Kensington

Q&A with Ken Milano

mgolas — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:16:21 -0400

Bio

Body

July 21

Remembering Kensington & Fishtown: Philadelphia’s Riverward Neighborhoods is a new book written by Kenneth W. Milano that is a collection of articles from his weekly column “The Rest Is History” that appears in the Fishtown Star. The book depicts the days of old in Kensington and Fishtown, and how those areas thrived and developed into the communities they are now. PlanPhilly reporter Isaac Steinberg sat down with Milano last week to talk with him about the book:

Quick bio:

Age: 49
Hometown: Kensington
Education: Northeast Catholic High, Community College of Philadelphia then Temple. Studied English and Philosophy at CCP, then majored in History at Temple.
Personal highlights, hobbies etc.: collects rare books and historical artifacts.

How do you begin a project like this? Well, Jonathan Simcosky, Star Editor, saw my articles in the paper, and wanted to put them in book form, and it just took off from there.

What kind of research did this book entail? As I research things I create a drop file on my computer, and over the course of the past 15 years it just all adds up.

Is this your first book? Yes, it’s my first full-length book.

Do issues that are currently occurring now in Kensington and Fishtown parallel ones of the past? Well, yes, now there are different economic groups moving in. There is a middle class in Fishtown and Kensington. Compared to after WWI when the wealthy moved out to the suburbs, and it was just working class.

What can we learn today from the past history of those neighborhoods? That one of the reasons Fishtown and Kensington remained working class is because those areas were laid out as an industrial city.

Why did you choose the Kensington and Fishtown areas as a subject for the book? It’s my hometown, it’s what I love to write on research about.

What was the most interesting aspect of the coverage - or your favorite part of the book? I really like writing biographies, so the sections that deal with major characters in Fishtown and Kensington’s history would be my most favorite part to write on.

What part of the book, if you had more time, would you have liked to delve deeper into? My main interest like I said has been the landed gentry, the rich people with big estates. I would have liked to have had more time to have gone deeper into how those estates were broken up and turned into the neighborhoods they are now.

What is the biggest thing you want to get across to a reader from this book? When I was growing up, Fishtown was the last place people wanted to be. It was hell People did not want to stay there, they wanted to get out. Personally I thought I would never come back, let alone think I would be living there now. But, when I got involved with social work, I wanted to use history to better the community. So by putting out into the public the history of the neighborhood, I think it helps the community.

Who are some of your heroes from the Kensington and Fishtown days of old? You’ve got to like the founder, Anthony Palmer. Also John Hewson, textile printer and revolutionary war hero. Then there was William Cramp, founder of William Cramp and Sons Shipyard and Michael Day, former District of Kensington commissioner, Guys like that.

What are the most at risk areas or structures – from a historical perspective – in Kensington and Fishtown? I’m not a big preservationist guy, but most of the interesting architecture from old public spaces is now being converted into homes, so you’re losing some pieces of history there.

What is your position on waterfront development, especially in the Fishtown and Kensington area? I like the Penn Praxis ideas; I think they will be very good for the community. Now-a-days you’re never going to get Fishtown to be the industrial city it once was, but I think the Praxis plan will help the area a lot.

If you could add one thing now to the book, what would it be? I would add more on the revolutionary fort (British Redoubt No. 1). Heck that could be a whole book by itself.

And do you have plans for another book? Yes I do, its going to be called “History of Penn Treaty Park”, it should be out by next spring.

Milano’s book – Remembering Kensington & Fishtown, Philadelphia’s Riverward neighborhoods - is currently being sold for $19.99 at local Barnes and Noble and Borders outlets, and online at Amazon.com. For more information about Milano and the book visit, http://www.kennethwmilano.com/page/default.aspx .

You can contact the reporter at: Tua88396@temple.edu

Home Page Summary

Local historian compiles columns that profile important Philadelphians into new book about Fishtown and Kensington.

Source

Written By

Guest

Publish Date

July 21, 2008

Abstract

Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby

andrewg — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:02:48 -0400

Start: 05/17/2008 - 11:00am

Body

Saturday, May 17th 12-5pm
Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby
Don't miss this second annual design competition and parade celebrating art and human powered transit that is part of the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival.

Map of location

Contact

Guest

Event Type

Walk

Show Date As

Speakers

Sponser

Richmond Power Plant

mgolas — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:56:46 -0400

Body

Richmond Power Plant

The property, just south of the Betsy Ross Bridge, is not within Philadelphia Park's 10-mile exclusionary zone. It was first mentioned as a possible casino re-site after legislation was proposed that would restrict casinos in Philadelphia from being within 1,500 feet of neighborhoods, schools and churches. While it is still talked about as an alternative to the present SugarHouse site, remediating contaminents such as asbestos would be a major hurdle for development here.

Icon Type

Website

MSN Live Local Link

SugarHouse Casino site

Michael Crawford — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:51:57 -0400

Body

One of two riverfront sites selected by Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Sits on 22.6 acres in Northern Liberties at Delaware Avenue and Shackamaxon Street. Though it is further along the in permitting process than Foxwoods Casino, SugarHouse has yet to receive the final word from the state Supreme Court on its right to build on riparian land.

Icon Type

Website

MSN Live Local Link

Kimmel Center Civic Feedback Session

andrewg — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:31:51 -0400

Start: 04/14/2008 - 6:00pm

End: 04/14/2008 - 8:30pm

Start: 04/14/2008 - 6:00pm

End: 04/14/2008 - 8:30pm

Body

DUE TO OVERWHELMING ADVANCE RESPONSE, REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CLOSED. COPIES OF THE PRESENTATIONS AND FEEDBACK FORMS WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLINE AFTER THE EVENT. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.

This marks the next round of public input in the Kimmel Center Public Space Project, organized by PennPraxis and the Penn Project for Civic Engagement and sponsored by the Kimmel Center to develop ideas on how to further enliven the building's public spaces.

The Civic Feedback Session will give citizens the opportunity to view initial design concepts developed for the Kimmel public spaces and provide feedback in response to the ideas that will help enrich strengthen the work.

Design students from University of the Arts and University of Pennsylvania will present their ideas, all of which grew from the Design Principles developed out of the public forums held in January. The Principles will serve as the basis for the public dialogue.

6:00 -- registration

7:00 -- presentation in the Perelman Theater

8:00 -- discussion in Commonwealth Plaza

9:10 -- design panel in Perelman Theater

9:30 -- end

Contact

Guest

Event Type

Symposium

Show Date As

Speakers

Sponser

Revolutionary find at SugarHouse site?

mgolas — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:15:53 -0500

Bio

Body

Dec. 18

By Kellie Patrick Gates
For PlanPhilly

The British troops who occupied Philadelphia during the Revolution defended a fort that appears to have sat where SugarHouse plans to build its casino.
Historians and history buffs say the Delaware River site offers a rare chance to learn more about the War of Independence and the Queen's Rangers who fought to keep Philadelphia under crown control. They have galvanized in an effort to gather facts and maps to persuade the state, casino executives and the public that an extensive search of the dirt is needed to determine where the fort sat exactly, as well as to uncover anything that has been left behind.
Archaeologists hired by SugarHouse have already been digging - to meet a federal requirement for a needed Clean Water Act permit. Their first phase report talks about an old residential neighborhood and industries, but does not mention the fort, a barracks or any Revolutionary skirmishes.
"I think they need to explain that," said Ken Milano, a local historian who specializes in Kensington and Fishtown. "Where the fort was built, houses were (later) built on top. If they are going down to the foundations of the houses, and into the privies, do they need to go further underneath?"
Terry McKenna, project executive for Keating Consulting - SugarHouse's general contractor - said the company did not know about the fort when the archaeological survey began. But its former existence does not change the company's position that subsequent uses of the site have destroyed any significant evidence of the past.
"We were well aware of the subject maps, and came across them subsequent to the issuance of the Phase I report. Anyone who is experienced with conducting archaeological investigations would agree that this is not an unusual occurrence. We continue to perform all activities in accordance with the regulatory requirements," he said in an emailed statement.
"The subject maps do not materially change our conclusions for the portion of the site in question, as that portion of the site was developed for industrial uses in its entirety over the past 200+ years."
To Robert Selig - a Revolutionary War expert who has worked for the U.S. Parks Service and was the historian for the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route project - the fact that the dig began without knowledge of the fort is reason enough for a do-over.
"That seems very odd to me, because you have to do historical work first, and any British map would show you there was a fort there," he said. "I don't think they did their homework."
Selig, who became interested in the site after local historians he knows from working on the Pennsylvania portion of the Washington-Rochambeau project sent him maps - also said that while industries that came after the fort may have disturbed what the soil contained, chances are good they did not destroy it.
"They would have dug foundations for those buildings, but the soil that was dug out would have been dumped near by," he said. "I think you will find artifacts that belong to different time periods, and they will be intermixed - you may find an 1980s copper penny and a 1750s British crown" in the same soil layer, he said.
Bucks County attorney and avid amateur historian Hal Schirmer cites cases where significant historical finds have turned up after a proclamation that nothing significant existed. "That's what they said about Jamestown and the Washington House," he said.
But to SugarHouse spokeswoman Leigh Whitaker, this battlefield cry has a familiar ring.
"First it was the turtles, and those weren't there. Then it was an Indian burial ground. Now it's a fort," she said.
None of those pushing for more dirt-sifting are fans of the casino, and some are also part of organizations that are trying to make SugarHouse move from its proposed waterfront site.
But the historians and history buffs say a chance to find out more about the soldiers whose duty it was to protect the essential food supply route from Bucks County farms to Philadelphia should not go untaken.
"What will they find? If they are lucky, they will find belt buckles, musket balls and other metal objects, bones of things (the soldiers) ate," said Torben Jenk, a builder and preservationist who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years and researched Kensington and Fishtown history for more than a decade. "It's not going to stop the casino, I don't think. And I'm not asking it to. But before we plow through history, let's just take a close look at the top 6 or 8 feet of dirt."
One thing Selig believes archaeologists would not find are soldiers' remains.
The British would not have buried anyone there because "you get too close to the water, and the river is the water supply for the city," he said. Also, the Brits were in Philadelphia for an extended period of time, so under those circumstances "there is time for decent burial at a burial ground."
Still, SugarHouse's grand opening could be significantly delayed if any important finds do turn up - or even if the right people begin to suspect they could. Anti-casino activists like Daniel Hunter of Casino-Free Philadelphia know this, and they are also working to call attention to the dig.

Here's how what lies beneath the ground affects when and whether anything else can be built on top:
In order to begin real construction, SugarHouse needs a building permit from the city's Licences & Inspection Department. But before L&I will issue a building permit, the applicant must have already received a slew of other permits from the streets department, the water department, and others.
More limited permits that would allow some work could be issued, said L&I Permits Services Manager Robert Murray. A foundation permit would allow foundation work only. A site work permit would allow excavation only. But because of the size of the SugarHouse project, they too would require water and sewer permits, Murray said.
SugarHouse also needs a federal Clean Water Act permit because it plans to build into the Delaware River. And the Water Department will not issue its permits until that federal permit is in hand.
Federal law requires the Army Corps of Engineers to explore the history of a site and make sure efforts are taken to preserve anything important before issuing a Clean Water Act Permit.
"We have to consider, or take into account, any effects on historic properties," said James Boyer, a biologist with the Corps.
The Corps will do this with the help of the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, which will review the architectural reports done at the SugarHouse site and determine whether more research is needed. The Corps cannot issue its decision without a PHMC recommendation.
The only information about what the first phase of digging has turned up is contained in the Phase I report. Phase II digging is complete, and the written report is expected to be completed and made public within several weeks. SugarHouse's contracts prohibit anyone working on the dig from talking about it.
The Army Corp will also consider evidence and opinions anyone gives during the public comment period, which has not yet begun. The historians are racing to track down more documents and maps - many of which give clues to the existence of others, Jenk said.
Their research and Selig's offer a glimpse of what happened at British Fort 1, which was made of trees and mud.
The troops there were commanded by John Graves Simcoe, who later became lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada and founded a military camp and civilian town that eventually became Toronto.
Milano searched Simcoe's diary and found entries that indicate the Fort was used as a barracks for a time.
This makes perfect sense, Jenk said, considering that Fort 1 was the most important and most fortified of the British forts in the area.
It was built to defend the point where The King's Highway (now Frankford Avenue) crossed the Cohocksink Creek. The Highway was how food was transported from Bucks County farms to the people of Philadelphia and the soldiers, Jenk said. The Creek has long since been capped. But at the time, it was a marshy mess - horses were known to get lost in the quick sand, Jenk said. So a bridge was crucial - and vulnerable to attack.
As a result, there were many skirmishes at and near the Fort. "If you are a rebel, you want to knock out the weak points," Jenk said.
Based on what's been found in other places where soldiers stayed, including Valley Forge, Selig thinks the SugarHouse site could also provide a glimpse into non-military life during the Revolution.
"Where there are soldiers, there are women and children," Selig said. Some soldiers' families may have been on the site - particularly those of loyalists from Pennsylvania and New Jersey who joined the British troops, he said.
So along with broken bayonets, a dig might turn up marbles or children's toys made from wood or metal, he said. Bones from women's corsets, haircombs or jewelry might be found. Near the riverbank, submerged in oxygen-poor mud, shoes and other leather goods might turn up, he said.
"For me, as a military historian, these (non-Military items) would be the most interesting potential find in a fort like this that has been occupied," he said.

Kellie Patrick Gates is a former Inquirer reporter. Contact her at kelliespatrick@gmail.com

Home Page Summary

Historians and history buffs want casino operators and the state to conduct extensive search for British fort remnants. Previous <a href="/node/2386" target="_blank">story</a>.

Source

Written By

KellieP

Publish Date

December 19, 2007

Abstract

RESCHEDULED: Principles development session, St. Anne's Social Hall

mgolas — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:17:56 -0500

Start: 02/19/2007 - 5:30pm

End: 02/19/2007 - 9:00pm

Start: 02/19/2007 - 5:30pm

End: 02/19/2007 - 9:00pm

Body

A facilitated civic exercise held in a river ward neighborhood designed to create values-based planning principles.

Contact

Guest

Event Type

Town Hall Meeting

Show Date As

Speakers

Sponser

Cramps machine shop

mgolas — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:01:59 -0500

Matt Blanchard

Body

Only one building remains of the once world-famous Cramps Shipyard, and it’s about to be torn down. The Cramps Shipyard Building is a square-shouldered former machine shop that stands with its back to Interstate 95 at the corner of North Delaware Avenue and Dyott Street. Decades of neglect have not effaced the building’s industrial beauty. Banks of many-paned, double-height windows suggests a soaring space within. In May 2006, the owners floated a plan to convert the structure into condominiums. PennDOT’s plans to reconfigure the Girard Avenue interchange of I-95 call for the building’s demolition. Work on the project is to begin in 2009. PennDOT officials say that while the building is deemed to be a “contributing resource” to the Fishtown Historic District, saving it would require the highway expansion to go west into neighborhoods rather than east towards the river.

Icon Type

Website

MSN Live Local Link

Dyottsville

mgolas — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 10:48:44 -0500

Seaport Museum

Body

Nowhere does the widespread destruction of Philadelphia’s waterfront history seem crueler than at Dyottsville. Nothing but a grassy field today that was the proposed Pinnacle Casino site, this area on the north side of Dyott Street at Richmond Street possesses no less than three claims to historical fame, all intertwined: It was a famous glassworks, whose output still graces the Smithsonian collection in Washington. It was an early utopian community dedicated to educating its workers in the spirit of Christian charity. And it was, for a time, the snake oil capital of America.

Icon Type

Website

MSN Live Local Link

Cohocksink Creek

mgolas — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:18:45 -0500

Body

Buried in the 1850s, Cohocksink Creek once formed the boundary between Northern Liberties and Kensington. The stream emptied into the Delaware at Brown Street. Its name, an Indian term with various English spellings, meant “pine lands.”

Cohocksink became a line of defense for the British during the Revolutionary War. Planting artillery on the Northern Liberties side, the British dammed the stream to create a broad marshland, a barrier to attacks from the north.

Sources

Jackson, Joseph. Encyclopedia of Philadelphia, 1931.

Historian Kenneth Milano

Remer, Rich “Old Kensington.” Historical Society of Pennsylvania, http://www.hsp.org/