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Statues around Philadelphia, Part Two
By Deborah Boyer
The Philadelphia City Hall is home to many statues honoring individuals who influenced the history of the city. From the 37 foot tall statue of William Penn at the top of the building to the smaller statues scattered around the base of the structure, these figures are meant to memorialize the lives and accomplishments of a variety of people.
One of the statues located at the base of City Hall honors Matthias Baldwin, the founder of Baldwin Locomotive Works. Born in New Jersey in 1799, Baldwin worked as a jeweler and printer before founding...
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Statues around Philadelphia, Part One
By Deborah Boyer
Scattered around Philadelphia are dozens of monuments and memorials that honor individuals and groups who have influenced the development of the City and the United States. Many of these monuments, especially those that date from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, are statues that depict the honored individual. While the organizations that erected the statues hoped to preserve the memory of the person, stories of that individual’s accomplishments can become less well-known over the years.
Located in Independence Square south of Independence Hall, a statue of a tall man wearing a tri-cornered hat and...
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Edwin Forrest: A Legend of American Theater
By Deborah Boyer
In the early 1800s, Americans flocked to theaters as a source of entertainment and drama. During this time, American actors began to challenge the dominance of British actors and theater. One of these actors, Edwin Forrest of Philadelphia, would become one of the most well-known and popular performers of the first half of the nineteenth century.
Born on March 9, 1806 in Philadelphia, Forrest joined his first theater company at the age of twelve. In 1820 at the age of fourteen, Forrest made his professional debut at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. For...
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The Widener Mansion
By Deborah Boyer
During the second half of the nineteenth century, prominent businessmen throughout the United States amassed great fortunes through the development of new industries including railroads, steel production, and mining. Men such as Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt became wildly wealthy and often spent that wealth on lavish houses, yachts, and travel as well as philanthropic endeavors such as universities, museums, and charitable organizations. The era became known as the Gilded Age, and many critics accused the wealthy of wielding unchecked power and taking advantage of poor workers.
During this time, there were few people...