Seaport Museum

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.
Richmond Street at Dyott Street

The looming white oil storage tanks along Allegheny Avenue are there for a reason. Oil has simply supplanted coal on a site that, 150 years ago, was famous for making Philadelphia the largest exporter of coal in the nation. The Richmond Coal Wharves, a mile-long stretch of the Port Richmond waterfront, were once the major embarkation point for tons of coal hauled out of mines and pits in the Pennsylvania hinterland. An engraving from 1853 shows workers pushing wheelbarrows of coal onto waiting wooden vessels. Another image from the same period shows the Richmond Coal Wharves pictured alongside Christ Church, the Customs House, and other top Philadelphia landmarks.

Later, great steam freighters like the SS Crown Point routinely departed Richmond bound for London with a belly full of grain.

By the 20th century, the site was run by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, whose tracks came through the city along the line of Lehigh Avenue, then burst into a wide fan of more than 200 branches and sidings to service 24 piers. Grain was stored in a towering elevator system, and iron ore was loaded onto freighters by giant steel lattice contraptions. Oil and natural gas occupied a growing tank farm.

In the years since, the business of Richmond’s great cargo terminal has been taken over by more modern facilities, like the nearby Tioga Marine Terminal.

Reminders of the glory days are being rediscovered. Up by Pulaski Park, three steel gantries loom over three ruined piers, and are regarded as scenic by many park visitors. Long ago, the gantries would have had barges tucked beneath them. But like much of the Richmond Coal Wharves site, they serve no particular purpose today.

This site has been vacant so long it resembles natural grassland, and in fact provides quite a beautiful stroll in autumn. And it will remain vacant for a time, with the recent rejection of Pinnacle Entertainment Inc.’s proposal to build a $800 million casino on part of the site. But long ago, these silent acres were the buzzing nexus of William Cramp & Sons, the greatest of Philadelphia’s 19th century shipyards and a major pillar of Kensington’s economy. Through the centuries, the Delaware was so great a center of shipbuilding that the river was dubbed “The American Clyde,” after a famous shipbuilding region in Scotland. Even before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, it is estimated that Philadelphia shipyards turned out around 850 vessels. In the First and Second World Wars, massive shipbuilding facilities like Hogg Island and the League Island Navy Yard churned out battleships and cruisers with unprecedented speed.

William Cramp & Sons (1830-1927) peaked at a critical time in shipbuilding technology, and is credited with innovations that would carry the industry from sails and wood to steam and iron – and finally to steel.

According to Nathaniel Burt and Wallace E. Davies’ chapter in Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, three generations of the Cramp family led the production of great transatlantic steamers such as the St. Louis and St. Paul, warships like the battleship USS Maine, and fine yachts such as J.P. Morgan’s Corsair.  Cramp ships fought the Spanish-American War, and served in Russian, Turkish and Japanese navies.

A lithograph of the works from 1892 shows a vast complex of thirty or more buildings extending back into Kensington and out onto piers in the river. They were wood shops and brass foundries, paint shops and offices. Corralled in a system of docks are a dozen steamships and sailing vessels. By 1902, the works spread over 50 acres.

Cramps closed its doors in 1927, the victim of a declining demand for ships, starting Kensington’s economy on its very long downhill slide.

The yard briefly reopened in 1941 for emergency war production of submarines, cruisers and other vessels, employing 10,000 men until war’s end.

Some values from Queen Village

In January, there will be a consolidation of citizens' core neighborhood and waterfront values identified in three public sessions in December.

The values from the forums are listed below. They will be distilled down to seven or eight primary values:

The main consolidated “values” from the Dec. 14 session at Penn's Landing were:

• Walk-ability - green space, the human scale, to walk without interruption, satellite parking
• Safety - people on street, lighting, police protection, no slots barns
• Ecological protection - green space, sewage, runoff control, green LEED construction.
• Big Sky - green space vision, broad sight lines, public access to river’s edge, low lying buildings, density, open space
• Diversity - cultural, economic, generational, ethnic, activity, occupational, business, ecological.
• Historic preservation - our past.
• River itself - recreation, industry, open space, drinking water, touch-ability, contemplation, history, dredging, no dredging
• Integration of river with rest of the city.
• Community – civic engagement.
• Tension between the working river and pretty "playing" river.

“One of the most interesting things I heard was the organic relationship between the river and the land exemplified by the people who work on the river in boats,” said Ryan Berley of Old City.

The main "values" or takeaways from the Dec. 12 event in South Philadelphia were:

• Valuing green space, open space
• Sustaining the industrial port
• Quality jobs on the waterfront are the economic engine for the city
• Safety comes with traffic control, crime control, no fear, public transit
• Sense of community that starts in the neighborhoods
• Neighborhoods protect and enhance community as a whole
• Protect the history, the traditions, the Mummers Parade
• How schools and churches fit into the waterfront as icons
• Appreciate the diversity of economics, ethnicity, culture in our neighborhoods
• Get our arms around the long-term solutions vs. short term solutions

 

Finally, listed below are the values that were established during the first engagement forum, Dec. 11, in the Kensington-Port Richmond section of the city:

• Safety - children can play outside, you can walk in the neighborhood
• Family values - small businesses that thrive, places to worship, locally owned businesses.
• Easy access - you can walk or bike or bus to it.
• Diversity - ethnic, lifestyle, multi-generational, economic, diversity of uses, architecture.
• Open space and green space - public spaces, playing spaces.
• History - existing neighborhoods, old buildings, old architecture. Historic identities.
• Jobs - river related and ports related jobs. Jobs for youth.
• Green technology - work with the environment.
• The plan - looking for something that protects the values already mentioned.
• Recreation - using water and land where they meet. Recreation for families.
• Affordable housing - for seniors.

 

Bridesburg

Bordered to the south by Port Richmond, to the east by the Delaware River, to the north by Wissinoming, and to the west by Frankford. The Frankford Creek, the Delaware River, and I-95 give Bridesburg distinct boundaries, making it a well-defined neighborhood.

www.bridesburg.net

This unassuming structure sits across Delaware Avenue from Penn Treaty Park and serves some of the best sandwiches in Philadelphia. Known for its cheesesteaks, roast pork and hot sausage, Johnny’s Hots opens at 4:30 a.m. for neighborhood workers and closes after the lunch rush. Once located in a shack north of Spring Garden Street, the establishment has now moved just off Columbia Avenue near the I-95 entrance; its bright red roof and large sign make it hard to miss. Though it is take-out only with no indoor waiting area, Johnny’s Hots often has long lines of laborers, truck drivers, and neighborhood residents alike waiting for their food.



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