PROGEIDINGl 
 
 ■^atej;- i^f : W §i^tm'-^^ 
 
 NEW EUBLIC BII 
 
 ■pE:N.N-:-s:a:uARE, 
 
 CI X Y . F P mhkB E L P HIA; 
 
 July 45; 1874. 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028866643 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F 1588C5 P54 
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 Proceed ngs at the laying of the corner 
 
 3 1924 028 866 643 
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PROCEEDINGS 
 
 agjnj af ikt €nMt ilane 
 
 NEW PUBLIC BUILDINGS 
 
 PENN SQUARE, 
 
 CITY OF PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 July 4, 1874; 
 
 WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDINGS, THE STATISTICS AND PROGRESS 
 
 OF THE WORK, AND A SUMMARY OF LEGISLATIVE AND MUNICIPAL 
 
 ACTION RELATING TO THE UNDERTAKING; WITH A BRIEF 
 
 HISTORY OF EVENTS PERTAINING THERETO. 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 1874. 
 

 /^^CORNELL 
 
 \ 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 V L!8RAR\ 
 
 HENRY B. ASHMEAD, PRINTER, 
 
 1 102 AND IIO4 SANSOM STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 
 
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COMMISSIONERS 
 
 THOMAS J. BAR.GER, THOMAS E. GASKILL, 
 
 WILLIAM BRICE, A. WILSON HENSZEY, 
 
 LEWIS C. CASSIDY, JOHN L. HILL, 
 
 SAMUEL W. CATTELL, HIRAM MILLER, 
 
 MAHLON H. DICKINSON, RICHARD PELTZ, 
 
 ROBERT W. DOWNING, SAMUEL C. PERKINS, 
 WILLIAM S. STOKLEY. 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 '^xtMmt. 
 
 SAMUEL C. PERKINS. 
 
 ^uxtim% 
 
 FRANCIS DE HAES JANVIER. 
 
 '^xtmnnx. 
 
 PETER A. B. WIDENER. 
 CHARLES H. T. COLLIS. 
 
 JOHN McARTHUR, Jr. 
 
 ^WfixmUxi&tni. 
 
 WILLIAM C. McPHERSON. 
 
The bill providing for the erection of New Public 
 Buildings for the City of Philadelphia, passed both branches 
 of the State Legislature in April, 1870, and on the S^h of 
 the following August, the Governor affixed his signature 
 thereto. 
 
AN ACT 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 Mt\m i^i ikt 'fMit '^utMmj^. 
 
 An Act t» provide foT the irectkn bf all the Public buildings required to 
 accommodate the Courts^ and for all Municipal purposes^ in the City of 
 Philadelphia^ and to require the appropriation by said City, of Penn 
 Squares, at Broad and Market Streets, to the Academy of Fine Arts, the 
 Academy of Natural Sciences, the Franklin Institute, and the Philadelphia 
 Library, in the event of the said Squares not being selected by a vote of the 
 people, as the site for the Public Buildings for said City, 
 
 Section I. Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
 tives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, 
 and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same : That Theodore 
 CuYLER, John Rigk, Samuel C. Perkins, John Price Wetherill, 
 Lewis C. Cassidy, Henry M. Phillips, William L. Stokes, Wil- 
 liam Devine, the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, and the 
 Presidents of Select and Common Councils, for the time being, 
 are constituted Commissioners for the erection of the Public Buildings 
 required to accommodate the Courts, and for all Municipal purposes, in 
 the City of Philadelphia, who shall organize within thirty days, procure 
 such plans for the said buildings adapted to either of said sites hereinafter 
 named, as in their judgment may be needful ; appoint of their own num- 
 ber, a President, and from other than their own number, a Secretary, 
 Treasurer, Solicitor, a competent Architect and assistants, and other 
 employees ; fix the compensation of each person employed by them, and 
 do all other acts necessary in their judgment to carry out the intent of 
 
7 
 
 Offices, the buildings now occupied by them respectively shall be vacated 
 and removed, and upon the entire completion of the new buildings, all 
 the present buildings on Independence Square, except Independence 
 Hall, shall be removed, and the ground placed in good condition by said 
 Commission as part of their duty under this act, the expense of which 
 shall be paid out of their general fund provided by this act, and thereupon 
 the said Independence Square shall be and remain a public walk and 
 green for ever. 
 
 Jnd be it further provided. That in the event of Washington Square 
 being selected by a majority of votes as the location for the said Public 
 Buildings, then and in that event, the Councils of the City of Philadel- 
 phia are hereby authorized, empowered and required to set apart for and 
 convey by proper deeds or grants of conveyance, or by proper assurances 
 of the right to occupy said squares, which the Mayor of Philadelphia 
 shall duly sign and execute under the seal of said City, the four squares 
 of ground, known as Penn Squares, located at the intersection of Broad 
 and Market Streets, in the City of Philadelphia, as laid down on the 
 present map of said City, one to each of the following institutions : the 
 Academy of Fine Arts, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Franklin 
 Institute, and the Philadelphia Library, for the purpose of allowing them 
 to erect thereon, ornamental and suitable buildings for their respective 
 institutions. The location of such buildings and the plans thereof to be 
 approved by the Commissioners appointed under this act, and their suc- 
 cessors in office, together with the time of erection, and all other matters 
 appertaining thereto : Provided, however. That all expenses connected 
 with said conveyances, plans, and other information requisite for the said 
 Commission to have, shall be paid by the institutions respectively. In 
 the event of the ultimate selection of Penn Squares as the site for said 
 Public Buildings, the said Commission shall have authority and they are 
 hereby empowered to vacate so much of Market and of Broad Streets, 
 as they may deem needful ; Provided, however. That the streets passing 
 around said buildings, shall not be of less width than one hundred feet. 
 It shall be the duty of the Mayor, the City Controller, City Commis- 
 sioners, and City Treasurer, and of all other officers of the City, and 
 also the duty of the Councils of the City of Philadelphia, to do and per- 
 
8 
 
 form all such acts in aid and promotion of the intent and purpose of this 
 Act of Assembly, as said Commission may from time to time require. 
 All laws and parts of laws restricting the uses and purposes of said 
 Squares, or any of them, that may be in conflict with the intention and 
 purpose of this act, be and the same are hereby repealed. 
 
 B. B. STRANG, 
 
 speaker of the House of Representati'ves. 
 
 CHARLES H. STINSON, 
 
 speaker of the Senate. 
 
 Approved the fifth day of August, Anno Domini one thousand eight 
 hundred and seventy. 
 
 JOHN W. GEARY. 
 
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PROCEEDINGS 
 
 |[datm tu \kt JMm of Wit immt %\mt 
 
 The larger portion of the excavations having been com- 
 pleted, and the foundations being in a good state of forward- 
 ness, the following Resolution was unanimously adopted at a 
 stated meeting of the Commissioners, held June 2, 1874: 
 
 Resolved^ That there be a Committee of five appointed (of 
 which the President shall be chairman), for the purpose of 
 preparing a suitable Corner Stone for the New City Hall, and 
 to make the necessary arrangements for laying the same. 
 
 'J 
 
 COMMITTEE. 
 
 Samuel C. Perkins, Chairman. 
 Mahlon H. Dickinson, 
 William Brice, 
 Hiram Miller, 
 Thomas J. Barger. 
 
 The Committee resolved that the Corner Stone should be 
 laid with Masonic ceremonies, and a request was made of the 
 R. W. Grand Master of Masons of Pennsylvania, which with 
 his reply thereto was as follows : 
 
lO 
 
 OFFICE OF THE 
 COMMISSIONERS FOR THE ERECTION OF THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS, 
 
 Philadelphia, June 3, 1874. 
 Alfred R. Potter, Esq^, 
 
 R. W. Grand Master of Masons of Penna. 
 
 My Dear Sir and R. W. Bro. : 
 
 It is with pleasure that on behalf of the Special Committee to 
 whom were entrusted the arrangements for laying the Corner Stone of 
 the New Municipal Buildings at Penn Square, I have by authority and 
 direction of the Commissioners for the Erection of the Public Buildings, 
 earnestly and cordially to request that the Corner Stone may be laid with 
 Masonic ceremonies by yourself, assisted by the Grand Officers of the 
 R. W. Grand Lodge. 
 
 The time appointed is July 4, 1874, at high twelve. It will be my 
 duty, no less than my pleasure, to confer with you and afford every 
 facility and accommodation that may be required, in order that the cere- 
 monies may be conducted with the greatest effect. 
 
 Very truly and fraternally yours, 
 
 SAMUEL C. PERKINS, 
 
 President of Commissioners and Chairman of Committee. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE 
 R. W. THE GRAND MASTER OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS OF PENNA., &c. 
 
 Masonic Temple, Philadelphia, June s, 1874. 
 Samuel C. Perkins, Esq^, 
 
 President of Commissioners, &c.,.and Chairman of Committee. 
 
 My Dear Sir and Bro. : 
 
 It will give me very great pleasure to comply with the request 
 of the Commissioners for the Erection of the Public Buildings, contained 
 in your note of the 3d inst., viz., to lay the Corner Stone of the Public 
 Buildings, July 4, 1874, at high twelve. 
 
 I shall be pleased to confer with you on the subject, at your earliest 
 convenience, at my office. 
 
 Truly and fraternally yours, 
 
 ALFRED R. POTTER, 
 
 Grand Master. 
 
1 1 
 
 The Mayor of the City acceded to a request to preside. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE 
 COMMISSIONERS FOR THE ERECTION OF THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS, 
 
 Philadelphia, June i6, 1874. 
 Hon. Wm. S. Stokley, 
 
 Mayor of Philadelphia. 
 
 Sir : 
 
 The Corner Stone of the New Public Buildings for the City of 
 Philadelphia is to be laid with due ceremony on Saturday, July 4, 1874, 
 at twelve o'clock noon. It is deemed appropriate that the Chief 
 Magistrate of the City should preside on the occasion, and by direc- 
 tion of the Commissioners I have the pleasure to request that you will 
 honor the occasion not only by your presence, but by acting as presiding 
 officer. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 SAMUEL C. PERKINS, 
 
 President of the Commissioners. 
 
 MAYOR'S OFFICE, OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 June 18, 1874. 
 
 Samuel C. Perkins, Esq^, 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 Your communication of the i6th inst., was received this a. m. 
 It will afford me gratification to comply with your request to preside on 
 the occasion of laying the Corner Stone of the New Public Buildings 
 for the City of Philadelphia, on Saturday, July 4th, next. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 W. S. STOKLEY, 
 
 Mayor. 
 
12 
 
 Invitations to be present were extended to 
 
 The President of the United States, 
 
 The Governor of the State, 
 
 The Heads of Departments of the United States and of the 
 State, 
 
 The Senators and Representatives from Pennsylvania, 
 
 The Judges of the Supreme Court of the State, 
 
 The Judges of the United States Courts meeting in the City, 
 
 The Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas, and of the Dis- 
 trict Court of the City and County, 
 
 The Heads of the City Departments, , 
 
 The City Councils, 
 
 The former Mayors of the City, 
 
 Officers of the Arnly and Navy stationed or residing in the 
 City, 
 
 Foreign Consuls and Vice-Consuls, 
 
 Officers of the United States Government in the City, 
 
 The Leading Clergy, 
 
 Officers and Members of the Centennial Commission, 
 
 The Contractors on the Building ; and a large number of othe) 
 prominent and distinguished citizens. 
 
 Upwards oi ten thousand tickets were printed and isBued to 
 citizens who applied for them ; these tickets secured admission 
 to the southern portion of the enclosure. 
 
 The Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster, LL. D., having been 
 invited to deliver an Address, accepted the invitation. 
 
13 
 
 OFFICE OF THE 
 CQMMfSSIOHEIiS FOR THE ERECTION OF THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS, 
 
 Philadelphia, June 3, 1S74.. 
 Hon. Benjamin Hai^ris Brewster, 
 
 My Dear Sir: 
 
 The Corner Stone of the New Public Buildings for the use of 
 this Municipality in all its branches and departments, is to be laid at 
 noon, July 4, 1874. 
 
 And it is with very great pleasure that on behalf of the Committee of 
 Arrangements I have (o state, that with entire unanimity you have been 
 selected to deliver an Address appropriate to the occasion ; and to re- 
 quest in the name of the Commissioners that you will kindly undertake 
 this duty, which from your well known interest in and thorough identifi- 
 cation with every thing pertaining to the welfare of this City, you are so 
 eminently calculated for. 
 
 Hgping for an early and favorable response, 
 
 I remain very truly and respectfully yours, 
 
 SAMUEL C. PERKINS, 
 
 f resident of Qommissioneri and Chairman of Committee. 
 
 796 WALNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 To Samuel C. Perkins, Esq^, 
 
 President of Comraissioners, &c., Chairman of Committee, &c. 
 
 My Dear Sir: 
 
 I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 
 the 3d of June, 1874, and request you to say to the Committee for me 
 that 1 accept the polite invitation, so courteously conveyed by you, to 
 deliver the Address upon the laying of the Corner Stone of the New 
 Public Buildings, at noon, July 4, 1874. 
 
 I am with respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 BENJAMIN HARRIS BREWSTER. 
 
 <)th June, 1874. 
 
H 
 
 The northeast angle of the tower was fixed upon as the 
 place where the Corner Stone should be laid. The whole of 
 the area of the foundation for the tower was floored over, ex- 
 cept immediately about the location of the stone, thus afford- 
 ing ample room for the effective performance of the Masonic 
 Ceremonies. On the north, east and west sides of this area, 
 an amphitheatre was erected with benches rising from the floor, 
 for the accommodation of the spectators. The whole was 
 decorated with flags and bunting, and protected by a large 
 awning. 
 
 The Corner Stone itself was of a block of fine white marble 
 weighing about eight tons, from the Lee quarries, which 
 were to furnish the material for the superstructure above the 
 basement. Upon the upper side a cavity was made for the 
 reception of a copper box in which the coins, documents, &c., 
 were to be deposited. It was arranged that one face of the 
 stone should be exposed to view from the interior space in the 
 centre of the tower foundation, and upon this face was cut the 
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CEREMONIES 
 
 agittj af tfje €nut %tmt. 
 
 President of the Day, 
 
 THE HON. WILLIAM S. STOKLEY, 
 
 MAYOR OF THE CITY. 
 
CAFlTAi. OF COLUMS OF FIRST 5T0R 
 
WHO OFFICIATED IN THE CEREMONIES OF THE OCCASION. 
 
 ALFRED R. POTTER, 
 ROBERT CLARK, . 
 J. MADISON PORTER, 
 MICHAEL NISBET, . 
 THOMAS R. PATTON, 
 JOHN THOMSON, 
 
 R. W. Grand Master. 
 R. W. Deputy Grand Master, 
 R. W, Senior Grand Warden. 
 R. W. Junior Grand Warden. 
 R. W. Grand Treasurer. 
 R. W. Grand Secretary. 
 
 ^vmA ©topIaittiS. 
 
 REV. WM. SUDDARDS, D.D., 
 
 REV. J. W. CUSTIS, 
 REV. EDGAR M. LEVY. 
 
 ^tniat (3vm& §tncm. 
 
 ISAAC VANDUSEN, Lodge No. 441, Philadelphia. 
 
 Mnniox (BvmA §«awtt. 
 
 WILLIAM J. KELLY, Lodge No. 59, Philadelphia. 
 
 (^xmiA ^imavAsi. 
 
 GEORGE B. COLE, Lodge No. 315, Shippensburg. 
 JAMES MORRELL, Lodge No. 114, Philadelphia. 
 
 GEORGE W. WOOD, Lodge No. 67, Philadelphia. 
 
 <&rmA ^wn& '§emtt. 
 
 A. J. KAUFFMAN, Lodge No. 286, Columbia, 
 S, KINGSTON McKAY, Ledge No, yz, Philadelphia, 
 HARRISON G, CLARK, Lodge No. 158, Philadelphia. 
 
 R. W. Bros. Peter Fritz, P, G. M. ; Samuel C. Perkins, P. G. M., and also 
 R. W. P. G. J. W. and Grand Representative of the M. W. Grand Lodge of Louisiana, and 
 Grand Representative of M. W. Grand Lodge of Canada; and R, W, Bro. Marshall B, 
 Smith, R, W, S, G, W, of the M, W. Grand Lodge of New Jersey, were present. 
 
 The following brethren, by special appointment of the Grand Marshal, acted as his Assistants : 
 HENRY J, WHITE, THOMAS BROWN, 
 
 CHAS. H. KINGSTON, 
 
 WILLIAM T. REYNOLDS. 
 
The Music was furnished by 
 McClurgs Liberty Cornet Band of Philadelphia. 
 
 Benjamin K. McClurg, Leader. 
 
i]tttmijim^. 
 
 " The Commissioners for the Erection of the Public 
 Buildings," with " the Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of 
 Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania, and Masonic 
 Jurisdiction thereunto belonging," assembled at the Masonic 
 Temple, at 1 1 o'clock, a. m., and marched in procession to 
 the site of the new Public Buildings, entering the enclosure 
 by the west gate. 
 
 When the procession reached the west end of the platform 
 prepared for the Grand Lodge, it halted, opened to the right 
 and left, and the R. W. Grand Master, preceded by the 
 Grand Sword Bearer, and followed by the Grand Lodge 
 Officers, the Commissioners, and the members of the Grand 
 Lodge, advanced through the opened ranks to the east of the 
 platform. 
 
 As the procession entered and advanced the band played 
 "The Belphegor March." — Brepsant. 
 
 The R. W. Grand Master directed the Grand Officers 
 to take their appropriate stations and places. 
 
 Hon. William S. Stokley, Mayor of the City and ex officio 
 one of the Commissioners, took his seat as Presiding Officer 
 of the day, on the north side of the platform, having on his 
 right, Samuel C. Perkins, Esq., President of the Commis- 
 sioners, and on his left, Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster, 
 LL.D., the Orator chosen for the occasion. 
 
 The Grand Marshal proclaimed — Silence! Silence! 
 Silence! 
 
11 
 
 The R. W. Deputy Grand Master addressed the R. W. 
 
 Grand Master : 
 
 Right Worshipful Sir : " The Commissioners for the Erection of the 
 Public Buildings," for the City of Philadelphia, have requested you to 
 perform the ceremony of laying the Corner Stone. The necessary 
 arrangements have been made by the Commissioners, and I have now 
 the pleasure to present to you their President. 
 
 The President of the Commissioners addressed the R. W. 
 Grand Master : 
 
 Right Worshipful Sir : The Committee charged with the duty of pre- 
 paring the Corner Stone have completed their labors, and it is now 
 ready to be laid. 
 
 The R. W. Grand Master replied : 
 
 Mr. President : Thanking the Commissioners for the honor paid to 
 the craft, in the invitation to the R. W. Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania 
 to lay the Corner Stone of the New Public Buildings of this City, we 
 shall now proceed to perform that duty, according to our ancient usages 
 and customs. 
 
 Invocation. — By Bro. the Rev. J. W. Custis, Grand 
 Chaplain. 
 
 O, Thou Sovereign Architect of the Universe, in Thy name we 
 assemble upon this day which Thou hast sanctified as commemorative 
 of national liberty ! We lift our hands and our hearts unto Thee, O 
 Creator and Father. Deign to look upon us from the throne of Thy 
 majesty, even upon us, the unworthy supplicants of Thy favor. Thou 
 hast taught us to look unto Thee in all the undertakings of life ; to 
 count upon Thy help in every laudable enterprise. Bow the heavens 
 and come down, O Thou glorious Being. We invoke Thy presence. 
 We invoke Thy blessing upon the work of our hands to-day. 
 
 Almighty God, we thank Thee for this day, its hallowed associations, 
 precious memories, and auspicious tokens for the future of our land. 
 For the stability of our National Government, and of the government of 
 this Commonwealth, we thank Thee. Thou hast given unto us great 
 deliverance, inasmuch as the nation, but a little while since storm-tossed 
 as a bark upon an angry sea, whose bloody waves mounted to the very 
 
23 
 
 heavens, has been rescued by Thy hand, and brought into a tranquil 
 harbor. 
 
 We beseech Thee, our God, let Thy blessing continue upon our 
 Nation, Commonwealth, and City. Bless the President of the United 
 States, the legislative and judicial officers of the land, the Governor of 
 this great State, and all w?ho are united with him in authority ; the 
 Mayor, Councils, and all the chosen servants of the people of this City. 
 May they all be men of God, in whom Thou canst find dehght, and by 
 whom Thou wilt bring upon the people great prosperity. 
 
 And now, O great Architect of the Universe, remember Thy servants 
 who have been called to the performance of solemn duties in the con- 
 secration of this edifice. Lend Thine aid and bestow Thy benediction 
 as Thy servant shall prepare and lay the Corner Stone, for " Except the 
 Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." May the struc- 
 ture knit together by tliis stone, in the beauty and grandeur of its mate- 
 rial parts, typify the abiding presence of that righteousness which alone 
 exalteth a nation. Direct by Divine wisdom the commission, the archi- 
 tect, and the builders. And when the building, completed, appears even 
 from afar like a mount of alabaster topped with golden spires, may it be 
 to the city as a watch tower and as a strong defence. Anoint with 
 heavenly wisdom the men who shall preside within its walls, so that 
 what they do may be so manifestly right that they may be unto the 
 people as the oracles of God. 
 
 O, Thou Sovereign Architect of the Universe, have respect unto the 
 prayer of Thy servant, and to his supplication, to hearken unto the cry 
 and to the prayer of Thy servant and Thy people. That Thine eyes 
 may be open night and day toward the place consecrated in Thy name. 
 
 We beseech Thee, for the sake of the Anointed One, who reignest 
 in indescribable glory for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 Response by the Brethren. 
 Amen. So mote it be. Amen. 
 
 The R. W. Grand Master directed the R. W. Grand 
 Treasurer to place the documents, coins, and other valuable 
 articles in the Corner Stone. 
 
 The R. W. Grand Treasurer having deposited the articles 
 in a copper, glass-lined box, the lid was securely fastened and 
 the box placed in the cavity in the Corner Stone, which was 
 
24 
 
 filled in with cement and covered with a black marble slab, 
 on which were inscribed the names of the Commissioners, 
 and of the Architect and Superintendent. 
 
 The R. W. Grand Treasurer addressed the R. W. Grand 
 Master : 
 
 Right Worshipful Sir : The coins and other valuable presents, set 
 apart to be placed in the Corner Stone of the New Public Buildings, 
 are now duly deposited there ; and your directions have been faithfully 
 obeyed. 
 
 The R. W. Grand Master directed the R. W. Grand Secre- 
 tary to read a list of the articles so deposited, as follows: 
 
 List of Articles Deposited in the Corner Stone.* 
 
 Constitution of the United States. 
 
 Constitution of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Charter of the City of Philadelphia. 
 
 Elevation and Plans of New Public Buildings. 
 
 Act of Assembly establishing the Board of Commissioners, with list 
 of Commissioners and their Officers. 
 
 Programme of Ceremonies of Laying the Corner Stone. Proceed- 
 ings of the R. W. Grand Lodge of F. & A. M. of Pennsylvania, for 
 1873, and names of Grand Officers officiating in laying the Corner 
 Stone. 
 
 List of Officers of the R. W. G. L. of F. & A. M. of Penna. 
 
 Manual of Councils, 1874, containing Lists of the Members, and 
 also of all Officers connected with the Government of the City and its 
 several Departments and Public Institutions, and of the County 
 Officers. 
 
 Annual Message of the Mayor, 1874. 
 
 Annual Reports of the several Departments of the City Govern- 
 ment, 1874. 
 
 Annual Reports of various Public Institutions of Philadelphia, 1874. 
 Copies of all the Daily Papers of Philadelphia, July 4, 1874. 
 
 * For particular details see post p. 57. 
 
25 
 
 Copies of the latest numbers of Weekly Papers published in Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 Copies of sundry Monthly Publications issued in Philadelphia. 
 Proof set of all the Coins of the United States, for the year 1874. 
 Medals — 
 
 Washington — Presidency Relinquished. 
 Army — Major-Genl. Jackson — Capture of New Orleans. 
 Navy — Capt. Bainbridge — Capture of the Java. 
 Sub-National — Penna. Volunteers — Action on Lake Erie. 
 Miscellaneous — " Let us have Peace." 
 
 Emancipation Proclamation. 
 
 Lincoln and Grant. 
 
 Grant's Indian Peace Medal. 
 
 Instrumental Music. — Cadet Galop — McClurg. 
 
 The R. W. Grand Master then addressed the R. W. 
 
 Deputy Grand Master : 
 
 R. W. Deputy Grand Master : It is my will and pleasure that the 
 Corner Stone of the New Public Buildings be now laid. You will 
 announce the same to the R. W. Senior Grand Warden, that he may 
 announce it to the R. W. Junior Grand Warden, with directions 
 then to proclaim the same to the Brethren, that all present may govern 
 themselves accordingly. 
 
 The R. W. Deputy Grand Master addressed the R. W. 
 Senior Grand Warden : 
 
 It is the R. W. Grand Master's will and pleasure that the Corner 
 Stone of the New Pubhc Buildings be now laid. You will announce the 
 same to the R. W. Junior Grand Warden, with directions then to pro- 
 claim the same to the Brethren, that all present may govern themselves 
 accordingly. 
 
 The R. W. Senior Grand Warden addressed the R. W. 
 
 Junior Grand Warden : 
 
 It is the R. W. Grand Master's will and pleasure that the Corner 
 Stone of the New Public Buildings be now laid. You will proclaim the 
 same to the Brethren, that all present may govern themselves accord- 
 ingly. 
 
a6 
 
 The R. W. Junior Grand Warden proclaimed : 
 
 Brethren : Take notice, it is the R. W. Grand Master's will and 
 pleasure, that the Corner Stone of the New Public Buildings be now 
 laid. You will therefore govern yourselves accordingly. 
 
 The R. W. Grand Master addressed the R. W. Deputy 
 Grand Master : 
 
 Right Worshipful Sir and Brother : You will see that the Craftsmen 
 have well and truly prepared the Corner Stone to be laid. 
 
 The R. W. Deputy Grand Master addressed the R. W. 
 Junior Grand Warden : 
 
 You will now see that the Craftsmen have prepared the Stone, and that 
 it is True and Trusty. Test it with the Plumb, and report to me if 
 you are satisfied with the work of the Craftsmen. 
 
 The R. W. Junior Grand Warden left his station with the 
 Plumb, and proceeded to the Stone, tested it and said : 
 
 R. W. Deputy Grand Master : I find the Stone plumb, and that the 
 Craftsmen have prepared the Corner Stone, True and Trusty. 
 
 The R. W. Deputy Grand Master addressed the R. W. 
 
 Senior Grand Warden : 
 
 You will now examine and satisfy yourself if the Craftsmen have 
 worked well. Try the Stone with the Level, and report to me the result 
 of your examination. 
 
 The R. W. Senior Grand Warden then left his station with 
 the Level, and proceeded to the Stone, tried it and said : 
 
 R. W. Deputy Grand Master : I find this Corner Stone Level, and 
 that the Craftsmen have worked well. 
 
 The R. W. Deputy Grand Master then proceeded to the 
 
 Stone with the Square, tested and tried it, returned to his 
 
 station and addressed the R. W. Grand Master: 
 
 R. W. Grand Master : I find the Corner Stone of the New Public 
 Buildings Tried, True, Trusty, Plumb, Level, and Square, and that 
 
27 
 
 the Grand OiBcers have approved the work, and have found it well 
 and duly prepared, and that the Craftsmen have worked well. 
 
 The R. W. Grand Master then addressed the R. W. Deputy 
 
 Grand Master, R. W. Senior Grand Warden, and R. W. 
 
 Junior Grand Warden : 
 
 Right Worshipful Brothers : You will proceed to the Stone, while 
 the laborers and bearers are placing it in its proper position, at the north- 
 east angle of the tower of the building ; you will test and try it with 
 the Plumb, Level, and Square, and report to us if it is well and duly 
 prepared. 
 
 The Stone placed in its bed, was then tested and tried by 
 
 the Grand Officers, who returned to their stations, and the 
 
 R. W. Deputy Grand Master said : 
 
 R. W. Grand Master : The Corner Stone is duly placed, and is 
 now ready to be laid. 
 
 Instrumental Music. — Corner Stone March — McClurg. 
 
 The Senior and Junior Grand Deacons then proceeded to 
 the Stone with the Trowel and the Gavel. 
 
 The R. W. Grand Master, preceded by the Grand Marshal 
 and Grand Sword Bearer, then proceeded to the Stone, took 
 the Trowel from the Junior Grand Deacon, and having 
 spread cement, the covering stone was lowered into its place 
 by the workmen. The R. W. Grand Master then took the 
 Gavel from the Senior Grand Deacon, and striking the Cor- 
 ner Stone three times therewith returned to his station and 
 announced : 
 
 We, ALFRED R. POTTER, Grand Master of Masons of Penn- 
 sylvania and Masonic Jurisdiction thereunto belonging, declare this 
 Corner Stone to be Plumb, Level, and Square, and so duly laid according 
 to the Ancient Usages, Customs, and Landmarks of Free Masonry, and 
 may the Great Architect of Heaven and Earth bless the work here 
 begun, and make it memorable to the latest generations. 
 
28 
 
 Instrumental Music. — Defile Galop — Arban. 
 
 The Grand Stewards then proceeded to the Stone, bearing 
 the vessels of Corn, Wine, and Oil. 
 
 The R. W. Deputy Grand Master, with R. W. Grand 
 
 Wardens, then proceeded to the Stone, and the Grand Steward, 
 
 presenting to the R.W. Deputy Grand Master the Cornucopia, 
 
 he dropped the Corn on the Stone and said : 
 
 May plenty be showered down on the people of this ancient Com- 
 monwealth, and may the labors of the Craft be refreshed by the Great 
 Giver of every good and perfect gift. 
 
 The Grand Steward presented the Wine to the R. W. 
 
 Senior Grand Warden, who poured it on the Stone, and said: 
 
 May the health of the Craftsmen employed in erecting the New 
 Public Buildings be preserved to them, and may the Supreme Architect 
 bless and prosper their labors. 
 
 The Grand Steward presented the Oil to the R. W. Junior 
 
 Grand Warden, who dropped it on the Stone, and said : 
 
 May the Supreme Ruler of the World vouchsafe unity, peace and 
 prosperity to the people of Pennsylvania, and to the nations of the earth ; 
 watch over the interests of the City of Philadelphia and the progress of 
 the New Public Buildings ; preserve and protect the Fraternity of 
 Free Masons ; make the virtues of the Craft a lesson to the world, and 
 the labors of the Craftsmen easy, and their burdens light. 
 
 The Grand Officers then returned to their places. 
 
 Instrumental Music. — The Beautiful Blue Danube — 
 Heinecke. 
 
 The President of the Commissioners then presented the 
 
 Architect to the R. W. Grand Master, saying : 
 
 Right Worshipful Sir: Let me present to you John McArthur, Jr., 
 Esq., the Architect of the New Public Buildings. He has his Craftsmen 
 ready for the work, and desires you to give him the designs from the 
 tressel-board, and the tools of the workmen. 
 
29 
 
 The R. W. Grand Master then handed him plans and tools, 
 and intrusted him with the work. 
 
 Instrumental Music. — World's Peace Jubilee, Pot- 
 pourri — Beyer. 
 
 The Grand Marshal then proclaimed — Silence ! Silence ! 
 Silence ! 
 
 Brethren : Take notice, that the R. W. Grand Master, Brother 
 Alfred R. Potter, Grand Master of Masons of Pennsylvania, and 
 Masonic Jurisdiction thereunto belonging, has this day, at this place, 
 laid the Corner Stone of the New Public Buildings of the City of 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 WISDOM ! STRENGTH ! ! FRATERNITY ! ! ! 
 
 The Declaration of Independence was then recited by 
 William H. Maurice, Esq. 
 
 Instrumental Music. — The Star Spangled Banner. 
 
 The Hon. William S. Stokley, Mayor of the City, then 
 introduced the Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster as the 
 Orator of the occasion, who spoke as follows : 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen : These solemn ceremonies having 
 been performed, it is now my duty to say some few words, explaining 
 the history and purpose of this great public work. One hundred and 
 eighty years ago, when this city and this province were a wilderness, 
 William Penn, then the proprietor, dedicated this very spot of ground as 
 the suitable site for the public buildings of his projected city. That 
 such was his act, and such his purpose, has been judicially established 
 as a legal and historic fact ; and now we perform the conditions of the 
 grant, and honestly apply the gift to the object of the trust, obeying the 
 intentions of our provident benefactor. 
 
 For many years this city has been unprovided with buildings suitable 
 
3° 
 
 for the convenient performance of the usual and necessary public 
 business. 
 
 Before the consolidation of the city, as created by Penn, we were 
 surrounded with outlying incorporated municipalities. Then the busi- 
 ness of each and all was transacted with reasonable convenience in the 
 old municipal buildings, and in the halls that had been erected in the dis- 
 tricts and townships of the county, but even then the accommodations 
 were wanting for the growing necessities of our courts. Year after 
 year the officers of the county (then a separate and distinct corpora- 
 tion with its own organization and officials), were driven to adopt expe- 
 dients to supply the courts with convenient apartments. At one time 
 the Supreme Court was held in the Hall of Independence, at another 
 time the Supreme Court, Nisi Prius, was placed in the chapter room of 
 the old, abandoned Masonic Hall, Chestnut Street, above Seventh. 
 During those days the necessities for such buildings for general public 
 uses were few. Since then new and great departments have grown out 
 of what were subordinate clerkships of public employment. 
 
 Day by day the want of proper apartments pressed upon the courts 
 and interfered with the administration of justice. Day by day the same 
 want crowded the officials of the city and the people who had business 
 with them. There was hardly a county of any importance in the State 
 that had not buildings larger in proportion to their wants, by a hundred 
 fold, than our crowded and narrow rooms. Different plans had been 
 projected and suggested for supplying this want. From many causes 
 they all failed. Sometimes the fear of the cost hindered the prosecution 
 of the purpose. Then the selection of the locality was in the way, and 
 then the choice of the means by which it was to be done. At last the 
 Legislature of the Commonwealth finally resolved, and by an Act, ap- 
 proved 5th of August, 1870, provided "for the erection of all of the 
 public buildings required to accommodate the courts, and for all muni- 
 cipal purposes in the city of Philadelphia." That Act created the Com- 
 mission now in charge of this duty, and gave the people of the city the 
 privilege of indicating, by popular vote, whether the buildings should be 
 at Washington Square or at Penn Square, where we now are, and where 
 we have this day witnessed the laying of the corner stone of one of the 
 most majestic and useful structures that adorn, or have adorned, any city 
 of the world. May it last for ever ! 
 
 After the passage of this Act a heated and almost angry opposition was 
 excited ; a series of litigations ensued ; applications were made to the 
 Legislature ; resistance was attempted in the City Councils, and the ele- 
 ments of the most vehement partisan prejudices were used to frustrate the 
 
31 
 
 law or secure its repeal. Then some of us regretted this opposition. 
 Some thought it too personal, too violent. But since it has passed away 
 all are reconciled, and believe that it was for the best. Such an event, 
 conflicting as it did with so many convictions and interests, must excite 
 opposition, and those who resisted had a right to be heard, and fully heard, 
 before all of the tribunals, popular, legislative, and judicial. These con- 
 tentions delayed the action of the commission for any practical result for 
 full a year. After that, all those obstructions being removed, it proceeded 
 to act as the law commanded, as the people had directed, and as the courts 
 had adjudged. What we now do is the product of that action. On the 
 7th of January, 1871, the work was first begun, by the removal of the 
 iron railings which enclosed the four squares or plots of ground, into 
 which the city had converted the whole, in the year 1828, for the pur- 
 pose of running Market and Broad Streets through the original plot. 
 Before that the place had been left as it was originally set apart — one 
 entire square — and in that state had been occupied, at different times, 
 and in different parts of it, by a Friends' meeting-house, and by the first 
 water-works established and used for conveying Schuylkill water to the 
 old city. I remember the small, neat building that graced the centre. 
 I think it was designed by Latrobe, the famous architect, who adorned 
 our city with some of its most beautiful structures, and w^ho left the 
 Capitol buildings at Washington as the highest achievement of his 
 genius. The very columns that embellished its front now support the 
 pediment of the Unitarian Church, at the corner of' Tenth and Locust 
 Streets. The bisection of this plot, by these highways, was for the 
 purpose of temporary public convenience, and to accommodate the rail- 
 ways that were then for the first time introduced, and w^hose direct 
 access to the city proper was considered to be of great importance to its 
 trade and languishing commerce. With the growth of population and 
 the changes of events that has passed away, indeed the necessity now is 
 to remove the railways from the thickly-peopled parts, where they are a 
 dangerous obstruction to trade and the ordinary pursuits of the thousands 
 who throng their crowded ways. It was at most but a temporary occu- 
 pation and license, revocable at will, if it were not an unauthorized and 
 illegal intrusion. 
 
 On the loth of August, 1871, the ground was broken by John Rice, 
 Esq., then President of the Board of Commissioners, and the first stone 
 of the foundation was laid at 2 o'clock, p. m., on the 12th day of August, 
 A. D. 1872. The closing of the streets and placing the building in the 
 centre of the plot was the subject of much discussion in the Commission 
 itself. By some it was wished that the streets should remain open, and the 
 
32 
 
 four plots should each contain a structure ; but the final resolution of the 
 Commission was, and is, to place it and keep it where it was intended 
 by Penn that it should be put — in the centre of the whole ten acres. 
 And with this conclusion, I believe, most men now concur. It is the 
 only place where a building of suitable dignity can stand to display its 
 parts in all the beauty of their architectural effect. It will adorn, and 
 not blemish, the highways at whose intersection it is placed, and it will 
 give an air of majesty and grandeur to these long and broad avenues. 
 It is not put in a corner, hidden from view, but it stands out in bold and 
 high relief, commanding admiration. It is placed, as other and similar 
 great structures are, as the centre of human concourse from which all 
 things radiate and to which all things converge. It is surrounded by a 
 grand avenue 135 feet wide, on the southern and eastern and western 
 fronts, and 205 feet wide on the northern front. Neither the view nor 
 way is hindered by it. The view is improved, the effect being magni- 
 fied — and the way is widened into open spaces of unusual dimensions, 
 but of proportions that harmonize with the magnitude of the building, 
 and answer the convenience of the multitude that will be drawn here to 
 transact public and private affairs. Had the buildings been divided and 
 placed on the four squares, the cost would have been increased and their 
 beauty lost, while the inconvenience to the public would have been 
 great, and the expense of maintaining them with light and heat and 
 water, and the other necessaries, would have been largely multiplied. 
 The highways would have been smaller and narrower and less conve- 
 nient. In this, as in all that has been done, these Commissioners have 
 wisely followed, not forced, the general public judgment. Mr. John 
 McArthur, Jr., of this city, who had before this been engaged in pre- 
 paring all the previous plans, which had been the subject of public con- 
 sideration for many years, was chosen the architect, and his plan adopted. 
 That has been submitted to the public, and it, too, has been justly 
 applauded and approved. I shall not here undertake to describe it by a 
 multitude of words, which can only degenerate into mere rhetorical 
 expletives, and would therefore be unsuitable as well as vulgar. This 
 much, however, I must speak. It is suited for its purpose, it is of suffi- 
 cient size to answer future wants. It is admirable in its ornaments, 
 while the whole effect is one of massive dignity, worthy of us and our 
 posterity. 
 
 I will here give the dimensions, and a few of the details of this re- 
 markable structure. It is 470 feet from east to west, and 486J feet 
 from north to south, covering an area, exclusive of the court-yard, of 
 nearly four and a half acres. It is probably larger than any single 
 
33 
 
 building on this continent. The superstructure consists of a basement 
 story, 1 8 feet in height, a principal story, of 36 feet, and an upper story, 
 of 31 feet, surmounted by another of 15 feet. The small rooms open- 
 ing upon the court-yard are each sub-divided in height into two stories, 
 for the purpose of making useful all the space. The several stories 
 will be approached by four large elevators, placed at the intersections of 
 the leading corridors, to make easy the intercourse of citizens with 
 courts, public offices, and departments of city government. In addition 
 to these means of access there will be a grand staircase in each of the 
 four corners of the building, and one in each of the centre pavilions on 
 the north, south, west and east fronts. The entire structure will con- 
 tain five hundred and twenty rooms, of suitable dimensions, and fitted 
 with every possible convenience, including heat, light, and ventilation, 
 and the whole is to be absolutely fire-proof and indestructible. All of 
 the departments now existing will be abundantly supplied, and a vast 
 amount of surplus room will be left for judicial and other city archives, 
 as well as afford room for all of our growing wants. This is as it ought 
 to be. We provide for the present urgent wants, and protect the people 
 hereafter from those inconveniences under which we now suffer, and which 
 expose our records to ruin and decay, while they seriously obstruct and 
 hurt all branches of business and public duty. It is computed that the 
 entire cost of this work will be near ten millions of dollars, and that it 
 will be completed in ten years from the day when the first spadeful of 
 earth was removed. 
 
 To judge of its massive size, I will give you an account of what 
 materials have been consumed in constructing the foundation and the 
 parts of the superstructure you now see before you : 74,000 cubic feet 
 of cement concrete, 636,400 cubic feet of foundation stone, 8,000,000 
 bricks, 70,000 cubic feet of dressed granite, and 366 tons of iron, includ- 
 ing floor beams. 
 
 The excavation for the cellars and foundations required the removal 
 of 141,500 cubic yards of earth. A large quantity of the marble for 
 the superstructure has been prepared, and the corner stone is the first 
 block that has yet been set in the building. Here I will end my details. 
 To be more minute would be tedious and prolix ; but this much should 
 be given to properly advise the public. 
 
 Let me state with accuracy to what purposes the building will be 
 devoted, and who will occupy it the day it is ready for public use, that 
 you may see and know what are our wants. 
 
 The Mayor will require for the use of his office and of the police at 
 least twelve commodious rooms. 
 
34 
 
 The City Council Chambers and their officefs will need . .15 
 
 The City Treasurer, 3 
 
 The City Controller, S 
 
 Law Department, 9 
 
 Water Department, ......... 7 
 
 Highways, Bridges and Sewers, ....... 4 
 
 Survey Department, ......... 4 
 
 Markets and City Property, ....... z 
 
 Building Inspectors, i 
 
 Boiler Inspectors, ......... .s 
 
 Health Office, 6 
 
 Fire Department, ......... 4 
 
 Receiver of Taxes, ......... 5 
 
 Police and Fire-alarm Telegraph, % 
 
 Guardians of the Poor, ........ 3 
 
 Port Wardens, 2 
 
 City Commissioners, 6 
 
 Coroner, ........... 4 
 
 Girard Estates, 1 
 
 Board of Education, .6 
 
 Gas Office, .......... .1 
 
 Park Commissioners, ......... i 
 
 Board of Revision, 4 
 
 Collector of Delinquent Taxes, 3 
 
 Courts, 13 rooms, with accommodations for the Prothonotafies 
 
 and Clerks, for the Law Library, witness and jury rooms, and 
 
 District Attorney. 
 
 Recorder of Deeds, ......... 4 
 
 Register of Wills, 4 
 
 Sheriff, ........... 4 
 
 At this time the city rents apartments for the Recorder of Deeds, in 
 the Philadelphia National Bank ; for the City Controller and Treasurer, 
 in the Girard Bank ; the Law Buildings on Fifth Street, for the Law 
 Department ; of the American Philosophical Society, for the Water 
 Department ; and for the Survey Department, in No. 224 South Fifth 
 Street ; in No. 723 Arch Street, for the Tax Office and Board of 
 Revision ; and the southwest corner of Fifth and Walnut Streets for the 
 Department of Markets and City Property ; and for these insecure and 
 unsuited places it pays a rent of $41,300. These I mention that it 
 may be known and seen how scattered, costly and unlit are our present 
 accommodations for public purposes. 
 
 It will now be proper for me to speak a few words of the extent of 
 our City of Homes, as it has been called, — of its large accommodations for 
 its people, — of its great public improvements for public necessities and 
 private comfort. This I will do in a cursory way, as the occasion and 
 
35 
 
 the time will not admit of precision and detail ; but it should be done, to 
 show how fit this structure in all its magnitude of dimensions is for the 
 community it is intended to supply, and how it harmonizes in all things 
 with that which we have around us and about us in daily use, and how 
 essential it is to construct it as it is designed, if we are to have a provi- 
 dent regard for the manifest wants of the future. I have seen and lived 
 in almost ail of the capitals of Europe, and I have read of all of the 
 great cities of the world ; but I have never seen or read of such a city 
 as this is. There is no town in the world, of its dimensions or popula- 
 tion, and there never has been one, that possesses such accommodations 
 for its people. 
 
 Artisans, and even laborers live with us as they never lived before. 
 Men whose daily earnings in other cities will hardly sustain life and pro- 
 vide a shelter for themselves and their families, except in the most rude, 
 coarse, scanty arid crowded way, are here the occupants of single and 
 comfortable dwellings, and thousands of them the owners of their own 
 houses. 
 
 The effect of this upon the mental and moral condition of the citizens 
 is evident, even to transient visitors. We have no such class here as 
 the poor workingman ; our city is filled with workmen, independent, 
 prosperous freemen, who bring up families of boys with habits of thrift 
 and industry, to go out into life prepared and resolved to earn homes, 
 because they have enjoyed them in their happy childhood, and with good 
 girls, who are certain of provision for life with a comfortable house for 
 their families, because they are trained to keep those homes with tidiness 
 and economy, and because they are raised with a race of men who honor 
 and love their families, and find their only sense of content in the culti- 
 vation of the domestic affections. This is true, every word of it true 
 of Philadelphia and its workmen. At the beginning of the year 1 873, 
 we had 134,740 buildings of all kinds. Of these 124,302 were dwell- 
 ing houses, occupied by families. They exceed the following cities by 
 the following numbers ; 
 
 New York, by over 6„^„^ 
 
 Brooklyn, by over g 
 
 St. Louis, by over ... b, 
 
 -' '*••... 04,1 
 
 Baltimore, by over . . a- 
 
 Chicago, by over 
 
 Boston, by over .... 
 Cincinnati, by over 
 
 o 
 
 000 
 
 000 
 
 ,000 
 
 79,000 
 
 94,000 
 
 99,000 
 
 This city has a population of near 800,000, and they live ir 
 
 of 1 29f square miles. It has 1000 miles of streets and roads opened for 
 
 m an area 
 
3(> 
 
 use, and over 500 miles of these are paved. It is lighted by near ten 
 thousand gas lamps. The earth beneath conceals and is penetrated by 
 134 miles of sewers, over 600 miles of gas mains and 546 miles of water 
 pipes. We have over 212 miles of city railways, and near 1794 city 
 railroad cars passing over these railroads daily, 3025 steam boilers, over 
 400 public schools, with suitable buildings, and over 1600 school 
 teachers, and over 80,000 pupils. We have over 34,000 bath-rooms, 
 most of which are supplied with hot water, and for the use of the water, 
 at low rates, our citizens pay more than a million of dollars annually. 
 We have over 400 places of public worship, and accommodations in 
 them for 300,000 persons. 
 
 We have near 9000 manufactories, having a capital of $185,000,000, 
 employing 145,000 hands, the annual product of whose labor is over 
 $384,000,000. We exported in 1873, '"^ value, over $34,000,000, and 
 we imported in value over $26,000,000. The amount paid for duties 
 in gold was near eight millions and a half. The real estate, as assessed 
 for taxation, was over $518,000,000, and we collected near $9,000,000 
 for taxes. Our funded debt, including the gas loan, in January, 1873, 
 was $51,697,147 67, and our annual outlay in 1873, inclusive of in- 
 terest on our debt, was $7,726,123. We have parks and public squares, 
 and Fairmount Park, which is one of them, contains 2991 acres, and 
 is one of the largest parks in the world, and was enjoyed in 1873 ^Y 
 near 3,000,000 of people. 
 
 From this we can understand for whom we are now building, and why 
 the outlay proposed is provident and necessary. We can also see in a 
 partial way where our money has gone, but we can see with sufficient 
 fulness how providently and judiciously most of it has been expended, 
 when we behold this list of stupendous improvements, millions of which 
 lie beneath the surface of the earth, and millions of which we drive 
 over and walk over, unheeding the cost of the conveniences and com- 
 forts we are daily using in the paved, curbed, watered, drained and 
 lighted highways, on which front, for over 2000 miles, 124,302 neat 
 and comfortable homes. I said, we can see in a partial way where our 
 money has gone, because near twelve millions of the debt was incurred 
 for the expenses of the civil war. But even that we can see and value, 
 when, as the fruit of it, we can behold around us not only our own 
 comfortable and peaceful homes, but we feel by its outlay, made with 
 generous prodigality in such a cause, that we have saved a country and 
 a free home for ourselves and for others in this land, and in foreign 
 lands ; and we feel that we have also shown, that a republic can 
 "maintain a perfect union, estabHsh justice, insure domestic tranquillity. 
 
37 
 
 provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and 
 secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity." 
 
 Of all the cities in this nation, Philadelphia is pre-eminently Ameri- 
 can. Philadelphia's characteristics and customs, the habits and pecu- 
 liarities of the people, are essentially American. The vast body of its 
 population is chiefly the product of its own people, who were here 
 almost from the beginning. The descendants of the men who were 
 here at its foundation, and were here at the outbreak of the Revolution, 
 are the men who now compose the body of its citizens, who do its 
 work, carry on its trades, make its ordinances, control its offices, own 
 its property, and fill the stations of public usefulness and dignity. We 
 are not governed by strangers, and have never been willing to submit 
 to such rule. We have a manly local pride of citizenship ; other sea- 
 board cities are provincial, or filled with strangers from other parts of 
 the nation and from other countries ; and the Western cities are, like 
 New York, the homes of new men from old places. 
 
 If a foreigner were to ask me, where will I find a real American, 
 untouched in his character and nationality by the ever-drifting tide of 
 emigration, domestic and foreign, and with no taint of provincial nar- 
 rowness, I would say, go to Philadelphia, and there you will find just 
 such men and women by the hundreds of thousands. There you will 
 find a provident, steadfast race, the sons for over six generations of pro- 
 vident, steadfast ancestors ; real Americans, bone of their bone, flesh of 
 their flesh. Early in our career we commanded the foreign and domes- 
 tic commerce of the colonies, and till 1820 this city was the commer- 
 cial metropolis of the country. For a time that ascendancy passed 
 away, and New York, by her internal improvements, acquired the trade 
 we had lost. While we thus ruled, we ruled grandly, and we have 
 never forgotten our dignity. The sentiment that then prevailed with 
 our people still prevails. Then they embellished our city with works 
 of architecture, equalled nowhere in the Union in beauty and fit- 
 ness. We then possessed nearly all of the public buildings and public 
 works of the land, and they were objects of admiration. Strangers 
 came from a distance to see them and enjoy them. The Fairmount 
 Water Works, the old Bank of Pennsylvania, the old Bank of the 
 United States (now the Girard Bank, both the works of Latrobe), the 
 new Bank of the United States (now the Custom House), and the Ex- 
 change and the Mint of the United States, and the Naval Asylum (the 
 works of Strickland), the old Philadelphia Bank, and such like, were 
 scattered over our city, then small in its dimensions and population. 
 Even in the earlier days we were not unmindful of what was due to 
 
J8 
 
 good taste in the erection of our public structures, as well as in our 
 beautiful private mansions that then stood surrounded with groves of 
 trees adorning the town and country homes of our cultivated and wealthy 
 colonial gentry and merchants. Let any one but step into Christ's 
 Church, even as it is now changed by the renovating hand of modern 
 improvement, and he will there see the remains of a harmony, sim- 
 plicity, and fitness of adornment that indicates a high standard of just 
 taste. And there is also the State House, in Chestnut Street. Enter 
 the great hall that leads to the Hall of Independence and to the tower, 
 on which is built the steeple, and there will be seen a passage of modest 
 dignity, and a broad, well-constructed stairway, showing that even in 
 those days, over one hundred and twenty years ago, when it was built, 
 surrounded with the forest trees, and out of town — in those simple days 
 our ancestors had provided, as we provide, for the future and for public 
 purposes, with a liberal hand, regarding taste as well as utility. Let us 
 not forget the Pennsylvania Hospital in Pine Street, with its spacious 
 grounds and its lofty, stately main building, at this day an object of ad- 
 miration for its size and its proportions, so suited for its purpose, and so 
 simple in its quiet, harmonious beauty. 
 
 All this we still have ; and, further, we have the Girard College, 
 with other grand and elegant structures that are the work of our own 
 days. I will not speak of them in detail ; time will not permit me to 
 describe the rows of new residences that adorn our streets, or the costly 
 and stately churches that are scattered in every quarter of the town. 
 You have the great Masonic Temple and three beautiful churches that 
 cluster round this very spot. I can remember well when but two 
 steeples rose above our town ; now, as you gaze from the summits in 
 the Park, the city lies before you with a number of lofty domes and sky- 
 piercing spires. These are the work of private enterprise and bounty. 
 We must not omit to remember the great gift the city has this day be- 
 stowed upon her people. To-day the Girard Avenue Bridge was de- 
 livered over to the authorities, and is now possessed by all of us. It is 
 a work of wonderful merit, and is well worth the millions spent on it. 
 It is an avenue worthy of any of the greatest cities of the world. It 
 contributes to our convenience and prosperity, while it bears witness to 
 our pride and liberality of feeling in all that concerns the common and 
 public good. In our growth we live up to the example of our ances- 
 tors, and have resolved now that for our present necessities, and accord- 
 ing to the abundance of our means, we will adorn our city as it was 
 adorned of old, with a structure that will fully answer its end, and com- 
 mand the admiration of all men. 
 
39 
 
 Such is my love for and faith in this city, that I feel possessed with 
 a conviction, which might even be called a superstition, that it will 
 again be, as it once was, the real metropolis of the nation. The capital 
 and the public offices of the Union will never return ; the foreign trade 
 may cluster at New York as it does in Liverpool ; but Philadelphia will 
 be again, as she first was, the real centre of finance, of commerce, and 
 wealth. She is at the head of the mechanic arts and of manufacturing, 
 and she has ever led in refinement, in science, and in jurisprudence. 
 The material supremacies which left her will return, and those graces 
 and glories which she has ever had will never leave her. Here they made 
 their home, where Penn, the greatest of all the founders of free common- 
 wealths, demonstrated that liberty, the largest liberty, was compatible 
 with obedience to law, and a colony, established to maintain the firmest 
 of religious convictions by the strictest of sects, could protect all other 
 beliefs. 
 
 This wisdom he transmitted to our people, and as a body they possess 
 it to this hour as a spirit or living public soul, and it is that which has 
 made us just what we are, and for which we are and have been con- 
 spicuous in all of our public history. In the Revolution, when we had 
 most to lose, we were first in action, and faithful to the end, enduring 
 all things, hoping all things, believing all things for the love of that 
 Christian liberty which was a part of our blessed faith. In those sad 
 days, here came, as to a common centre, all of the wise and brave who 
 guided and led in that contest. Here the Continental Congress sat, 
 here the Declaration of Independence was written, executed and pro- 
 claimed. After the Revolution, here George Washington presided over 
 the deliberation of the Constitutional Convention ; and here, too, he 
 administered to the end of his official life the Government he had helped 
 to form for the country he had saved. How thickly the memories of 
 these events, our great events of the past, press on me ! How the 
 names of the wise and good and mighty rise up before me, and tempt 
 me to enlarge upon the history of the grand things done, and of the men 
 who did them. I mean those who belonged to us, who were Philadel- 
 phians, but whose fame is so large that men remember them only as 
 belonging to mankind. We have had Penn and Franklin and Ritten- 
 house and Rush and Godfrey and Bartram, whose names posterity will 
 not wilUngly let die. Penn and Franklin are names that never will be 
 forgotten; they will pass down through time linked with Solon and 
 Lycurgus, Pythagoras and Archimedes and Socrates and Plato and 
 Aristotle, the crowned monarchs of human thought. But I must here 
 pause. I have well-nigh done all that was required of me. I must not 
 
40 
 
 wander ofF, tempted by these proud thoughts of our proud citizenship. 
 I never approach a great building but with a sense of awe. Mechani- 
 cally I lift my hat, as if I stood in the august presence of something 
 grand and good. I can understand why men have imputed spiritual 
 gifts to the masters of this the greatest of all arts. 
 
 For in it all science and all art unite to produce sublime and almost 
 supernatural results. Solomon, the wisest of men, thus illustrated the 
 highest reaches of his superhuman genius, and the greatest achievement 
 of the chosen people was the vast temple built by that monarch and 
 dedicated to the service of Jehovah. Go where you will on the face of 
 the earth, you will there find these grand works of nations now dead 
 and perished from the memory of men. Those who made them had 
 immortal souls ; but for this life they were mortal, and are no more re- 
 membered of men ; and yet thus their history is recorded and remem- 
 bered in monuments that were the works of their minds and hands — 
 monuments that stand like great books written in the very rocks they 
 are built upon. Where no such monuments are to be found the 
 people had no mental or moral natures above the faculties of brutes. 
 Wherever a nation had a conscience and a mind, there it recorded the 
 evidence of its being in these the highest products of human thought, 
 human knowledge, and human will. 
 
 It has been well said that architecture rests on two ideas — the natural, 
 or the idea of order ; the supernatural, or that of the infinite. In these 
 various monuments of by-gone ages these thoughts are displayed accord- 
 ing to the genius of the people. 
 
 " In Greek art order directs and guides the natural and rational idea. 
 The strong column elegantly grouped, bearing at its ease a light pedi- 
 ment — the weak rests on the strong ; this is logical and human. Gothic 
 art is supernatural — superhuman — it is born of the belief of the miracu- 
 lous and poetic. The geometry of beauty bursts brilliantly forth in the 
 type of the Gothic architecture in the Cathedral of Cologne. To whom 
 belonged the science of numbers, this divine mathematics ? To no 
 mortal man did it belong, but to the Church of God. Under the shadow 
 of the Church in chapters and in monasteries — the secret was transmitted 
 together with instructions in the mysteries of Christianity. The Church 
 alone could accompUsh these miracles of architecture. She could often 
 summon a whole people to complete a monument. A hundred thousand 
 men labored at once on that of Strasbourg, and such was their zeal that 
 they did not suffer night to interrupt their work, but continued it by 
 torchlight. Often, too, the Church would lavish centuries on the slow 
 accomplishment of a perfect work." 
 
41 
 
 The original and brilliant historian and thinker, whose words I have 
 just repeated, citing them as the evidence of an observer, philosopher, 
 and critic, conveys to us, in his clever sentences, those truths which 
 illustrate and account for some of the most marvellous products of this 
 mighty art. He reminds us that when pious zeal inspires, it passes 
 beyond the mere love of order and fitness, and soars into the very em- 
 pyrean of the miraculous and poetic. What a grand thing is it thus to 
 perpetuate such sublimities of thought and feeling in. monuments as 
 everlasting as the hills, and as spiritual in their influence on the human 
 soul ! This is what we are doing. We are erecting a structure that will 
 in ages to come speak for us as with "the tongues of men and angels." 
 This work which we now do, as it were, in the morning hour of our being, 
 will, probably, like the broken arch of London bridge fancied by Lord 
 Macaulay, in some far off future day be all that remains to tell the story of 
 our civilization, and to testify to the dignity and public spirit of our people. 
 
 What we thus give we must give with free spirit, not grudgingly, for as 
 we are of great and good beginnings, and have been an earnest and noble 
 race of men, so should we make this our monument tell the world and 
 posterity how provident we are ; how, scorning ugliness as we do vice, 
 we resolve thus to speak to men as it were in words of marble, that 
 in their order are logical and human, and in their form reach to the 
 miraculous and poetic. 
 
 We have done and are doing a great, great work, and it will inspire 
 our posterity to live up to our standard, as we are' inspired to live by the 
 standard of our ancestors. They loved their town with a gentle fond- 
 ness that is testified by every act of their useful and remarkable public 
 lives, and they transmitted to us, their sons, the same soft sense of affec- 
 tion. We, too, can say, as Franklin said when writing of his home — 
 dear, dear Philadelphia. Do we not say it in enduring words with this day's 
 work, and when wz leave behind us this noble building to say it for us ? 
 
 Instrumental Music. — National Melody, Potpourri — 
 Heinecke. 
 
 Benediction. — By R. W. Bro. Robert H. Pattison, D.D., 
 Grand Chaplain. 
 
 Instrumental Music. — Liberty Polka — Bri/I, 
 
42 
 
 OFFICE OF THE 
 COMMISSIONERS FOR THE ERECTION OF THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 
 
 Philadelphia, July 7, 1874. 
 Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster, 
 My Dear Sir: 
 
 It affords me great pleasure, on behalf of the Commissioner^, to request for 
 publication a copy of the admirable Address delivered by you on the 4th inst., at 
 the laying of the Corner Stone. The Commissioners feel under obligation to you 
 for the research and labor expended in the preparation of the Address, which pro- 
 duced a marked impression on all who were so favored as to hear it, and cannot fail 
 to go far towards satisfying the public mind of the necessity, expediency and wisdom 
 of this great undertaking as it is now in process of accomplishment. The tone of 
 thorough and heartfelt loyalty to your native city, and the full appreciation of its 
 advantages and grea*ness which pervaded the whole Address, must have a most use- 
 ful and salutary influence. 
 
 Trusting that an early and favorable response may be accorded to the above 
 request, 
 
 I remain, very truly and respectfully yours, 
 
 Samuel C. Perkins, 
 
 President of the Commissioners, 
 
 To Samuel C. Perkins, Esq., 
 
 Philadelphia, 13th July, 1874. 
 
 President of the Commissioners 
 
 for the Erection of the Public Buildings. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 I have been absent from town, or you should have had an earlier answer to 
 your polite note of July 7th. I thank you and the Commissioners most cordially 
 for the kind manner in which they make the request of me, and with this I send to 
 you for publication the Address as asked for. 
 
 I am, with great respect, your friend, 
 
 Benjamin Harris Brewster. 
 
o 
 
 > 
 
 <■ 
 
SUMMARY 
 
 OF LEGISLATIVE AND MUNICIPAL ACTION RELATING 
 
 TO THE WORK, WITH A BRIEF HISTORY OF 
 
 EVENTS PERTAINING THERETO. 
 
 The earliest movements relating to the present undertaking 
 consisted in the passage of an ordinance by the City Councils, 
 approved December 31, 1868, providing for the erection of 
 Municipal Buildings on Independence Square, and designating 
 Commissioners to carry the same into effect. 
 
 The first meeting of the Commission was held in the Select 
 Council Chamber, January 7, 1869. 
 
 Architectural designs were advertised for on the 5th of 
 April, 1869, and on the ist of September following, plans and 
 drawings had been received from seventeen different architects. 
 
 At a meeting of the Commissioners, held September 27, 
 1869, the first premium was awarded to John McArthur, Jr., 
 architect, of this city, an-d on the 27th of the following 
 December, Mr. McArthur was appointed Architect of the 
 work, and proposals for labor and materials were ordered to 
 be advertised for. 
 
 Contracts were awarded on the i6th of January, 1870, and 
 arrangements made for commencing the work. 
 
 A strong opposition to Independence Square, as the site 
 for the Municipal Buildings, had existed in the public mind 
 from the earliest movements in that direction, and as the 
 
44 
 Commission proceeded with their preparations for carrying 
 out the provisions of the ordinance under which they were 
 acting, the opposition became daily more intensified, until it 
 culminated in the passage of a law by the Legislature of the 
 State, approved August 5, 1870, providing for the erection 
 of the Public Buildings, either on Washington Square or on 
 Penn Square, as the legally qualified voters of the City of 
 Philadelphia might determine, at the general election to be 
 held in October, 1870. The election resulted, out of a total 
 of 84,450 votes, in a majority of above 18,800 in favor of 
 the site on Penn Square, which finally disposed of the ques- 
 tion. The passage of this law rendered the municipal ordi- 
 nance of no effect, and relieved the Commissioners acting 
 under it, of further duties. 
 
 The first meeting of the Commissioners, under the new law, 
 was held on the 27th of August, 1870, at the Mayor's Office. 
 
 There were present Hon. Daniel M. Fox, Mayor of the 
 City; Samuel W. Cattell, President of Select Council; Louis 
 Wagner, President of Common Council; with all the Com- 
 missioners designated by name in the Act, except William 
 Devine, deceased, and William L. Stokes, not known; and 
 Messrs. Henry W. Gray and William S. Stokley were elected 
 in their places. A temporary organization was effected by the 
 election of Mayor Fox, as President, and Eugene G. Wood- 
 ward, Secretary. 
 
 September 15, 1870, John McArthur, Jr., was elected 
 Architect of the work. 
 
 October 4, 1870, a permanent organization was made, and 
 John Rice was elected President, Charles R. Roberts, Secre- 
 tary, and Charles H. T. Collis, Solicitor. 
 
45 
 
 November i, 1870, the Commissioners decided to have one 
 building, and to locate it on the intersection of Broad and 
 Market Streets, and on the third day of the same month 
 proposals for labor and materials were advertised for. 
 
 The removal of the iron railings which inclosed the four 
 square's on Broad and Market Streets, was commenced on the 
 ayih of January, 1871, and this may properly be considered 
 as the date of the actual beginning of the work. 
 
 At a meeting of the Commissioners, held June 19, 1871, 
 a resolution was passed to the effect, "That any and all action 
 heretofore had by the Board, designating the intersection of 
 Market and Broad Streets, as the site for the Public Build- 
 ings, is hereby repealed, annulled, and made void;" and the 
 Architect was directed to prepare plans for the buildings on 
 the four squares, fronting on Market and Broad Streets. 
 
 The Architect submitted to the Board, August 7, 1871, 
 designs for the four separate buildings, as directed, whereupon 
 the same were adopted; and on the i6th of the same month 
 the ground was formally broken by John Rice, Esq., then 
 President of the Commission. 
 
 Impediments were from time to time interposed to the pro- 
 gress of the work, by application to the Courts on various 
 grounds for injunctions, to which is to be attributed the delay 
 which attended the early stages of the enterprise. 
 
 October 12, 1871, Francis De Haes Janvier was elected 
 Secretary, in place of Mr. Roberts, resigned, and John Sun- 
 derland was elected Superintendent. 
 
 At a meeting of the Commissioners, held April 7, 1872, 
 it was resolved to revert to the original idea of placing the 
 buildings on the intersection of Market and Broad Streets. 
 The architectural plans and drawings having been heretofore 
 
46 
 
 prepared for the work under the original instructions of the 
 Commissioners, and the excavations answering in part for 
 either location, the change from the four buildings to the in- 
 tersection involved no delay. The first stone was laid on the 
 1 2th of August, 1872, and the work has since progressed 
 without interruption and with great rapidity. 
 
 On the 17th of April, 1872, Mr. Rice resigned as President 
 of the Commissioners, and Samuel C. Perkins was elected in 
 his place. 
 
 The contract for the granite basement was awarded Novem- 
 ber 19, 1872, for $515,500; and work was commenced under 
 the contract, March 24, 1873. ^^^ contract for the marble 
 work of the superstructure was awarded on the 7th of October, 
 1873, for $5,300,000; and the first block set in the walls, 
 July 3, 1874. 
 
 November 4, 1873, William C. McPherson was elected 
 Superintendent, and entered upon his duties November loth. 
 
 The appropriations by Councils for the prosecution of the 
 work, have thus far been as follows : 
 
 For 1870, '71 and '72, $277,450 00 
 
 " i873> ... ... 770,959 88 
 
 " 1874, 1,457,450 00 
 
 $2,505,859 88 
 
 Of this amount there had been collected by Special Tax : 
 
 In 1872, rate eight cents on the $100, . . $326,978 67 
 
 " 1873, " ten " » » , _ 469,972 68 
 
 " 1874 (to July 3d), rate ten cents on $100, . 347,701 88 
 
 Carried forward, . . $1,144,653 23 
 
47 
 Brought forward, . . 11,144,653 23 
 And there has been expended : 
 
 In 1872, ^^55^933 64 
 
 " 1873, 435»i37 92 
 
 " 1874 (to July 3d), . . 362,14085 
 
 953y'^^^ 41 
 
 Leaving cash balance, July 3, 1874, . $191,440 82 
 
 The Special Tax rate for 1 874, was fixed upon an estimated 
 assessed value of property subject to taxation of $548,243,535, 
 which will produce, if collected in full, $548,244. The City 
 Councils, however, have power to meet the appropriations 
 made, out of the taxation for general purposes. 
 
48 
 
 SINCE THE FIRST MEETING OF THE COMMISSIONERS, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING CHANGES HAVE TAKEN PLACE 
 
 IN THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE BODY. 
 
 1871. Jan'y 2. Henry Huhn, ex officio as President of Com- 
 
 mon Council, in place of Louis Wagner. 
 Oct. 19. Theodore Cuyler and Henry M. Phillips, 
 
 resigned. 
 Nov. 15. William Massey and Mahlon H. Dickinson, 
 
 elected in place of Messrs. Cuyler and 
 
 Phillips. 
 
 1872. Jan'y i. William S. Stokley, ex officio as Mayor, in 
 
 place of Daniel M. Fox. 
 William E. Littleton, ex officio as President of 
 Select Council, in place of Samuel W. 
 ■• Catteil. 
 
 Jan'y 2. John Price Wetherill and William Massey, 
 
 resigned. 
 Jan'y 18. John L. Hill and R.J. C. Walker, elected 
 in place of Messrs. Wetherill and Massey. 
 William S. Stokley resigned his individual 
 membership. Henry W. Gray, resigned. 
 Samuel W. Catteil and Alexander M. Fox, 
 elected in place of Messrs. Stokley (indi- 
 vidually) and Gray. 
 Feb'y 13. Alexander M. Fox declined his election, and 
 
 Hiram Miller elected in his place. 
 Feb'y 1 5. Louis Wagner, ex officio as President of Com- 
 mon Council, in place of Henry Huhn, 
 who had resigned the office. 
 
49 
 
 1872. April 17. William Brice and Thomas J. Barger, elected 
 
 to fill up the number of Commissioners to 
 
 thirteen. 
 May 14. R. J. C. Walker resigned. 
 May 28. John Rice resigned, and Richard Peltz elected. 
 July 12. Thomas E. Gaskill elected in place of Mr. 
 
 Walker. 
 
 1873. J^'^'y 6. A. Wilson Heuszey, ex officio as President of 
 
 Common Council, in place of Louis 
 Wagner. 
 
 1874. Jan'y 5. Robert W. Downing, ex officio as President of 
 
 Select Council, in place of William E. 
 Littleton. 
 
 PLACES OF MEETING OF COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 The earlier meetings were held at the office of the Mayor. 
 From October, 1870, the Commissioners met in one of the 
 lower rooms of the new Court House on Independence Square 
 until September, 1871, with the exception of a few meetings 
 held at the Architect's office, to examine plans, &c. In Sep- 
 tember, 1 87 1, rooms were rented for the use of the Commis- 
 sioners in the second story of No. 1107 Chestnut Street, and 
 occupied for a month, when the Commissioners removed to 
 rooms in the second story of No. 1103 Chestnut Street. In 
 November, 1872, the premises No. 1408 S. Penn Square, and 
 opposite the site of the Buildings, were rented and are now 
 occupied as the offices and place of meeting of the Commis- 
 sioners. 
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 THE EXTERIOR. 
 
 A tendency exists in the public mind to seek to classify 
 every considerable architectural design, under the head of 
 some "order" or "style;" but modern genius and taste 
 deal so largely in original adaptations of classic, and other 
 forms, that we often find no small difficulty in deciding under 
 which, if any, of the heretofore established orders or styles 
 many of the most important structures of the present day 
 can properly be classed. 
 
 The architecture of the New Public Buildings is of this 
 character. It is essentially modern in its leading features, 
 and presents a rich example of what is known by the generic 
 term of the " Renaissance," modified and adapted to the 
 varied and extensive requirements of a great American 
 municipality. 
 
 It is designed in the spirit of French art, while at the same 
 time, its adaptation of that florid and tasteful manner of 
 building, is free from servile imitation, either in ornamenta- 
 tion or in the ordonnance of its details. 
 
 This immense architectural pile is located on the intersec- 
 tion of Broad and Market Streets, in the City of Phila- 
 delphia. It covers, exclusive of the court-yard, an area of 
 nearly 4I acres, and consists of one building, surrounding an 
 interior court-yard. The north and south fronts measure 
 470 feet, and the east and west fronts- 48 6 J feet in their 
 extreme length. 
 
52 
 
 The four fronts are similar in design. In the centre of 
 each, an entrance pavilion of 90 feet in width, rises to the 
 height of 185 feet, having receding wings of 128 feet eleva- 
 tion. The fronts terminate at the four corners with towers 
 or pavilions of 51 feet square, and 145 feet high. 
 
 The whole exterior is bold and effective in outline, and 
 rich in detail, being elaborated with highly ornate columns, 
 pilasters, pediments, cornices, enriched windows, and other 
 appropriate adornments. 
 
 Archways of 18 feet in width by ^6 feet in height, opening 
 through each of the four central pavilions, constitute the four 
 principal entrances, and at the same time afford passages for 
 pedestrians up and down Broad and Market Streets, directly 
 through the buildings. 
 
 The basement story is 1 8 feet in height, and stands entirely 
 above the line of the pavement. Its exterior is of fine white 
 granite, of massive proportions, forming a fitting base for 
 the vast superstructure it supports. 
 
 The exterior of the building, above the basement, embraces 
 a principal story of 36 feet, and an upper story of 31 feet, 
 with an attic over the central pavilions of 30 feet, and over 
 the corner pavilions of 12 feet, all of white marble, from the 
 Lee Quarries, in Berkshire County, Massachasetts, wrought, 
 in all its adornments, in forms of exquisite beauty, express- 
 ing American ideas, and developing American genius. The 
 small rooms opening in the court-yard are each sub-divided 
 in height into two stories. 
 
 In the centre of the group a court-yard of 200 feet square 
 affords light and air to all the adjacent portions of the build- 
 ing. From the north side of this space rises a grand tower, 
 which will gracefully adorn the Public Buildings, and at the 
 
53 
 same time will be a crowning feature of the city, from what- 
 ever point it may be approached, as Saint Peter's is of Rome, 
 and Saint Paul's is of London. The foundations of this 
 tower are laid on a bed of solid concrete, eight feet thick, at 
 the depth of 20 feet below the surface of the ground; and its 
 walls, which at the base are 22 feet in thickness, are built of 
 dressed dimension stones, weighing from 2 to 5 tons each. 
 
 This tower, which is so deeply and so strongly founded, is 
 90 feet square at the base, falling off at each story, until it 
 becomes, at the spring of the dome, an octagon of 50 feet 
 in diameter. A statue of the founder of Pennsylvania, 20 
 feet in height, will crown the structure, and complete the 
 extraordinary altitude of 450 feet, making, it the highest 
 tower in the world ; while at the same time it possesses the 
 elements of firmness and stability, in a higher degree than 
 any known structure of a like character. 
 
 THE INTERIOR. 
 
 The entire structure will contain 520 rooms, giving ample, 
 convenient, and stately provision for all the Departments of 
 the City Government, classed under the heads of Legislative, 
 Executive, and Judicial ; besides which, a vast amount of 
 surplus room remains for use in the classification and preser- 
 vation of the archives of the city, for storage, and for in- 
 creased accommodations, which will undoubtedly be required 
 from time to time by the natural increase of the public busi- 
 ness, and the accumulation of the public records. 
 
 Every room in the building will be well lighted, warmed, 
 and ventilated, upon a thorough, effective and approved 
 system, and every part of the structure will be absolutely 
 fireproof. 
 
54 
 
 The several stories will be approached by four large 
 elevators^ located at the intersections of the leading corridors, 
 so as to facilitate the intercourse of citizens with the public 
 offices, courts, and other branches of the government. In 
 addition to these means of approach there will be large and 
 convenient stairways in the four corner buildings, and a grand 
 staircase in each of the centre pavilions on the north, south, 
 and east fronts. 
 
 The following materials have been used in the foundations, 
 and in the portions of the superstructure already commenced, 
 to wit : — 
 
 74,000 cubic feet of concrete foundations. 
 636,400 " " foundation stone. 
 
 70,000 " " dressed granite. 
 
 8,000,000 hard bricks. 
 
 23,300 pressed bricks. 
 
 36,972 white bricks. 
 
 T^dd tons of wrought iron floor beams. 
 
 6J tons of wrought iron clamps. 
 
 28 tons of cast iron lintles, askewbacks, drain pipes, 
 iron bricks, &c. 
 
 16,700 square feet of bond slate. 
 
 A large quantity of marble has been prepared for the 
 superstructure. 
 
 The excavations for the cellars and the foundations required 
 the removal of 141,500 cubic yards of earth. 
 
 The preparation of the ground for the excavations, involved 
 the change of the gas pipes, and of the two water mains of 20 
 and 30 inches in diameter, from their course through the centre 
 
55 
 of Broad Street, to a circuit around the site of the buildings. 
 The tracks of the West Philadelphia Passenger Railway were 
 changed from the centre of Market Street and laid around the 
 site ; and the Freight Railroad owned by the City and which 
 ran through Market Street, was entirely removed after it had 
 ceased to be of use in the transportation of materials for the 
 buildings. These changes involved a heavy outlay, which was 
 charged to the Commissioners. 
 
KEYSTONE" TO WItlDOWS CURTAIN FIRST STORY. 
 
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DEPOSITED IN THE CORNER STONE. 
 
 Constitution of the United States. 
 " " Pennsylvania. 
 
 Charter of the City of Philadelphia. 
 
 Elevation and Plans of the New Public Buildings. 
 
 Act of Assembly establishing the Board of Commissioners, with list of Com- 
 missioners and their Officers. 
 
 Programme of Ceremonies of Laying the Corner Stone. 
 
 Proceedings of the R. W. Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of 
 Pennsylvania for 1873, with names of Grand Officers officiating in laying 
 the Corner Stone. 
 
 List of Officers of the R. W. Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Ahiman Rezon. 
 
 Manning's Masonic Register for 1874. 
 
 Manual of Councils, 1874, containing I,ists of the Members, and also of all 
 Officers connected vsrith the Government of the City and its several 
 Departments and Public Institutions, and of the County Officers. 
 
 Annual Message of the Mayor, 1874. 
 
 First Annnal Message of William S. Stokley, Mayor, and Reports of Depart- 
 ments for 1&73. 
 
 Digest of Laws and Ordinances of the City of Philadelphia. 
 
 ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE SEVERAL DEPARTMENTS OF 
 THE CITY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 55th Annual Report of the Board of Public Education. 
 39th " " " Trustees Philadelphia Gas Works. 
 
 " " " City Controller, 1874. 
 
 " " " Department for Supplying the City with Water, 
 
 for 1874. 
 " Board of Health for the City and Port of Phila- 
 delphia, for 1874. 
 " " " Directors of City Trusts, from 1870 to 1873. 
 
 " " " " " 1874. 
 
58 
 
 ANNUAL REPORTS OF VARIOUS PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 3d 
 
 Annual Report of the Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia. 
 
 1st and zd " 
 
 13th " 
 
 zoth " 
 
 46th " 
 1 8th 
 
 9th " 
 
 6th " 
 
 57th " 
 
 " Home for Widows and Single 
 
 Women, in the State of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Board of Managers of the Women's Hospital 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
 Board of Managers of the Howard Hospital 
 and Infirmary for Incurables. 
 
 Board of Managers of the House of Refuge. 
 " " " Children's Hospi- 
 
 tal of Philadelphia. 
 
 Jewish Hospital, with Ceremonies of laying 
 Corner Stone ; also, an Engraving and 
 History of the Hospital. 
 
 Board of Managers of the Philadelphia 
 Orthopoedic Hospital. 
 
 State Asylum for the Relief of Persons De- 
 prived of the Use of Reason, 1874. 
 
 German Society. 
 
 " Hospital of Philadelphia. 
 
 Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Insti- 
 tution for the Deaf and Dumb, for 1873. 
 
 Philadelphia Dispensary for the Medical Re- 
 lief of the Poor, for 1873. 
 
 Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, 1873. 
 
 Board of Managers of the Hospital of the Pro- 
 testant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. 
 
 Board of Trustees of the Charity Hospital, 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
 Christ Church Hospital, 1864, and Charter. 
 
 Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania 
 Hospital, for 1874. 
 
 COPIES OF THE DAILY PAPERS OF PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 Press, - July 4, 1874. 
 
 North American and United States Gazette, 
 New Illustrated Age, 
 Public Ledger, 
 " Record, 
 Philadelphia Inquirer, 
 
S9 
 
 Philadelphia Democrat, 
 
 " Freie Presse, 
 
 Abend Post, 
 Evening Bulletin, 
 
 " Telegraph, 
 
 " Chronicle, 
 
 " Star, 
 
 " Herald, 
 
 " Programme, 
 The Day, 
 All Day City Item, 
 
 July 4, 1874. 
 July 3, " 
 
 July 4. 
 July 3> 
 
 COPIES OF THE LATEST NUMBERS OF WEEKLY PAPERS 
 PUBLISHED IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 June 28, 1874. 
 
 July 4. 
 
 June z8, 
 July 4. 
 
 Sunday Mercury, 
 " Dispatch, 
 " Republic, 
 " Morning Times, 
 " School 
 All Day City Item, 
 Keystone, 
 Saturday Evening Post, 
 
 " Night, 
 The Presbyterian, 
 " Friend's Review, 
 " Lutheran Observer, 
 " Commonwealth, 
 " Friend, 
 Friends' Intelligencer, 
 Trade Journal, 
 Die Neue Welt, 
 Harness and Carriage Journal, 
 United States Railroad and Mining Register, 
 Commercial List and Price Current, " 
 
 Christian Instructor and Western United 
 
 Presbyterian, " 
 
 Chronicle and Advertiser, " 
 
 United States Journal, June z6, 
 
 Philadelphia Sonntags Blatt, June z8. 
 
 Reformed Church Messenger, July i. 
 
 The Episcopalian, " 
 
 Vereinigte Staaten Zeitung, " 
 
 The Youth's Evangelist, " 
 
 July 5. 
 June 27, 
 
6o 
 
 The Germantown Telegraph, 
 
 July I, 
 
 1874. 
 
 Shoe and Leather Reporter, 
 
 tc 
 
 
 The National Baptist, 
 
 it 
 
 
 Insurance Reporter, 
 
 (t 
 
 
 The Lutheran, 
 
 tt 
 
 
 " Christian Recorder, 
 
 it 
 
 
 Die Republicanische Flagge, 
 
 ic- 
 
 
 Legal Gazette, 
 
 July 3. 
 
 
 " Intelligencer, 
 
 t( 
 
 
 Journal of Applied Chemistry, 
 
 July, 
 
 
 Temperance Blessing, 
 
 et 
 
 
 Catholic Standard, 
 
 July 4. 
 
 
 Illustrirte Zeitung, Leipzig, 
 
 Septemb 
 
 er 27, 1873 
 
 COPIES OF MONTHLY PUBLICATIONS ISSUED IN 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 Godey's Ladies Book, July, 1 874. 
 
 Lippincott's Magazine, " " 
 
 Penn Monthly, " " 
 
 The Amateur (Lee & Walker), " " 
 
 Medical and Surgical Reporter, June, 1874. 
 
 Catholic Record, July, '874. 
 
 Gardener's Monthly, " " 
 
 Centennial Almanac for 1874. 
 
 Public Ledger " 
 
 Lee and Walker's Musical " " 
 
 Pocket Calendar " " 
 
 Half Yearly Compendium Medical Science, January, 1874. 
 
 Election Laws, New Constitution, and State Officers. 
 
 Prospectus of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. 
 
 Photograph, New Masonic Temple. 
 
 The First American Art Academy. 
 
 Exercises of the laying of the Corner Stone of the New Building for the 
 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. 
 
 Address, Centennial Celebration of the Founding of the Pennsylvania Hospi- 
 tal, by Geo. W. Wood, M. D. 
 
 Brief Sketch of the Origin and History of the State Penitentiary for the 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania, by Richard Vaux. 
 
 Circular of the American District Telegraph Company. 
 
 Philadelphia and its Environs, by J. B. Lippincott & Co. 
 
 Officers of the Water Department for 1874. 
 
 Proof set of all Coins of the United States, for the year 1874. 
 
6o 
 
 MEDALS. 
 
 Presidential. — Ulysses S. Grant. 
 
 Washington. — Presidency Relinquished. 
 
 Army — Major-Genl. Jackson — Capture of New Orleans. 
 
 Navy — Capt. Bainbridge — Capture of the Java. 
 
 Sub-National — Penna. Volunteers — Action on Lake Erie. 
 
 Miscellaneous — " Let us have Peace." 
 
 Emancipation Proclamation. 
 
 Lincoln and Grant. 
 
^'0ntt:actor$ aiid jl«tetwl Mm. 
 
 Removing Iron Railings. 
 Daniel McNichol. 
 
 Removing Trees. 
 
 Joseph Earnest. 
 
 Excavations. 
 
 Wm. McLaughlin. 
 
 Erecting Fence. 
 
 Isaac N. Plotts. 
 
 Sewerage, and Removing and Re- 
 placing Water and Gas Pipes. 
 
 Samuel Ogden, 
 
 John Campbell, 
 
 J. Wesley Miller, 
 
 Samuel J. Cresswell, Jr., 
 
 E. Y. Shelmire, 
 
 S. Fulton & Co., 
 
 Jesse W. Starr & Sons, 
 
 Clark Brothers, 
 
 Lucius Hart & Co., 
 
 Water Department of Philadel- 
 phia, 
 
 Trustees of the Philadelphia Gas 
 Works. 
 
 Removing and Relaying Passenger 
 Railway Tracks. 
 
 Wharton & Bullock, 
 William Wharton, Jr., 
 Samuel Mink. 
 
 Repaving. 
 
 Danie 
 
 McNichol. 
 
 Foundation Stone. 
 
 Conshohocken Stone Quarry Com- 
 pany. 
 
 Laying Foundation Stone. 
 Robert Armstrong. 
 
 Foreman, Samuel Scott. 
 
 Slate Bond Stone. 
 D. Conway, 
 Wilson & Miller. 
 
 Granite Work. 
 
 Philadelphia Granite and Blue 
 
 Stone Company, 
 H. Barker & Bros., 
 Comber, Sargent & Co. 
 John Comber, 
 Ezekiel C. Sargent, 
 Philip Dougherty, 
 John Miiller, 
 John H. Killen. 
 
 Marble Work. 
 
 William Struthers and Sons. 
 Wm. Struthers, 
 Jno. Struthers, 
 Wm. Struthers, Jr. 
 
 Free Stone, &c. 
 
 Philip Dougherty, 
 
 Douglass Brothers. 
 
 Jos. M. Douglass, 
 Wm. S. Douglass. 
 
 Bricks. 
 
 J. & A. Dingee, 
 H. K. Vandusen, 
 James Caven, 
 Excelsior Brick Company, 
 Lloyd & Russell, 
 Henry Huhn & Co., 
 Benjamin Allen, 
 R. & W. McCay. 
 
White Bricks. 
 
 Philip Neuicumet. 
 
 Bricklaying. 
 
 J. B. Hancock & Co. 
 
 Cement. 
 
 French, Richards & Co., 
 William N. Needles, 
 Paul A. Davis, Jr., & Co. 
 
 Iron Beams, &c. 
 
 Matsinger Brothers, 
 Steward & Stevens. 
 
 Wrought Iron Work. 
 Ch.irles S. Hughes. 
 
 Cast Iron Work. 
 
 James V. Stilemln. 
 
 Hardware. 
 
 Field & Hardie, 
 Wm. R. Elliott. 
 
 Lumber. 
 
 Brown & Woelpper, 
 Esler & Brother, 
 Harbert, Russell & Co., 
 Phelan & Bucknell, 
 Keeley, Brownback & Co., 
 M. F. Stell & Co. 
 Geo. V. Keyser & Co., 
 Daniel M. Williams -& Co. 
 
 Painting Iron Beams, &c. 
 Charles Abel. 
 
 63 
 
 Hoisting Machines, Rigging, &c. 
 Nelson Gavit, 
 John S. Lee & Co., 
 Edwin H. Fitler & Co., 
 J. N. Hoffman & Son, 
 John Baiziey. 
 
 Incidentals, Stationery and 
 Printing. 
 
 Fairbanks & Ewing, 
 James W. Queen & Co., 
 Charles Williams, 
 King & Baird, 
 Wm. V. Murphy's Sons, 
 Henry B. Ashmead, 
 Thos. W. Price & Co., 
 Allen, Lane & Scott, 
 Smith & Campion, 
 S. K. & S. D. Large, 
 Thomas W. Smith, 
 Isaac S. Williams & Co., 
 Thackara, Buck & Co., 
 D. Mershon's Sons, 
 James S. Earle & Sons. 
 
 Plaster Models. 
 
 Alexander Calder, 
 Alexander Kemp. 
 
 Photographs. 
 
 F. A. Wenderoth & Co., 
 James Cremer. 
 
 Measurers. 
 
 John S. Thackeray, 
 Conrad B. Andress. 
 
 Surveyor. 
 
 D. Hudson Shedake. 
 
^t4tUrt*$ ^l^^J^isitant^. 
 
 R. W. PETERSON, H. M. WILSON, 
 
 GEORGE T. PEARSON, THOMAS U. WALTER. 
 
 WASHINGTON B. POWELL, 
 JESSE L. FERGUSON. 
 
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