In the mid-1700s, the Society Hill
area of Philadelphia was rapidly undergoing a change in demographics, as it
quickly became an area for well-off merchants and clergymen to live. Henry Hill
was among this group of people and in 1786, he constructed his four-story town
house, containing multiple bedrooms, a ballroom, and numerous other spaces to
occupy the 32 rooms of the house. Soon after moving in, Hill began importing
untaxed wine from Africa and making a fortune off of it in the neighborhood.
Hill’s life of luxury in his house was short-lived, however, as he contracted
Yellow Fever and died from it in 1798. The house stayed in the ownership of
Hill’s family, though, until it was sold to Abigail Physick and deeded to her
brother Philip in 1815.

In an interesting twist of fate,
Dr. Physick specialized in fighting the Yellow Fever, and was notably good at
doing so. He made a name for himself working to cure the illness, and was in
time hailed as the father of American surgery. Physick enjoyed use of the house
during his time there until his death in 1837, after which the house was passed
off to one family after another for decades. However, the house was eventually
abandoned, and quickly fell into disrepair after vandals tore through it. In
the 1960s, publisher Walter Annenberg purchased the house, restored it, and
then donated it to the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of landmarks.
Since then, the house has served as a museum chronicling the legacy of Dr.
Physick.

The official website of the Physick House.

Website

Built in 1786 by influential wine importer Henry Hill, the Physick House is a spacious city dwelling that was once inhabited by Dr. Philip Syng Physick, hailed as the father of American surgery. Though the house was once an actual residence, it now serves as a museum for Dr. Physick’s legacy, as well as for numerous surgical instruments.

Physick House

This walking tour covers many facets of early Philadelphia culture. On this tour we will have a ball and learn all at the same time!

The Greatest History Tour Known to Mankind

Prior to the construction of the Washington Square Park, this area housed a cemetery for Revolutionary War soldiers and veterans. The tomb has the remains of an unidentified soldier from the war, and stands as a memorial for the soldiers who served from the Philadelphia area. Reflecting the imperfect historical record of the colonial era, it is not known exactly how many men are buried at Washington Square Park.

The origins of this unique monument date back to the early 1950s, when the Washington Square Planning Committee of Philadelphia discussed the creation of a monument to George Washington. After months of discussion, the committee decided to incorporate the image of Washington into a tribute to all of the Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. The monument was named the “Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier” and designed by Edwin Brumbaugh. 

Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier  

Built on the
site of the former welcome center created for the Bicentennial celebrations of
1976, the Museum of the American Revolution was constructed at a cost of $150
million, mostly raised through private donations.&nbsp; The developers sought to create a museum with
a distinct bottom-up view of the American Revolution, rather than the typical
top-down analysis.&nbsp; To that end, the
museum offers perspectives from the marginalized peoples of the era, such as
free and enslaved Blacks, Native Americans, women and the “lower sorts.”&nbsp; The museum brings these voices to the fore in
the form of a film re-creation of members of the Oneida nation debating which
side to support, colonial or royal (they sided with the Americans) and
recounting the experiences of former slaves who fought for the British.

The museum
is designed to take one through a journey towards independence in such a way
that “…you enter as a [British} subject, but leave as a[n] [American] citizen.”&nbsp; On your journey, you will encounter the
Declaration of Independence Gallery, where the minds behind the museum decided
to focus on over 80 local declarations, to include one from Pennsylvania
written in German, rather than THE Declaration.&nbsp;
The exhibit also presents the thoughts of 10 common people, men and
women, free and enslaved, as independence arrived whether they sought it or
not.&nbsp; The exhibits also present both colonial
and loyalist views of the Revolution as evidenced by comparing and contrasting
Thomas Paine’s famous pro-independence pamphlet, Common Sense, with its loyalist counterpart, Plain Truth, written by James Chalmers.

The museum
contains over 30 audio-visual experiences, 16 core galleries, ten theaters,
seven exhibits with life-cast figures, and 500 artifacts from the period.&nbsp; Included within this collection is the Field
of Battle Theater where patrons can view the re-enactment of the 1777 battle of
Chadds Ford, during which the floor rumbles and the smell of gunpowder wafts
through the theater.&nbsp; In the War at Sea
Gallery, young visitors can climb aboard a re-created 18th century
ship’s deck.&nbsp; However, as with all things
revolutionary, the most popular exhibit is that which includes one of George
Washington’s original headquarters tent, which is part of a larger multimedia
presentation.&nbsp; Finally, the museum leaves
its visitors with the images of 150 photographs of people that were born during
the Revolution followed by a wall of mirrors for a bit of self-reflection as
they depart.&nbsp;

Opened in the spring of 2017, Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution takes visitors on a unique audio and visual experience through the nation’s formative struggle.  The museum offers numerous immersive exhibits that include life-like figures, video and audio presentations, historic artifacts and primary documents and was in the planning stages for 20 years.  The 118,000 square-foot museum was designed by Robert A. M. Stern and is properly located near the birthplace of the Constitution, near the First Bank of the United States and a few blocks from Independence Hall.  The museum is open daily and offers regular and timed tickets to alleviate wait times during peak hours.  

Museum of the American Revolution

<blockquote>"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal..."</blockquote>Construction on Independence Hall began in 1732, originally designed to be the Pennsylvania State House and house all three branches of its colonial government; the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branches. During the Second Continental Congress, which later became the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the state of Pennsylvania loaned out their assembly room for the convention to meet. It was there at Independence Hall in 1776 that George Washington was named Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. In 1781, the Articles of Confederation were adopted in Independence Hall. And in 1787, our founding fathers and statesmen from the newly independent country signed the U.S. Constitution, the same constitution that is in place today. The living document has been amended, but the ideals of the founding fathers still live on. The Independence Hall would be the site of the funeral for President Abraham Lincoln as he was shot in the back of the head by stage actor John Wilkes Booth. This incident happened on April 14 and Lincoln succumbed to his injuries the very next morning. A train traveled with his casket onboard retracing the same route that President Lincoln took when he was first inaugurated in 1861. His funeral would then be held inside the Assembly Room at Independence Hall and over 300,000 guests attended his viewing prior to the burial. President Lincoln is now buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in his own tomb in Illinois, a state he once served as a congressman for.President William Howard Taft also used Independence Hall in order to push for the formation of an international organization designated to keeping peace between countries. The League to Enforce Peace (later League of Nations and then the United Nations) was established in 1915 for the purpose of keeping world peace. It was created due to American citizens being concerned of the outbreak of war in Europe. However, a year prior to this organization being established, World War I broke out due to multiple factors including the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. The organization ceased operations in 1923 after the war.Independence Hall became apart of Independence National Historical Park, which was established by the U.S. Congress in 1948. This was an effort to preserve the history of structures dating back to the American Revolution and declaration of America’s independence. In Independence Hall, visitors can explore the building by taking a guided tour. The guided tour takes the visitors through a number of rooms that are set up in the way that they would have appeared during the Revolution. The Assembly Room, which is the most famous, is where visitors can see the exact room where both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed. Across the hall from the Assembly Room is the Courtroom of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The second floor of the building houses the Long Gallery, Governor's Council Chamber, and the Committee of the Assembly Chamber.The Long Gallery originally served as a reception area for visitors waiting to see the Governor. It was also the host of parties and dinners hosted by the Governor. During British occupation, the Long Gallery was used as a hospital to care for wounded American prisoners of war. The Governor's Council Chamber was where Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council met during the 1700s. The Committee of the Assembly Chamber was used as a room for meetings and military storage during the 1700s and was the office of the U.S. Marshal during the 1800s.

Completed in 1753, Independence Hall is considered the birthplace of the United States. It was here that both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed establishing the foundation of the law in this country. It served as the first capitol building for the United States, but was originally built to serve as the state house for Pennsylvania. It was also a convention site hosted by President William Howard Taft which would lead to the creation of the League to Enforce Peace. It is a part of Independence National Historical Park, which also includes the Liberty Bell Center and the Benjamin Franklin Museum along with a visitor center that includes theaters, exhibits, and a gift shop.

Independence Hall

Elizabeth “Betsy”
Griscom was born on January 1, 1752, the eighth of seventeen children. When she
was a teenager her family apprenticed her to a local upholsterer, where she met
fellow upholsterer apprentice John Ross. The two were married in 1773, and they
later moved to a home on Arch Street, where they set up an upholstery shop on
the first floor. The house was built sometime around 1740, with a rear section
added a decade or two later. Betsy and her husband rented the home from Hannah
Lithgow, who owned it and several others on the street. While the building at
239 Arch Street is considered to be where Betsy Ross lived, it is possible she
actually lived in one of the adjoining buildings. Betsy is believed to have
lived on Arch Street at least from 1776 to 1779.

Around 1776 Betsy’s
husband John died, allegedly from a gunpowder explosion while serving in the
Philadelphia militia. In 1777 she remarried to a sailor named Joseph Ashburn.
In 1781 his ship was captured by British forces, and he died in captivity a
year later. Betsy married again in 1783 to John Claypoole, an acquaintance of
Joseph who had known him in prison. Betsy continued running her upholstery
business for the next several decades, making flags and other products, before
finally retiring at age 76. She died in 1836 at the age of 84. She was
originally buried in a Quaker cemetery, and then later moved to a cemetery at
Mount Moriah. In 1975 the purported remains of Betsy and her third husband John
were exhumed and interred next to the Betsy Ross House, as part of the American
Bicentennial. 

It was not until 1870
that the story of Betsy Ross sewing the first American flag emerged. That year
William Canby, a grandson of Betsy, delivered a speech at the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania presenting the story. According to the account, in 1776
or 1777 Betsy Ross was approached by George Washington, Robert Morris, and George
Ross (uncle of her first husband John) and commissioned to sew the first
American flag. She was shown a proposed sketch of the flag, and made one
adjustment: she used five-pointed stars instead of six-pointed. After Canby’s
revelation, other descendants of Betsy Ross came forward claiming it to be true;
soon the story was circulating widely in pamphlets and books. Although there is
proof that Betsy Ross did make flags both during and after the American
Revolution, most scholars doubt that she sewed the first American flag. They cite a complete lack of evidence to
verify the story, and the fact that it did not come to light until nearly a
century after it allegedly happened. Nonetheless, the story soon became widely
accepted among the public, and Betsy Ross became an American icon. 

After the story of
Betsy Ross and the flag emerged, much attention was focused on her former home
and shop on Arch Street. Over the years it had housed a variety of businesses,
and by the late 1800s it was one of the only surviving colonial-era buildings
in the area. In the 1870s the building housed a tavern owned by the Mund
family, who used the Betsy Ross story to attract customers. In 1898 the
American Flag House and Betsy Ross Memorial Association was formed and
purchased the building to convert it into a museum. By 1937, the house was
severely dilapidated and in need of restoration. Philadelphia radio businessman
A. Atwater Kent contributed $25,000 to save the house. Historical architect Richardson
Brognard Okie was hired to implement the restoration; he utilized as much of
the home’s original components as possible, as well as historically-accurate
parts from demolished homes. The entire house was completed and opened to the
public on Flag Day, June 14, 1937. Two buildings to the west side of the house
were purchased and demolished to make a garden and courtyard. In 1941 the house
was given to the city of Philadelphia. An annex building was added in 1965, and
a fountain added to the courtyard in 1974. Historic Philadelphia Inc., a
nonprofit historical organization, assumed management of the property in 1995. &nbsp;

Today the Betsy Ross
House remains open to the public as a museum. Many rooms are furnished to
resemble their colonial America appearance. Items on display include personal possessions
of Betsy Ross, as well as memorabilia relating to the legend of her flag; the
museum also has an archival collection of documents available for research. Self-guided
and audio tours are available, and a Betsy Ross impersonator is often on site
to give demonstrations and engage with visitors. The museum hosts various
events and temporary exhibits throughout the year focusing mainly on the
American flag, upholstery, and women and life during eighteenth century
America. The courtyard and an indoor gallery are also available to rent for
different events.

The Betsy Ross House is a historic home in Philadelphia alleged to be the site where the first American flag was created. The Arch Street residence was built around 1740, and during the 1770s it was home to local upholsterer Elizabeth “Betsy” Ross. According to popular legend, Ross was asked to sew the first Stars and Stripes flag in 1777. Most scholars are highly doubtful that Betsy Ross actually made the first American flag; the story did not emerge until nearly a century later. Today the house has been restored and preserved as a museum. It is open to the public for tours, and contains a large collection of artifacts, documents, and memorabilia relating to both Betsy Ross and the story of her sewing the first flag. 

The Betsy Ross House

Running
parallel to Quarry and Arch Streets and perpendicular to Front and 2nd
Streets, Elfreth’s Alley was not
included in the original plans of Philadelphia.&nbsp;
It was created after landowners Arthur Wells and John Gilbert opened
their properties to allow local residents to pass to and fro.&nbsp; It slowly developed over the years until it
was paved with cobblestones and homes began to be constructed in the
1720s.&nbsp; It was named after local
Blacksmith, Jeremiah Elfreth.&nbsp; It soon
became home to local artisans and craftsmen, such as shipwrights, glassblowers,
carpenters, printers and furniture builders, many of which operated their
businesses from their homes.

The alley
was frequented by many famous Philadelphians, to include Ben Franklin who often
visited a friend, William Maugridge, who lived at 122.&nbsp; It was also home, for a time, to seamstress
Betsy Ross, Dolley Payne Todd Madison (prior to becoming First Lady) and
Stephen Girard who would go on to become the wealthiest man in the U.S. by the
early 19th century.&nbsp; The
industrial Revolution drastically changed the alley and surrounding neighborhood
as the homes were now occupied by immigrants working in the new factories that
encroached on the small alley.&nbsp; A stove
factory actually occupied several row houses within the alley in 1868.&nbsp; By 1900, Elfreth’s Alley’s residents were
overwhelmingly Irish.

By the early
20th century the alley and its buildings had fallen into a state of disrepair.&nbsp; Fortunately, it was saved from demolition on
more than one occasion by Dolly Ottey and the Elfreth’s Alley Association which
was founded in 1934.&nbsp; Ottey and other
association members worked tirelessly to preserve and restore the alley’s
buildings and historical legacy.&nbsp; The
greatest threat to the alley appeared in the early 1950s in the form of
Interstate 95, which now passes just east of the alley.&nbsp; The association was also instrumental in
getting the alley National Landmark status.&nbsp;


Elfreth’s
Alley now represents a rare and wonderful example of an 18th century
working class street that is in stark contrast to the restored mansions of the Society
Hill neighborhood.&nbsp; Some of the alley’s
private residences are open on two separate occasions within a year, during its
Fete Day celebration that takes place in early June and its Deck the Alley
holiday special in early December.&nbsp; The
Elfreth’s Alley museum sponsors group and self guided tours of its building as
well as the alley itself.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Tucked away in Philadelphia’s Old City there exists a small alley that gives visitors a glimpse of a working class, 18th century neighborhood.  Elfreth’s Alley, known as the nation’s oldest residential street, is a narrow thoroughfare with 32 small (by contemporary standards) residences built between 1728 and 1836 in the Federal or Georgian architectural style.  It began as a cart path in 1702 that permitted the city’s residents easy access to the docks.  It is now, in a sense, a living history museum that is still home to Philadelphians.  The museum is located in two row houses that were built in the mid-18th century and they now serve as a restored period home.  Elfreth’s Alley was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

Elfreth's Alley and Museum

The African American Museum of Philadelphia is the first of its kind to be built and funded&nbsp;by a major city to show the lives of African Americans. Museum&nbsp;founder Clarence Farmer worked with&nbsp;founding director Charles H. Wesley who earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University.&nbsp;The museum has a variety of permanent exhibits that tell the story of freedom in Africa, enslavement in America, and liberation through the agency and activism of many generations.&nbsp;The current museum is comprised of over twenty directors who make up the board of directors which is headed by President and CEO of AAMP Patricia Wilson Alden. The museum has also acquired several artifacts from the Philadelphia Civic Center and the Jack T. Franklin collection. &nbsp;Franklin, upon his death, donated his collection of over 500,000 negatives and photographs to be put on display at the museum. &nbsp;Some of the photographs contained images of Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Jesse Jackson. &nbsp;The Civic Center of Philadelphia donated musical instruments, weapons, tools, jewelry, and cushions to be placed on display at the museum.&nbsp; The Jack T. Franklin collection, which is a donation from the photographer of over 500,000 photographs from his career, and the Philadelphia Civic Center Museum Collection. The latter collection was a generous gift from the Philadelphia Civic Center Museum that presented the AAMP with over 300 new African Artifacts. In addition to the previously listed major collections, the African American Museum in Philadelphia was also able to purchase, with the help of a grant from Save America's Treasures, Pearl Bailey's personal photographs and photographs from the Cash/Thompson collection.

Established in 1976, the African American Museum in Philadelphia is the first museum in the United States created and funded by a local government to help convey the history and heritage of African Americans to United States citizens. The museum covers the period from slavery to civil rights with over 750,000 artifacts and four galleries. Each gallery contains a variety of exhibits that interpret the museum's collection, selecting items from the collection and placing their history within the larger narrative of the African American experience. The museum also offers a variety of special thematic exhibits throughout the year, to ensure that every visit provides a new learning experience. A huge plus for young children visiting the museum is the "Children's Corner", an interactive exhibit where children explore the lives of young African American children. 

African American Museum in Philadelphia

Milton Hershey completed an&nbsp;apprenticeship with a&nbsp;Lancaster confectioner when he was 17 and decided soon after that he wanted to open a candy shop of his own. He traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in May of 1876 to look for a storefront he could rent for his new business. He did so in Philadelphia because he did not want to compete with his teacher as well as the fact that this was an important year for the city. The city was hosting an international exposition celebrating the nation’s centennial anniversary and was hosting the nation’s first world fair. &nbsp;Hershey eventually found a nice store that was along the main pathway of Fairmount Park and the Centennial Exposition.

At the beginning, this shop was turning a profit. As the business expanded, however, the shop became too small and a few short years later he had to move to 925 and 927 Spring Garden Street. He also had to establish a separate wholesale business at 532 Linden Street. Milton, as well as his family members, worked such long hours at the store, and many nights did not even go home.

However, Hershey did not concentrate on one product. He tried to keep a variety of goods to appeal to everyone including fruits, nuts, and ice cream. This became a problem for Hershey because the confectionary competition in Philadelphia was fierce. He had a strong product line but the volume of candy he produced was too small to make much of a profit. He did not own the equipment nor did he have a large enough staff to mass produce or distribute enough candy to make a profit out of these goods. Even though his production could keep up with sales he was not able to earn enough to keep up with his bills. The sugar dealers that supplied his ingredients had to have cash payments while his wholesale customers wanted credit and were slow to pay him back in cash. He soon fell behind in his payments and was afraid of the suppliers cutting off his supply of raw ingredients.

In 1881 his father came to help him. Henry Hershey worked for his son peddling candy to help him make a good start. He was a man of both imagination and action and once told his son “if you want to make money, you have got to do things in a big way. To help his son’s business he designed a new candy display cabinet and developed a formula for cough drops. These were even featured in the 1890 December issue of the Confectioners Journal.Trying to please everyone, however, spread Hershey’s resources too thin, pushing him farther into debt until he collapsed into bankruptcy.&nbsp;

This marker, erected in 2009 by Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, was placed to show the spot where Milton Hershey opened his first candy store. Mr. Hershey opened his first candy business here on June 1, 1876, at just eighteen years of age. He did not only sell candy here, he also sold an array of fruits, nuts, and ice cream. At first this store was profitable, but eventually due to credit issues the store closed. It was only after this first failure that he opened the Lancaster Caramel Company and then Hershey's Chocolate Company as a subsidiary of that. 

Hershey's First Candy Store

The Franklin Institute was originally founded in 1824 by Samuel Merrick and William H. Keating as the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts. In conjunction with the movement to enact educational reform in America and to help the nation progress through technology, the Institute was opened as a center to honor the memory of Benjamin Franklin and to continue to develop his inventions in innovative ways. The Institute, for its first century after its founding, served this purpose by providing classes in mechanics, engineering, and drafting in order to help bring science and invention into the forefront of those attending. Additionally, the Institute housed numerous technological exhibitions in this span of time.The Institute shifted gears in 1930, attempting to raise money in order to expand and build a memorial hall and a science museum. Despite the financial toll the Great Depression had on the United States, the Institute raised $5.1 million, which allowed them to begin construction for the planned expansions. In New Year’s Day of 1934, the Franklin Institute opened itself to the public as a museum of science, allowing its patrons hands-on experiences that allowed them to learn about the world around them. Over time, the Institute continued to expand, adding to itself the Tuttleman IMAX Theater, and the Fels Planetarium, one of the oldest planetariums in this hemisphere. Additionally, the Institute houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial in honor to its titular scientist and Founding Father.Today, the Franklin Institute still works to serve the community by providing hands-on scientific learning experiences for those who walk through its doors. In it, visitors may find exhibits on such topics as King Tut, neuroscience, traveling exhibitions, and other world-class exhibits. In addition to serving as a memorial and a museum, however, the Franklin Institute provides grants to researchers it deems worthy, and also publishes scientific papers to further research and knowledge within the scientific community.

Founded in 1824 as the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, the Franklin Institute is one of the oldest centers dedicated to science education and progress in the United States. In the Institute’s founding days, it offered classes on mechanics, engineering, and other such fields of scientific study in order to broaden people’s understanding of and engagement in the sciences. After a century of activity, the Institute became a museum in 1934 in order to expand its vision of promoting the sciences. Today, the Institute still serves that goal as a museum, reaching out to those who wish to learn through exploring exhibits, attending classes, and much more. Additionally, one may find in the museum’s rotunda the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, which sports a 20-foot-tall marble statue of the scientist and Founding Father.

The Greatest History Tour Known to Mankind

Physick House

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information