construction of Pennâs Landing.
The Pennsylvania Railroadâs PhiladelphiaâCamden Ferry Terminal about 1910. Picture taken from the Delaware Avenue El. Library of Congress .
A lone tourist-oriented ferryboat between Pennâs Landing and the Camden waterfront is a small connection to the past. This is the RiverLink Ferry, operated since the 1990s by the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.
T HE P OLLUTED D ELAWARE
In the heyday of ferry service, as many as 200,000 people would begin their annual trip to New Jerseyâs shore towns from the ferries on the central Delaware riverfront. Some would wait hours for the fifteen-minute ride across the channel. The trip was often unpleasant, as the Delaware had earned a reputation by the mid-twentieth century for being dirty and smelling bad.
Upstream industries had polluted the water to the point that longshoremen became ill from the smell of hydrogen sulfide. The shad that the Lenni-Lenape and others once harvested died in scores as the oxygen-depleted river itself died. Saturated with chemicals and other pollutants, the Delaware had not frozen over in a long time, let alone two feet thick as in the days when ice skaters and sleighs had a field day. It was so bad that paint would peel off the hulls of ships. People avoided being on or near the river unless they absolutely had to.
The Delaware Riverâs industrial saga was much the same as that of Peggâs Run or Dock Creek (discussed later). Yet unlike those polluted local streams, the river was a beneficiary of the Environmental Revolution of the 1970s, becoming cleaner after federal and state environmental regulations took effect. Philadelphiaâs de-industrialization, for good or bad, also helped reduce water pollution in the Delaware. Shad and other fish have returned, and itâs not unusual these days to see people fishing along the waterâs edge.
11
M ARKET TO C HESTNUT
O F A NCIENT T AVERNS AND F RANKLIN â S F RIENDS ON THE C ENTRAL R IVERFRONT
Interspersed among the major streets of Old City are a number of charming alleys and courtyards with handsome commercial and residential structures from the nineteenth century. Itâs well worth wandering down Bank, Bread, Church, Cuthbert, Ionic, Quarry or Strawberry, all narrow and quaint in the Old Philadelphia way.
T HE B LACK H ORSE âT AVERN AND S TEPS
Black Horse Alley, an extremely narrow passageway a bit south of Market between Front and Second Streets, is an unnoticed alley of special interest. Originally called Ewerâs Alley, it was renamed from the sign of a tavern later in the middle of that city block.
There were two Penn stairways between Chestnut and Market Streets. The northernmost one was the Black Horse Alley Steps, a continuation of Black Horse Alley. Itâs likely that these bank steps survived until the building of I-95, for they do appear on a 1962 Philadelphia Land Use map.
Also within the block is Letitia Street, once at the center of Letitia Court. This courtyard was intimately connected to the lore of William Penn. He reserved the whole city block for his personal use and then gave it to his daughter, Letitia, who later sold it off piecemeal. One parcel became home to the London Coffee House. The full story of Letitia Court is part of a larger tale too involved to convey here.
T HE C ROOKED B ILLET âT AVERN AND S TEPS
The other embankment staircase on this block was the Crooked Billet Steps, as it led to a tavern by that name on the Crooked Billet Wharf. This pier extended from Water Street onto the Delaware River roughly one hundred feet north of the bottom of Chestnut Street. The narrow space behind the tavern coupled with the wharfâs irregular shape caused many peopleâmaybe some inebriatedâto fall into the river and drown.
Alice Guest arrived in Philadelphia in 1683 and began keeping a saloon in a cave on her bank lot facing the Delaware. Within ten years, she had
The Pennsylvania Railroadâs PhiladelphiaâCamden Ferry Terminal about 1910. Picture taken from the Delaware Avenue El. Library of Congress .
A lone tourist-oriented ferryboat between Pennâs Landing and the Camden waterfront is a small connection to the past. This is the RiverLink Ferry, operated since the 1990s by the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.
T HE P OLLUTED D ELAWARE
In the heyday of ferry service, as many as 200,000 people would begin their annual trip to New Jerseyâs shore towns from the ferries on the central Delaware riverfront. Some would wait hours for the fifteen-minute ride across the channel. The trip was often unpleasant, as the Delaware had earned a reputation by the mid-twentieth century for being dirty and smelling bad.
Upstream industries had polluted the water to the point that longshoremen became ill from the smell of hydrogen sulfide. The shad that the Lenni-Lenape and others once harvested died in scores as the oxygen-depleted river itself died. Saturated with chemicals and other pollutants, the Delaware had not frozen over in a long time, let alone two feet thick as in the days when ice skaters and sleighs had a field day. It was so bad that paint would peel off the hulls of ships. People avoided being on or near the river unless they absolutely had to.
The Delaware Riverâs industrial saga was much the same as that of Peggâs Run or Dock Creek (discussed later). Yet unlike those polluted local streams, the river was a beneficiary of the Environmental Revolution of the 1970s, becoming cleaner after federal and state environmental regulations took effect. Philadelphiaâs de-industrialization, for good or bad, also helped reduce water pollution in the Delaware. Shad and other fish have returned, and itâs not unusual these days to see people fishing along the waterâs edge.
11
M ARKET TO C HESTNUT
O F A NCIENT T AVERNS AND F RANKLIN â S F RIENDS ON THE C ENTRAL R IVERFRONT
Interspersed among the major streets of Old City are a number of charming alleys and courtyards with handsome commercial and residential structures from the nineteenth century. Itâs well worth wandering down Bank, Bread, Church, Cuthbert, Ionic, Quarry or Strawberry, all narrow and quaint in the Old Philadelphia way.
T HE B LACK H ORSE âT AVERN AND S TEPS
Black Horse Alley, an extremely narrow passageway a bit south of Market between Front and Second Streets, is an unnoticed alley of special interest. Originally called Ewerâs Alley, it was renamed from the sign of a tavern later in the middle of that city block.
There were two Penn stairways between Chestnut and Market Streets. The northernmost one was the Black Horse Alley Steps, a continuation of Black Horse Alley. Itâs likely that these bank steps survived until the building of I-95, for they do appear on a 1962 Philadelphia Land Use map.
Also within the block is Letitia Street, once at the center of Letitia Court. This courtyard was intimately connected to the lore of William Penn. He reserved the whole city block for his personal use and then gave it to his daughter, Letitia, who later sold it off piecemeal. One parcel became home to the London Coffee House. The full story of Letitia Court is part of a larger tale too involved to convey here.
T HE C ROOKED B ILLET âT AVERN AND S TEPS
The other embankment staircase on this block was the Crooked Billet Steps, as it led to a tavern by that name on the Crooked Billet Wharf. This pier extended from Water Street onto the Delaware River roughly one hundred feet north of the bottom of Chestnut Street. The narrow space behind the tavern coupled with the wharfâs irregular shape caused many peopleâmaybe some inebriatedâto fall into the river and drown.
Alice Guest arrived in Philadelphia in 1683 and began keeping a saloon in a cave on her bank lot facing the Delaware. Within ten years, she had
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