Remembering Kensington and Fishtown: Philadelphia's Riverward Neighborhoods

by Kenneth W. Milano

Overview

The Native Americans called it shackamaxon, the place where the chiefs meet, but Kensington soon became a meeting place of a different kind.

Ideologies and demagogues, industry and entrepreneurs all came together in Kensington and Fishtown. Kensington was the epicenter of the American vegetarian movement, and a decade later the area's shipyards gave birth to the U.S. Navy's first submarine. In Kensington & Fishtown, native son Kenneth W. Milano presents a collection of fascinating and diverse articles from his column The Rest is History. Relive the golden age of Kensington and Fishtown as you learn about learn about their fascinating pasts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596294486
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	05/01/2008
Series:	American Chronicles
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,026,647
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.30(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword   Ryan Smith     9
Preface     11
Olden Days of Kensington
Lenni-Lenape: Original Inhabitants of Shackamaxon     14
The Swedish Settlement of Shackamaxon     15
Did William Penn's Treaty with the Lenni-Lenape Take Place?     17
Hope Farm and the Founding of Port Richmond     20
The Building and Breakup of the Fairhill Estate     25
Early Industry in Kensington and Fishtown
Early Glassmaking in Kensington     32
John Hewson: Calico Textile Printer and Revolutionary War Hero     35
The Fishermen of Fishtown     37
John Harrison: America's First Industrial Chemist     40
William Cramp: Founder of William Cramp and Sons Shipyard     43
Kensington's Sixth Ward: Textile Capital of Philadelphia     47
Edwin Henry Fitler: Kensington-born Mayor of Philadelphia     49
Hamilton Disston: Industrialist and Real Estate Tycoon     52
Recreation in the Neighborhood
Bachelor's Hall: Kensington's First Gentlemen's Club     58
Point Pleasant: A Colonial Resort     60
Bathtown: Kensington's Colonial Spa     61
Fishtown Park     63
Shackamaxon Square     65
The Bramble Club     69
Benjamin F. Shibe:Baseball Man     71
Interesting Nineteenth-Century Vignettes
Earliest Known Use of the Name "Fishtown"     76
A Picture of Kensington in 1811     78
Edgar Allan Poe Reports on Kensington in 1840     80
USS Alligator: First Submarine of the United States Navy     82
A Look at Frankford Avenue in 1890     85
Kensington's Elite Addresses of the 1890s     88
The Cohocksink Creek: Kensington's Historical Border     91
Stories of Cemeteries, Churches and Hospitals
West Street Burial Ground     96
Hanover Burial Grounds     98
Early Worship in Kensington     101
The Bible Christian Church and the Founding of the Vegetarian Movement     103
Saint Michael's Church 175th Anniversary     105
The Yellow Fever Comes to Kensington     108
Norris Square: Home of Dr. Kelly's Kensington Hospital for Women, Saint Boniface Church and the Kensington Tuberculosis Dispensary     110
Some Kensington Biographies
Thomas Moran: American Landscape Painter     116
Albert C. Barnes: Inventor and Art Collector     118
W.C. Fields and Ed Wynn: Actors and Comedians     120
Jack "Legs" Diamond: American Gangster     122
Edward Corner: Marine Merchandiser and Philanthropist      124
Further Reading     127