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Why was Philadelphia important in 1850?
Why was Philadelphia important in the 19th century?
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While immigrants moved into the city, Philadelphia's rich left for newer housing in the suburbs, with commuting made easy by newly constructed railroads. During the 1880s much of Philadelphia's upper class moved into the growing suburbs along the Philadelphia Main Line west of the city. [66]
Oct 18, 2018 · Industrialization, transportation, and migration transformed the Philadelphia region in the first half of the nineteenth century. While turnpikes, canals, and railroads extended the city’s reach, new communities also formed within Philadelphia County as boroughs such as Frankford and Spring Garden were incorporated and villages such as ...
- Overview
- Foundation and early settlement
William Penn acquired the province of Pennsylvania in 1681 from King Charles II of England as a place where his fellow Quakers could enjoy freedom of worship and a chance to govern themselves and develop their own way of life. The king made the grant, signed on March 4, 1681, and proclaimed it a few weeks later, on April 2, partly to settle a debt owed to Penn’s father, Adm. Sir William Penn, upon his death and also to complete the settlement of the Middle Atlantic region with Englishmen. Penn sent his cousin William Markham to take charge of affairs of government and also to lay out the city Penn named Philadelphia, city of “brotherly love,” the name symbolizing his idealistic concepts. From England, Penn wrote in 1681 asking that “the Rivers and Creeks be sounded on my side of the Delaware River…in order to settle a great Towne, and be sure to make your choice where it is most navigable, high, dry, and healthy.” He wanted every house to be placed in the middle of its own plot to provide ground about it “that it may be a greene Country Towne, which will never be burnt, and always be wholesome.”
Penn arrived in 1682 but had little chance to enjoy his city. He was forced to travel to England in 1684 and was unable to return until 1699. By then, Philadelphia was a flourishing town with many shops and trading houses, as well as several hundred dwellings and about 10,000 people clustered close to the riverfront. Penn’s governor declared the city already was the equal of New York “in trade and riches.” Penn’s policies throughout the colony of religious toleration and the right of the people to take part in the government, in addition to growing prosperity, soon began to attract thousands of English, German, and Scotch-Irish settlers, and most came by way of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia by the 1770s had grown to at least 30,000 persons in the central city, and it was the third most important business centre in the British Empire, overshadowed only by Liverpool and London. This position was due in large measure to the city’s site at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, which provided the city access to inland farm regions and to the coal and ore resources that supplied the early iron industry.
A visitor in 1756 wrote that “Everybody in Philadelphia deals more or less in trade,” a tribute not merely to Philadelphia’s location but also to the shrewd business talents of the Quaker merchants. A large and profitable system of triangular trade involved foodstuffs and wood products, such as lumber and barrel staves, that went from Philadelphia to the West Indies and there were exchanged for sugar, rum, and other West Indian products. These were carried to English ports, where they in turn were exchanged for English manufactures to be brought back to Philadelphia. The prosperous farm country of interior Pennsylvania supplied the Philadelphia merchant with goods for the West Indies, and a profitable coastal trade existed with other colonies and directly with England. By the 1750s Philadelphians had invested heavily in the flourishing charcoal-iron industry. Anthracite coal became an important mineral resource of Pennsylvania 100 years later, and the Philadelphia capital played a leading part in this industry as well as in the mining of bituminous coal farther to the west. Philadelphia continued its leadership in foreign commerce until about 1810, when New York City, with an even more advantageous location, took over this position. Philadelphia surrendered its position as financial capital of the nation in the 1850s.
William Penn acquired the province of Pennsylvania in 1681 from King Charles II of England as a place where his fellow Quakers could enjoy freedom of worship and a chance to govern themselves and develop their own way of life. The king made the grant, signed on March 4, 1681, and proclaimed it a few weeks later, on April 2, partly to settle a debt owed to Penn’s father, Adm. Sir William Penn, upon his death and also to complete the settlement of the Middle Atlantic region with Englishmen. Penn sent his cousin William Markham to take charge of affairs of government and also to lay out the city Penn named Philadelphia, city of “brotherly love,” the name symbolizing his idealistic concepts. From England, Penn wrote in 1681 asking that “the Rivers and Creeks be sounded on my side of the Delaware River…in order to settle a great Towne, and be sure to make your choice where it is most navigable, high, dry, and healthy.” He wanted every house to be placed in the middle of its own plot to provide ground about it “that it may be a greene Country Towne, which will never be burnt, and always be wholesome.”
Penn arrived in 1682 but had little chance to enjoy his city. He was forced to travel to England in 1684 and was unable to return until 1699. By then, Philadelphia was a flourishing town with many shops and trading houses, as well as several hundred dwellings and about 10,000 people clustered close to the riverfront. Penn’s governor declared the city already was the equal of New York “in trade and riches.” Penn’s policies throughout the colony of religious toleration and the right of the people to take part in the government, in addition to growing prosperity, soon began to attract thousands of English, German, and Scotch-Irish settlers, and most came by way of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia by the 1770s had grown to at least 30,000 persons in the central city, and it was the third most important business centre in the British Empire, overshadowed only by Liverpool and London. This position was due in large measure to the city’s site at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, which provided the city access to inland farm regions and to the coal and ore resources that supplied the early iron industry.
A visitor in 1756 wrote that “Everybody in Philadelphia deals more or less in trade,” a tribute not merely to Philadelphia’s location but also to the shrewd business talents of the Quaker merchants. A large and profitable system of triangular trade involved foodstuffs and wood products, such as lumber and barrel staves, that went from Philadelphia to the West Indies and there were exchanged for sugar, rum, and other West Indian products. These were carried to English ports, where they in turn were exchanged for English manufactures to be brought back to Philadelphia. The prosperous farm country of interior Pennsylvania supplied the Philadelphia merchant with goods for the West Indies, and a profitable coastal trade existed with other colonies and directly with England. By the 1750s Philadelphians had invested heavily in the flourishing charcoal-iron industry. Anthracite coal became an important mineral resource of Pennsylvania 100 years later, and the Philadelphia capital played a leading part in this industry as well as in the mining of bituminous coal farther to the west. Philadelphia continued its leadership in foreign commerce until about 1810, when New York City, with an even more advantageous location, took over this position. Philadelphia surrendered its position as financial capital of the nation in the 1850s.
Philadelphia in 1850 was a bustling city that played a significant role in the development of the United States in the 19th century. During this time, Philadelphia was the second-largest city in the country and served as a major political, economic, and cultural center.
Mar 14, 2021 · By 1850 the population of Philadelphia had reached 121,000. Meanwhile, in 1801 Philadelphia gained a piped water supply and the Franklin Institute was founded in 1824. Then in 1836, the city gained a gas supply.
Mar 8, 2019 · Philadelphia, a city in Pennsylvania whose name means City of Brotherly Love, was originally settled by Native American tribes, particularly the Lenape hunter gatherers, around 8000 B.C.
The Consolidation Act of 1854 extended Philadelphia’s territory from the two-square-mile “city proper” founded by William Penn to nearly 130 square miles, making the municipal borders coterminous with Philadelphia County and turning the metropolis into the largest in extent in the nation, a position it held until Chicago leapt ahead in ...
