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Touching Liberty… Literally
By Timothy Horning
The photographic archives of the Office of the City Representative document decades of visits to Philadelphia by various dignitaries, diplomats, and VIPs, both domestic and foreign. And of course, no visit to Philadelphia would be complete without a stop at one of the iconic symbols of America, the Liberty Bell. As the photos show, being a VIP afforded one special access to the bell.
In October 1963, Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-1974), made an official state visit to the United States to meet with President Kennedy to discuss important and pertinent issues such...
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Goats Versus Mules: The Army-Navy Game in Philadelphia
By Hillary Kativa
Much like the city of Philadelphia itself, the annual college football match-up between the U.S. Military and Naval Academies, colloquially known as the Army-Navy Game, has a storied history that echoes that of the city in which the match has been held more than any other. Since the Army-Navy Game’s inception in 1890, Philadelphia has hosted the match a record 81 times, far surpassing its nearest competitors, New York (11) and Baltimore (4). After the rivalry’s first four matches incited passionate reactions and a near duel between two officers in 1893, the...
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Grover Cleveland Bergdoll: “The Fighting Slacker of Fairmount”
By Steven B. Ujifusa
Louis C. Bergdoll arrived in America in 1849 from Germany and built a brewery in the heart of the appropriately-named Brewerytown neighborhood. The Bergdoll brand became one of the most popular brews in America and made Louis Bergdoll a multi-millionaire. Flush with cash, he then set about planning a new dynastic seat in Fairmount. Completed in 1882, the Renaissance revival family mansion at 22nd and Green was a monument to the Bergdoll family’s taste and sumptuous lifestyle. In its size and grandeur, it rivaled the Vanderbilt mansions on New York’s Fifth...
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‘There’s A Party Going On Right Here:’ Philadelphia Civic Celebrations - Part Three: Race, Redevelopment, and the Bicentennial
By Hillary Kativa
From their inception, Philadelphia’s civic celebrations were invested with political messages and social values that, as the city’s population grew more diverse, often betrayed the politics of inclusion and exclusion in the City of Brotherly Love. As celebrations increasingly became city-wide endeavors, they served as a means to build communities, both real and imagined, and define civic identity based upon who was invited to participate and in what fashion. More often than not, African-Americans found themselves excluded from civic celebrations, beginning with the earliest Independence Day festivities and continuing into the...
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There’s a Party Going On Right Here:’ Philadelphia Civic Celebrations - Part Two: The City and its Celebrations Come of Age
By Hillary Kativa
In the early years of the new nation, the Federalist and Republican parties each infused Philadelphia’s public celebrations with political messages and symbolic meaning, a precedent that organizers of civic observances continued in the latter half of the 19th century. As both Philadelphia’s population and geographic limits expanded, efforts to centralize municipal government led to greater government control over public celebrations. Implicit in this control was the idea that such celebrations should elevate public taste and instruct rather than simply amuse, as celebratory rituals were intended to communicate certain social, political,...
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‘There’s a Party Going On Right Here:’ Philadelphia Civic Celebrations - Part One: Festivities in the New Nation
By Hillary Kativa
Throughout its history, Philadelphia has played host to celebrations as diverse as its neighborhoods, from Columbus Day and Washington’s birthday to the Emancipation Exposition and the annual Mummer’s Parade. And from the first commemoration of Independence Day to the Bicentennial, these celebrations historically have been infused with notions of citizenship, public space, and civic identity. As historian Gary Nash notes, civic observances provide a means of binding diverse ethnic, racial, and religious groups together, as well as connecting the past to the present. Ultimately, public celebrations are rarely just fun...
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Delayed Centennial Gift
By Steven B. Ujifusa
One unusual attraction at the Centennial was a disembodied copper arm bearing a torch. Forty two feet high, it was a portion of a sculpture by French artist Frederic Bartholdi entitled “Liberty Enlightening the World.” Visitors could pay 50 cents to climb a ladder to the top of the torch. The kiosk at its base offered brochures and subscription information. When complete, the literature boasted, the statue would be just over 150 feet tall from foot to torch. The people of France had already offered to pay...
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Japan-a-mania at the Centennial
By Steven B. Ujifusa
America had been trading with Asia since the early years of the Republic. In fact, some of the nation’s first great fortunes were made in the China Trade; the merchant princes of Boston and Salem would ship American goods and Indian opium to China in exchange for tea, silk, and porcelain.
Yet Japan, that mysterious island nation, remained aloof from the Western world. Aside from the Dutch, who maintained a trading post in Nagasaki, westerners were forbidden to set foot on Japanese soil. The Japanese aristocracy was afraid that European culture, specifically...
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Statues around Philadelphia, Part Three
By Deborah Boyer
Several statues in Philadelphia honor local residents who have contributed to the development of the city. While these individuals may be associated with a particular neighborhood or community, their statues did not always remain in that location over the course of several decades.
One such statue is that of Connie Mack, a professional baseball manager who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937. Born on December 22, 1862 in East Brookfield, Massachusetts, Mack played professional baseball as a catcher but became more famous as the long-time manager of the Philadelphia Athletics...
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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...