HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Washington Avenue Historic District, or Washington Avenue Factory District, is a national
historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
located in the
Hawthorne Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne may also refer to: Places Australia *Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane Canada * Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario United States * Hawt ...
and Bella Vista neighborhoods of
South Philadelphia South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west.Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. It comprises the remaining four blocks of one of the last industrial neighborhoods in Philadelphia, and encompasses eight contributing buildings built between 1889 and 1927: ''Note:'' This includes * 1001 Washington Avenue: C. J . Milne Factory * 1101 Washington Avenue:
Curtis Publishing Company The Curtis Publishing Company, founded in 1891 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became one of the largest and most influential publishers in the United States during the early 20th century. The company's publications included the ''Ladies' Home Jour ...
* 1135 Washington Avenue: American Cigar Company * 1201 Washington Avenue: John Wyeth Chemical Works * 1301 Washington Avenue: National Licorice Company * 1001 S. Broad Street: John Wanamaker Clothing Factory * 1200 Carpenter Street: John Williams and Company * 1217-37 Carpenter Street: Main Belting Company It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1984.


History

Washington Avenue was a district of manufacturing plants and factories that was also known as the "workshop of the world" up until mid 20th century (1950s). In 1875 the north side of the 1000 block (site of the Milne Factory) was a cemetery; the site of the Curtis Building was a lumberyard; the Wyeth sites at 10th and 12th Streets were coal yards; the Wanamaker Factory was the location of the 13th and 15th Street Passenger Railroad stables and car barn. Only the western half of the 1100 block (now American Cigar) was given over to intensive industrial development - a cotton and woolen mill in a building demolished before 1900. Industry arrived late on Washington Avenue, though it had become a significant shipping center by the 1850s with the arrival of the
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad that operated independently from 1836 to 1881. It was formed in 1836 by the merger of four state-chartered railroads in three Middle Atlantic states to create a ...
(PW&B). These buildings were located here because of the position of the railroad tracks in the middle of Washington Avenue, connecting one factory to the next, and to the rest of the nation. The main influx of heavy industry began with the arrival in 1889 of John Wyeth's chemical laboratory and pharmaceutical works. Ultimately the company built several other buildings near the PW&B tracks, including the handsome five-story loft building at the northwest corner of 12th and Washington in 1909. In 1890,
John Wanamaker John Wanamaker (July 11, 1838December 12, 1922) was an American merchant and religious, civic and political figure, considered by some to be a proponent of advertising and a "pioneer in marketing". He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a ...
built a warehouse at Broad and Carpenter to hold his goods, and ten years later he commissioned the monumental six-story factory at Broad and Washington that obliterated the earlier buildings. Five years earlier Caleb Milne built the largest of all, a 376 foot long factory that stretched from 10th to 11th Streets. By 1900 the John Williams Cotton and Woolen Mill occupied the 3-story brick building at Carpenter and 12th Streets, and six years later it expanded to the west end of its block in a six-story high loft. The Main Belting Company was at its location on Carpenter Street before 1900, and was extended in 1902 and again in 1911. On the 1100 block were the
Curtis Publishing Company The Curtis Publishing Company, founded in 1891 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became one of the largest and most influential publishers in the United States during the early 20th century. The company's publications included the ''Ladies' Home Jour ...
Warehouse and the adjacent American Cigar Company. The National Licorice Company built its modern reinforced concrete plant in 1927-28) at 13th and Washington Avenue, completing the group of industrial buildings begun thirty eight years earlier. The overwhelming scale of these manufacturing buildings underscores their impact on their community, which provided the thousands of workers that wove cloth for John Williams and C.J. Milne, sewed garments for John Wanamaker, moved the various supplies of Curtis Publishing (which printed
Ladies Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...
and
Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...
), wrapped cigars for American Cigars, produced the chemical and pharmaceutical products of the John Wyeth Laboratories, or manufactured candy for National Licorice. Many of the buildings are of architectural note as well. The Milne factory, for instance, by Hales and Ballinger, featured their newly invented "Superspan Truss", which shaped many of the conventional forms of factory architecture. File:Was 1101, 1301 Washington Philly.JPG, Empty lots at 1101 S. Broad and 1301 Washington where contributing buildings were located; 1201 Washington is in the background File:1135 Washington Philly, PA.JPG, 1135 Washington, formerly the American Cigar Company File:1201 Washington Philly, PA.JPG, 1201 Washington, formerly the John Wyeth Chemical Company File:Lofts at Bella Vista Curtis Publishing Company Warehouse Building 1101 Washington Ave Philadelphia PA (DSC 2982).jpg, 1101 Washington, Lofts at Bella Vista, formerly the Curtis Publishing Company Warehouse


Public transportation

The Washington Avenue Historic District is served by
SEPTA The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...
's Route 64 bus. Several other transit routes cross Washington Avenue, most important being the subsurface
Broad Street Line The Broad Street Line (BSL), also known as the Broad Street subway (BSS), Orange Line, or Broad Line, is a subway line owned by the city of Philadelphia and operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The line r ...
with its station at Ellsworth-Federal.


General reference


History extracted from ''National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form, Reference Number 84003561 (Sep 7, 1984): Washington Avenue Historic District (Washington Avenue Factory District), Philadelphia PA''


References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Historic districts in Philadelphia Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia South Philadelphia Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Streets in Philadelphia