Part 6

_Painted by Violet Oakley_ _Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts_]

P. A. B. WIDENER’S, several hundred choice and rare paintings, mostly masterpieces of great artists of the Renaissance, and modern.

The W. L. ELKINS; many fine examples of medieval and modern portraiture, landscape and genre painting.

The JOHN MCFADDEN, best collection of solely eighteenth century English paintings in this country.

The EDWARD T. STOTESBURY, masterpieces of the English School and international contemporary art.

Should these collections accompany the WILSTACH, now in Memorial Hall, to the Municipal Art Museum in Fairmount Park, now under construction, it would begin its career with a wealth of paintings, more comprehensive and valuable than any that ever inaugurated a similar institution, not excepting the Louvre, Pitti, Dresden, National in London, and Metropolitan, New York, which grew from small beginnings, thus placing the highest products of art within equal and easy reach of all classes. This Museum will constitute the central feature of a comprehensive plan in progress, at the head of the Parkway, for a real art center, more imposing in scale and impressive in its entire effect than any similar art center in any American City. The PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS has been granted a site facing the Fairmount Plaza, also the PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM AND SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ART.

ARMY AND NAVY

THE FIRST CITY TROOP, Armory, Twenty-third Street, above Chestnut; founded in 1778. An exclusive social organization. Oldest military command in the United States in continuous active service; its traditions of active service are as loyally preserved as its rights as escort of the President, and other distinguished men. In the Spanish-American War in 1898, “The Troop” was the first body of cavalry landed at Porto Rico. The “Gentlemen of Philadelphia” met in Independence Hall, November 17, 1774, and formed a company of cavalry called, “The Light Horse of the City of Philadelphia”; they were dismissed by Washington after the Revolution in 1778, and reorganized immediately as the First City Troop; the Troop voted to give the certificate of dismissal, signed by Washington, to their captain, Samuel Morris; the paper is now in possession of the decendants of Elliston P. Morris, of Germantown. FRANKFORD ARSENAL, Bridge and Tacony Streets; local station, Bridesburg; open, free, daily, 7.45 A.M. to sunset. Established, 1814; President Madison was at the opening exercises. Lafayette stopped at the Arsenal in 1824. Here are complete small arms cartridge factory equipment; artillery cartridge factory equipment; and machine plant for the manufacture of inspecting instruments; sights for cannon; range finders; and other instruments for fire control at the fortifications, etc. PHILADELPHIA NAVY YARD, League Island, about 1000 acres; junction of Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers; deeded to the National Government by the City of Philadelphia in 1868. Open to the public daily between 9.00 A.M. and 4.00 P.M. Established about 1794 on the Delaware River front, at Prime Street. A large number of the old wooden ships of the Navy were built here, such as the ships of the line, _Franklin_, _Pennsylvania_ and _North Carolina_; frigates, _United States_, _Raritan_, and _Guerriere_; sloops of war, _Vandalia_, _Germantown_, and _Dale_; screw steamers, _Princeton_, _Wabash_, and _Lancaster_; side wheel steamers, _Mississippi_ and _Susquehanna_. At present there are two dry docks; shops employ 2000 men; three large barrack buildings for the use of marines stationed at the Yard accommodate 1400 men. Admiral Benson, former Commandant, considers this the best Navy Yard in the Government’s possession, being in the center of coal and iron industries, within short haul, both by rail and water, for all material required by a great navy yard; its nearness to great private shipyards on the Delaware provides skilled mechanics in the art of ship-building, and the fresh water feature, being unique, is of great importance; barnacles accumulated in salt water drop off in fresh water, simply by docking here for short periods. There is also a large Reserve Basin called the Back Channel, where ships out of commission can be laid up until wanted. The berthing facilities may be indefinitely extended by constructing additional sea wall and piers. FORT MIFFLIN, below mouth of the Schuylkill, has casement dungeons, and earthen banks of early warfare, and was prominent in the Revolutionary War; designed and built by Major Louis de Tousard in 1798. Now, in the magazines, ammunition from government battleships is stored, before they enter the Navy Yard; the magazines are surrounded by poles, on each pole is a lightning rod. UNITED STATES NAVAL ASYLUM, Gray’s Ferry Avenue below Bainbridge Street, classic, marble; has Museum of Uniforms.

HISTORIC BURIAL GROUNDS

The earliest were connected with churches; some date almost from the beginning of the city.

=Baptist.= BLOCKLEY CEMETERY, Meeting-House Lane, between Lancaster Avenue and Haverford Street; ground given, 1804. Church is at Fifty-third Street and Wyalusing Avenue. DUNKER, Germantown, on Germantown Avenue above Sharpnack Street; oldest meeting-house of the German Baptists, or Dunkers, in America; erected, 1770. Burial ground opened, 1793; in it lie Alexander Mack, founder of the sect, and Harriet Livermore, the “Pilgrim Stranger” of Whittier’s “Snow Bound.” MENNONITE, Germantown Avenue above Herman Street; church was built, 1770; many early Germantown settlers are buried in the yard. PENNYPACK, or LOWER DUBLIN, Krewston Road near Pennypack Creek, one mile from Bustleton; here is oldest Baptist church edifice in Pennsylvania, built about 1707; in the old time graveyard are many curious moss covered tombstones.

=Friends.= When the graves are marked the stones are always small and inconspicuous. FAIRHILL MEETING, Germantown Avenue and Cambria Street; ground granted by William Penn; a large and beautiful old cemetery and near “Fairhill,” the great Norris estate. THE MEETING HOUSE, Fourth and Arch Streets, was built in 1804, but the ground was used for burials many years before; it is one of the oldest cemeteries in Philadelphia. Some of the most prominent citizens of very early days lie here with nothing to mark their resting-place; it is computed that twenty thousand persons are interred here.

=Jewish.= MIKVEH ISRAEL, on Spruce Street, near Ninth; ground was granted to Nathan Levy by John Penn in 1738; here lies the beautiful Rebecca Gratz, original of Rebecca in Scott’s “Ivanhoe.” In August, 1913, the little burial ground was opened for the interment of her grandniece, the first burial for thirty years. MOUNT SINAI, Frankford Avenue, near Bridge Street, has imposing entrance, erected, 1854.

=Lutheran.= ST. MICHAEL’S, Germantown Avenue and Phil-Ellena Street, joins the church built about 1730; a notable grave, with flat marble stone resting on four columns, is that of Christopher Ludwig, “baker general” to the American army during the Revolution.

=Methodist.= ST. PAUL’S, Catharine Street near Sixth. Church is now used as an Italian mission; has a small graveyard.

=Presbyterian.= OF FIRST AND THIRD CHURCHES, Southwest corner of Fourth and Pine Streets, First Church, Seventh and Locust Streets, has the eastern section. When the First Church abandoned its old Market Street site for the present locality, the bodies were moved whenever possible, and many of the old headstones were inserted in the south wall of the new graveyard. The Third Church, called “Old Pine,” divides the grounds, using the west section; both are most interesting, with many people of note interred, including David Rittenhouse; William Hurry, who is said to have rung the Liberty Bell when proclaiming independence; Dr. William Shippen, Director General of Hospitals during the war for Independence; many Revolutionary soldiers; and Captain Charles Ross of the First City Troop.

=Protestant Episcopal.= ALL SAINTS, Bristol Turnpike, Torresdale. Established 1772-73, when the first church edifice was built. CHRIST CHURCH has two burialgrounds, one attached to the church on Second Street, North of Market, dating from the earliest days of the church, the other southeast corner of Fifth and Arch Streets, where first interment was made in 1730; graves of Benjamin Franklin and Deborah, his wife, are in the northwest corner; may be seen from Arch Street through an iron railing set in the brick wall; in these graveyards are buried many distinguished Americans; among them Peyton Randolph, first President of the Continental Congress; Commodores Truxton, Biddle, Bainbridge, and Dale; Robert Morris; several signers of the Declaration of Independence; Dr. Benjamin Rush, Dr. Philip Syng Physick, Bishop White, and Dr. William Augustus Muhlenberg. GLORIA DEI (Old Swedes’), Front and Swanson Streets, south of Christian; church built, 1700, being the oldest church building in Philadelphia; a most interesting graveyard surrounds it; the celebrated ornithologist, Alexander Wilson, is buried here. ST. JAMES, KINGSESSING, Sixty-eighth Street and Paschall Avenue; church erected, 1762; General Josiah Harmer, of the Revolution, is buried in the graveyard. ST. JAMES THE LESS, Hunting Park Avenue and Clearfield Street; this beautiful little Gothic church, brownstone, built 1847, has a number of fine monuments in the burial ground; John Wanamaker is buried here. ST. LUKE’S, Germantown Avenue and Coulter Street, church dates from 1818; the famous Philadelphia annalist, John Fanning Watson, is interred in the churchyard. ST. PETER’S, southwest corner of Third and Pine Streets; in the graveyard lies the body of Commodore Stephen Decatur, the grave surmounted by an Ionic column supporting an American eagle; other notable names here are Chew, Cadwalader, Mifflin, Binney, Biddle, Peale, Waln, Meade, McCall, Duché, Norris, Kuhn, Montgomery. TRINITY, Oxford, near Fox Chase, east of old Second Street Pike; present church dates from 1711; began as a log meeting house, 1698; tombstones date as early as 1708; the inscriptions on some are quaint and original.

=Roman Catholic.= HOLY TRINITY, northwest corner of Sixth and Spruce Streets, dates from 1789; on the old tombstones may be deciphered names of many of the early German and French inhabitants of Philadelphia. Stephen Girard was buried here until 1851, later his body was removed to Girard College. MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Richmond Street, opposite Hedley Street, Bridesburg; many of the Redemptorist Fathers are buried here.

OTHER NOTABLE BURIAL GROUNDS

NORTH CEDAR HILL, Frankford Avenue corner of Foust Street, incorporated, 1857; a soldiers’ monument to the Civil War soldiers from Frankford is in the older part. CRISPIN, Holmesburg; contains grave of Thomas Holme, who laid out the city of Philadelphia; plot is under care of the Crispin Association, formed of descendants of Holme. GLENWOOD, Ridge Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street, opened, 1850, has notable monument of the Scott Legion Association, formed among the surviving soldiers of the Mexican War. GREENWOOD, Asylum Pike and Arrott Street, Frankford; established, 1869, by the benevolent order of the Knights of Pythias, as a burial place for members and their families; occupies the “Mount Airy” estate, once residence of Commodore Stephen Decatur. HOOD, or “THE LOWER BURIAL GROUND,” on Germantown Avenue at Logan Street, opened in 1693, having been presented to the borough of Germantown by Jan Streepers. Many early settlers of Germantown lie here; among them Frederic William Post, the Moravian missionary to the Indians, and Condy Raguet, founder of the Saving Fund in Philadelphia; in 1847, William Hood built the front entrance, of Pennsylvania marble, the wall and railing. IVY HILL, East Mount Airy Avenue, above Stenton Avenue, chartered, 1867; about 80 acres; the Second Baptist Church has removed to Ivy Hill about 300 bodies from its old burial place on New Market Street; an imposing monument is here in memory of David Lyle, Chief Engineer of the Volunteer Fire Department from 1859-67. NORTH LAUREL HILL, East bank of Schuylkill River and Ridge Avenue, organized, 1835; formerly “Laurel,” country seat of Joseph Sims. “Fairy Hill,” seat of Pepper family, now CENTRAL LAUREL HILL, and “Harleigh,” William Rawle’s place, now SOUTH LAUREL HILL; historic dead and artistic monuments fill these cemeteries; Commodores Murray and Hull, General George Gordon Meade, and Mrs. Cornelius Stevenson, “Peggy Shippen” of the _Ledger_, are among those who lie here; the Lea Memorial, sculptor A. Sterling Calder, is very beautiful, the chapel is early English. Just across the Schuylkill River, on Belmont Avenue, at Pencoyd Station, is WEST LAUREL HILL, opened in 1869. General Herman Haupt is among those buried here. MONUMENT, Broad Street and Montgomery Avenue, was laid out by Dr. John A. Elkinton in 1836; an obelisk monument, on a pedestal, erected, 1859, in honor of Washington and Lafayette, was designed by John Sartain, artist, who is buried near base of shaft. MOUNT MORIAH, Sixty-second Street and Kingsessing Avenue, opened, 1855; has grave of Betsy Ross, over which a flag floats perpetually. MOUNT PEACE, Lehigh Avenue and Thirty-first Street, was originally country seat of the Ralston family, known as Mount Peace estate. MOUNT VERNON, Ridge and Lehigh Avenues, opposite Laurel Hill, chartered, 1856; the Gardel monument was long considered handsomest in the country. NATIONAL CEMETERY, Haines Street and Limekiln Pike, land acquired by the United States Government in 1885, it is well wooded, and the grounds are laid out with flowering plants; about 2700 Union soldiers are buried here; their graves marked by long rows of small granite slabs, bearing their names and the States from which they came. Soldiers of three wars lie here; a granite monument, erected by the United States, marks the burial place of 184 Confederate soldiers and sailors. PALMER, at Palmer, Belgrade, and Memphis Streets, owes its origin to Anthony Palmer; in 1730, he purchased a large tract of land in “The Northern Liberties,” on which he laid out a town and named it Kensington; his daughter carried out his wishes, and bequeathed ground for a burial place for those living in Kensington. RONALDSON’S, Tenth and Fitzwater Streets, now neglected, was founded by James Ronaldson in 1826 as a burial place in which persons of moderate means could find a grave without any of the restrictions which attended interments in the churchyards; he gave the ground, almost a city square, decorated it with trees and shrubbery; so beautifully was it kept that it was considered “The model burial place of the City,” until the opening of Laurel Hill. UPPER BURIAL GROUND, or AX’S, Germantown Avenue near Washington Lane. John Frederick Ax was caretaker from 1724-56; many early settlers are buried here, the oldest known grave being that of Cornelius Tyson, who died in 1716; there are also graves of some American soldiers and officers, killed in the Battle of Germantown; over them, John Fanning Watson placed a marble headstone. WOODLANDS, Thirty-ninth Street and Woodland Avenue, was in early times the country seat of William Hamilton, known as “The Woodlands”; acquired by Woodlands Cemetery Company in 1840. Many distinguished men and women are buried here, among them Commodore Thomas Stewart, who commanded the _Constitution_ in 1812; General John Stewart, Major Generals D. B. Birney and Abercrombie of the Civil War; Rembrandt Peale; William K. Hewitt and P. F. Rothermel, Artists; John Davenport, Actor; Colonel Thomas A. Scott and J. Edgar Thomson; Frank and Louise Stockton; Dr. S. Weir Mitchell and Anthony J. Drexel.

HISTORIC CHURCHES IN PHILADELPHIA

Among the eight hundred and five churches in Philadelphia, are:

The Philadelphia BAPTIST, whose Association celebrated its two hundredth and tenth anniversary in 1917. FIRST CHURCH, Seventeenth Street below Chestnut, open daily, is a consistent example of Byzantine architecture with American modifications; stone; architect, Edgar V. Seeler. Windows made by Heinecke & Bowen are copies of the Byzantine leaded glass; lights and shadows in drapery are all done with leaded strips of glass, not painted. TEMPLE, Broad and Berks Streets, famous on account of its pastor, Rev. Russell H. Conwell, was dedicated, 1901; at that time it was the largest church edifice in the United States, excepting the Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City; auditorium seats 3135 people: Romanesque, with two low towers on the front, surmounted by large copper domes, which give an Oriental touch; architect, Thomas Lonsdale. Fine rose window in front, said to have been made by John LaFarge; other windows are by J. & R. Lamb and R. S. Groves: the Hope-Jones organ, built by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, is one of the largest in this country; it has all the orchestral accompaniments. TABERNACLE, Chestnut and Fortieth Streets, Gothic, stone, has a window by William Willet. There are about one hundred Baptist churches in Philadelphia.

=Christian Science.= FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST SCIENTIST, Walnut Street near Fortieth; Spanish architecture.

=Congregational.= CENTRAL, Eighteenth and Green Streets, Gothic, stone, built in 1872; architect, D. Supplee; organized in 1864; first services were held in old Concert Hall, 1217 Chestnut Street, afterwards used as first Free Library Building; sermon “Recognition,” was preached by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher; other sermons of early days, by Richard S. Storrs, D.D. About nine or ten churches of this denomination are in Philadelphia.

=Friends’ or Quaker Meeting-Houses.=

“What dignity breathes from the lofty space And amplitude of hospitality In these old-fashioned Quaker shrines! Most friendly seems the long, high, sturdy roof, Most friendly the all-welcoming old walls Seen through the sheltering trees. O mighty oaks and noble sycamores, With trunks moss-silvered and with lichened limb, Breathe soft to me the storied memories And treasured records of the long rich years That blessed the meeting-houses.” (From “Old Meeting-Houses,” by John Russell Hayes.)

For more than one hundred years there has been no change in the general style of architecture; before that time, the earliest meeting-house in Philadelphia, at Second and Market Streets, was built with a central lantern or cupola; probably copied from a meeting-house of similar form in Burlington, New Jersey, built, 1682; where the yearly meeting for New Jersey and Pennsylvania was first held: later it met alternately at Philadelphia and Burlington, but since 1750 in Philadelphia, Fourth and Arch Streets. One of the most interesting old meeting-houses, built in 1696, is at MERION, near Narberth Station, Pennsylvania Railroad, in which William Penn preached; another, that he attended, is the old HAVERFORD, built in the early eighteenth century, near Cobb’s Creek, opposite St. Dennis Roman Catholic Church. RADNOR and PLYMOUTH are also interesting old houses; all these last named are now owned by the HICKSITE BRANCH of Quakers, who also own over seventy other meeting-houses throughout the state. Among those owned by the ORTHODOX BRANCH within Philadelphia are the Fourth and Arch Streets, not only the most important, but of great charm architecturally; it is very large and stands on ground originally given by William Penn to George Fox, and by the latter to Friends in America; and may be taken as typical of the later and best Quaker architecture; built in 1804, following the style of the pre-Revolutionary days of the houses just named, but adapted in material and size to the increased numbers worshiping within; it is of brick, set in ample grounds, with abundant shade; the ground about it, and much also covered now by the building and by Arch Street, is a very old burial ground, filled over several times. James Logan is buried under the pavement of Arch Street. TWELFTH STREET MEETING-HOUSE, brick, built in 1812, is second in importance, and one of the most beautiful bits in old Philadelphia. The oak timbers in its roof are said to have come from the “Great Meeting-House,” which succeeded that with the cupola at Second and Market Streets; oak timbers are also exposed with good effect in the upper room of the Arch Street house; the two houses are of the same general type and severely plain, but form, together with that at Sixth and Noble Streets, a most dignified trio of places for worship; remarkable for true proportion and dignity of outline, they are typical of the wealth and solidity of the Friends at their most flourishing period. THE MEETING HOUSE, Sixth and Noble Streets, known as “North Meeting,” once accommodating a large congregation, has been reduced in members by removals; the Yearly Meeting has therefore taken over its use as an adjunct to the settlement work, carried on by Friends at “Noble House.”

=Jewish.= Rosh Hashana, or the Jewish New Year’s Day, is the oldest festival celebrated in the civilized world, 1917 will usher in the year 5678; it commences the great series of fall holidays: ten days later is “Yom Kippur,” the Day of Atonement, most sacred of the year, when the Jews fast from sunset to sunset and attend the synagogues, and a week later “Succoth,” corresponding to our Thanksgiving Day, which lasts a week. The principal synagogues are ADATH-JESHURUN, Broad Street above Diamond, Egyptian; limestone and brick; architects, Churchman, Thomas & Molitar, has leaded glass windows by Nicolo D’Ascenzo. KENESETH ISRAEL, Broad Street above Columbia Avenue, Italian Renaissance, brick with limestone trimmings; architect, Hickman. MIKVEH ISRAEL, Broad and York Streets, organized, 1747; moved from Seventh Street near Arch; French Renaissance, limestone; architects, Pitcher & Tachau. RODEPH SHALOM, southeast corner of Broad and Mt. Vernon Streets, Moorish, sandstone; built, 1869; architects, Furness & Evans; has leaded glass windows by Nicolo D’Ascenzo.