in Philadelphia history, perhaps on the order of the early nineteenth-century industrial revolution, or if the concept of the city as an energy hub turned out to be an unrealized dream, like the grand plans of William Penn’s Free Society of Traders in the 1680s or John Nicholson’s manufacturing city at the Falls of Schuylkill in the 1790s. practitioners who take an independent, handson approach to making things. Encompassing everything from traditional wood and metal working crafts to high-tech processes using computer-aided design and 3-D printers, these new makers have adopted a creative, small-scale artisan approach to manufacturing and selling tangible goods. In many ways the Maker Movement represents a return to the ways of the colonial craftsmen, the hands-on artisans of old who made and sold their products themselves. The big difference is technology. The new makers often employ sophisticated software and machines to create their products and the internet to market and sell them. For those with product ideas but lacking in technical expertise or access to tools or technology, co-working maker spaces have sprouted up across the city. The biggest is NextFab, a maker organization with facilities in South Philadelphia and Lower Kensington that offer an array of hardware and software tools as well as training classes in how to use them. Founded in 2009 at University City Science Center by engineer and entrepreneur Evan Malone, NextFab offers both a membershipbased arrangement in which members have access to its tools, training, and other services, and a contracting option in which NextFab works with clients on a contracted basis to design and fabricate products. @ Opposite, top: This aerial view of South Philadelphia looks southwest along Point Breeze Avenue, which runs diagonally through residential neighborhoods towards the oil refineries of Philadelphia Energy Solutions. The Platt Bridge over the Schuylkill River is visible in the background. Environmental issues have long been a concern in highly industrialized areas along waterways and abutting residential sections in Philadelphia. PHOTO BY BRADLEY MAULE, 2007. Opposite, bottom: This illustration from a 2014 Philadelphia Magazine article about efforts to make Philadelphia an international energy hub shows current and potential incoming energy sources to Philadelphia and their subsequent uses. The energy hub initiative faces considerable challenges, but if successful could spur a major revival of manufacturing in the city. PIPE DREAMS, PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014. Below: A welding class at NextFab, 2013. Founded in 2009 and with locations in South Philadelphia and Lower Kensington, NextFab is a major player in the Maker Movement in Philadelphia. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF NEXTFAB. MAKER MOVEMENT At the other end of the spectrum from efforts in board rooms and government offices to establish Philadelphia as an energy hub, another significant, potentially transformative development is taking shape in local manufacturing: the Maker Movement. The Maker Movement is an umbrella term for a diverse group of modern-day do-it-yourself CHAPTER FIVE 95
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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’
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“and many boats, which are useful
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Quaker merchant Thomas Masters purc
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INDUSTRY INVENTORS Manufacturers in
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Quaker upbringing. Known as the “
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MAKING A CASE FOR AMERICAN MANUFACT
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up cotton manufacturing operations
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After receiving a patent for the en
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The Globe Mill on the Cohocksink Cr
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@ 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:
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: is the nation’s largest manufactu
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
Page 129 and 130: The Doherty brothers realized, to s
Page 131 and 132: Centrally located off the Pennsylva
Page 133 and 134: Jersey and Delaware. Outgrowing the
Page 135 and 136: Philadelphia is famous for its appr
Page 137 and 138: injection molded plastic to enter t
Page 139 and 140: had expanded from smaller pieces fo
Page 141 and 142: for many years and they know the fi
Page 143 and 144: furnace as well as a custom flame h
Page 145 and 146: 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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