Boogie Ben’s Day Tripper Guides, available at www.PhillyTown76.com, are intended to promote tourism and historic sightseeing in the original 13 Colonies. These Self-Guided Tours typically highlight the traditional “must see”: museums, National Parks, National Heritage Sites & Monuments and Museums, as well as local notable historic places and things. 

​In preparation of a new tour, “Ben Slept Here” Boogie Ben researched Benjamin Franklin’s early years and the exact locations; where Ben's professional printing career began, where he lived and worked... for more than 30 years!​

 “Social Equity” Takes Root
The Revolutionary generation that grew up reading Ben’s writings and witnessing his life accomplishments, was the 1st Generation that seriously started to break free of the class bonds that shaped the world culture and governments at that time. In the class structured society of the mid eighteenth century, the possibilities of "equal rights for all" were not reality. The dominant rule by nobility, a well-defined separation of the aristocrats and the working class, was the accepted way of life.
 
The ability to improve your standing by education and hard work, “the American Dream”, began to grow in the minds of a significant faction of colonial inhabitances, heavily influenced by the publications and the many stories that were developed here on the 100 Block of Market Street. Arguably, the Market Place, were the city patrons gathered daily, shopped and discussed current events, sowed seeds of equality and opportunity for all.

Boogie Ben gives us a Brief History
​​In 1726 Ben went to London to buy a printing press, type and all the supplies needed to start his own Print Shop. However, his financing fell through, and he was not able to secure the materials he needed. Although disappointed, he remained confident and approached a successful Quaker Merchant he met on his voyage to England. Young Ben made quite an impression with Mr. Thomas Denham.  Denham offered to pay his return passage and recruited him for a new mercantile business he planned to open on Water Street in Philadelphia. 

When he returned home to Philadelphia in 1726, the industrious 20-year-old, was excited about his prospects. Ben quickly showed his prowess, working for Denham as a Clerk, keeping the books, copying letters and correspondence, and managing the store. However, this arrangement was short lived, when 3 months later, in February 1727 both Franklin and Denham were taken seriously ill. Ben recovered but Denham died leaving the store to his heirs. Denham’s executor quickly liquidated the estate leaving Ben without a job. 
 
With the dreams of his own print shop collapsed, a jobless Franklin reluctantly decided to return to Mr. Samuel Keimer’s Print House, where he had worked, before he left for London. While Franklin enjoyed being reunited with old colleagues, Kreimer's tyrannical oppressive treatment of his employees coupled with his poor business maitices quickly made Franklin's situation tenuous. 
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The Start-up and Shop Opening
Realizing there was no future with Keimer, in 1728 the entrepreneurial young Ben partnered with a coworker Hugh Meredith, left the employ of Keimer, and set up their own Printshop at 139 High Street, today known as Market Street.
 
The two young men were excited about their prospects, with this bustling marketplace at their doorstep. The open air “Jersey Market” in the center of High Street, fresh produce from the farmers across the river in New Jersey, fish, meat, and poultry from the nearby rivers and farmsteads were brought daily to the city. It was a busy central gathering place were the city occupants frequented.... a perfect place to rapidly expand their new start-up printing venture.

In the early years, the Shop flourished with Ben acquiring lucrative government contracts, that included the printing of paper money. in October 1729 Franklin bought the Pennsylvania Gazette from his old boss Keimer and began publishing the newspaper at this location. They also opened a stationery shop, selling paper, parchment, blank forms, and books, establishing a thriving retail enterprise in the commercial hub of the city.




The Buy-out and Move 4 Doors Down the Block
Toward the end of 1732 Ben began publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac, which became the Colonies’ first great folk humor classic. The Almanacs were a very profitable undertaking, printing new addition each year and used by almost everyone at the time. Their sales were only second to the sale of Bibles.

By 1739 Ben and Hugh mutually decided to end their partnership. Meredith, with slacking habits and drinking heavily sold Ben his interest in the Company and moved to North Carolina. With financing help from lifelong friend Robert Grace, who in 1725 had inherited his grandmother’s house at 131 Market Street, facing the Jersey Market and just 4 properties east of the Print Shop, Ben bought out Meredith and moved his residence, the Print Shop and Store to the Grace house, at 131 Market Street.

The Busy Place on Market Street
Ben organized his many volunteers, social clubs and civic organizations while living on this historic block. Some notable establishments included the Leather Apron Club or what became the Junto Club, and the Library Company, which became the Library Company of Philadelphia, the model for libraries that sprung up throughout the colonies. Franklin's sense of community and the desire to work for the common good included the Union Fire Company, training local townspeople to fight fires, and organizing a fire insurance company to help the victims dealing with loss from tragic fires. The formation of a hospital and a place of higher education which became the Pennsylvania Hospital and University of Pennsylvania, were formed. The vision, management and organization of these undertakings, the recruitment of likeminded, both aristocrats and trades people, all took shape from Ben’s desk at his Print Shop and Residence.

​At the age of 42 in 1748, the now wealthy entrepreneur decided to retire and turned over his business operation to his foreman David Hall. Ben wrote his retired good friend Cadwallader Colden, informing him that he was retiring early-or as he put it “I too am taking the proper measures for obtaining leisure to enjoy life and my friends more than heretofore”.  He mentioned that he and Debora were moving to “a more quiet part of town” on the northwest corner of 2nd and Sassafras, now Race Street. In retirement he was looking forward to becoming a “master of his own time and no longer at every ones call but my own”.

​Imagining the Area
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​This picture, one of the first pictures of any old city homes, in Philadelphia, was taken in and around 1826.
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Researching the oldest photos of colonial era homes in Philadelphia and Williamsburg, we can assume this may be how these historic properties on the north side of Market looked.

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In the 19th century, growth and new construction transformed the colonial town into a bustling city market center, the largest city in the United States. This Lithograph of High Street and The Jersey Market shows how the 100 block of Market Street looked 100 years later, in the 1830’s

​The 20th Century
History apparently was not a valued commodity in Philadelphia at the turn of the 20th Century. Lower Market Street,  with its proximity to the docks, became industrialized, retail stores, warehouses, and industrial shops lined both sides of lower Market Street. The buildings built in the 1800’s had reached the end of their useful life and were torn down. What we see in these City of Philadelphia, Department of Records, pictures below, clearly show, an industrialized transformation. 

Starting in 1967, the city began to redevelop the area, ushering in a period of reconstruction that shaped the area to what it looks like today. Penn’s Landing was developed converting the dilapidated dock along the river. The recreation park with walkways, an amphitheater and a World Sculpture Garden were developed and connected to the City Streets by an on-ramp at Chestnut Street and off-ramp at Market.  ​

​Marking the Spot
One of the historical sightseeing pleasures that Boogie Ben always enjoys, is standing on the exact spot of historic significance and mentally reliving the comings and goings of the people of the historic time. Boogie Ben was disappointed when first visiting the north side of the 100 block of Market. Today there is a subway stop at the end of the Penn’s Landing off-ramp and “don’t look too hard”, an indistinguishable old plaque marking the site of Ben’s “First Printing Shop”.

If you study the life and accomplishments of the Founding Fathers, it is undeniable that ​Franklin's writings and life accomplishments are partially responsible for American ingenuity and our independent way of life. From this very spot, Benjamin Franklin began to plant the seeds for the cultural revolution that followed, setting the stage for democracy and a government of the people.

​​A Call for Action

​We at PhillyTown76 firmly believe the 100 block of Market Street is of significant historic importance and should have been canonized. The result of the 1960’s planning and re-development of this historic corner was short sighted.
Future history enthusiast, and the throngs coming to celebrate the upcoming Semiquincentennial can certainly celebrate Benjamin Franklin. The Franklin Court site surely gives them an opportunity to do that, but they also should be able to enjoy a stop at this significant location, were the seeds of liberty were planted.  

A Preliminary Idea
Thinking imaginatively about the 100 block of Market and the 1729 open-air Jersey Market that occupied the center of the street, we envision several ways that a formidable representation can be designed and deployed to create a new Philadelphia Celebrated Historic Site.  A mid-18th century wall mural along the south side of the off-ramp may be constructed to create a notable historic site that will be a big draw, bringing tourists and visitors to this newly created site as a center piece of Old Town.

The wall mural will cover the unsightly off-ramp and create a 18th century, significant attraction. The existing bus stop pavilion can be decorated as the Jersey Market and become a focal point were, merchants and colonial impersonators can stroll the block make historic presentations creating an illusion of how it was in the day.
 
My initial discussions with current merchants on the south side of the 100-block show interest. Numerous resources will be required: gain consensus, plan, design, and fund the initiative. We believe the proposed project has the potential to become reality. Additional study, research, site investigation, negotiation with: PennDOT, City of Philadelphia, SEPTA, Old City District and local residents and merchants, will obviously be required to complete a final working model. As this spot provided financial wealth for Benjamin Franklin it also provided cultural wealth for the Colonists and all the Americans that followed. The bonds of a class society began to melt away as publications and essays printed on this 100 block of Market Street, began to flow.   

Sources
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Prepared and annotated with an introduction by the editors of the Papers of Ben Franklin
nd a new forward by Edmonds S. Morgan
 
Benjamin Franklin, An American Life
By Walter Isaacson
 
Benjamin Franklin
By Edmond S. Morgan
 
Benjamin Franklin Slept Here
By Hannah Benner Roach
 
The Loyal Son
By Daniel Mark Epstein
 
Young Benjamin Franklin, The Birth of Ingenuity
By Nick Bunker
 
Ben Franklin's World Blog

www.Founders.archives.gov
 
www.Franklinpapers.org

​Benjamin Franklin was one of many printers who printed continental and early American currency before, during and after the Revolution.  John Peter Zenger of New York, John Dunlop of Philadelphia, Benjamin Edes, John Gill and Paul Revere from Boston,  were craftsman and printers whom successfully printed currency and engravers printing plates in early America. 
In 1728 early in the startup phase of their new printing business Ben Franklin and Hugh Meredith, under contract to his financially strapped old boss Samuel Keimer, printed 50,000 New Jersey bills in nine denominations over the course of three months.  
Recalling the New Jersey printing job, in Ben’s autobiography he wrote, “I contrived a copperplate press for it, the first that had been seen in the country: I cut several ornaments and checks for the bills. We went together to Burlington (NJ), where I executed the whole to satisfaction; and he (Keimer) received so large a sum for the work as to be enabled thereby to keep his head much longer above water” 
​That successful printing job secured numerous currency printing contracts throughout Franklin’s career and into his retirement.  Ben turned over the printshop to his partner David Hall after his retirement in 1750. Hall continued to use Franklin’s anti-counterfeiting techniques and printing currency for years. 

Natures Fingerprint
Nature Printing is a process that uses leaf casts and a copper plate press to make direct reproductions  of natural objects. Ben Franklin adapted natural printing techniques in the printing of paper currency to thwart counterfeiters. In 1730 Ben worked with his friend, Philadelphia naturist Joseph Brentnall to make contact nature prints directly from inked leaves.   Each leave has a distinct pattern making them ideal for printing a unique paper bills. 

​Paper money, whole bills and “Fractional Currency” were very popular in the Mid-18th century. This One-Sixth of a Dollar was printed by Hall in 1776. The design used on this bill and the Fujio coin below were clearly Franklin’s; on the obverse he used the word "Fujio", Latin for "I Flee" and ”Mind Your Business” with a sun dial, and on the reverse the 13 rings encircling the "We Are One Congress.  The obverse design represent the virtue of frugality, where Ben encourages us to mind our business earnings because time flies and on the reverse the “We Are One Congress” surrounded by 13 State rings, linked together around one central government. Ben was the first to call for Colonies to unite, when  way back in 1754 he developed the Albany Plan proposing the Colonies unit for their mutual benefit of defense against common enemies. 

Boogie Ben's $Money Collection

Inspired by Ben’s involvement with Coin and Currency, Philly Town T-Shirt created the Boogie Ben’s $Money Collection.

Currently the Collection consisted of the following 5 Designs available:
- I Love Philly, B. Franklin (front print)
- We Are One, Hoodie & Tee, Ben's call for Unity (front print)
- Franklin Cent- (front print obverse and back print reverse)
- $100 Bill - (front print obverse and back print reverse)
- Franklin Half - (front print)

Look for more paper currency designs in the summer of '22

As we all know Ben Franklin, Philly’s favorite Son, was born in Boston. Neil, Phillytown 76’s expert tour guide, has done an excellent job pointing out the many landmarks and interesting places were Ben is remembered in Boston. Just follow Ben’s footsteps in this 2-mile walking loop tour, complete with pictures, maps and directions. Use this #080 Day Tripper Guide to plan your next visit to “Bean Town”.  Be careful and plan to follow all COVID-19 restrictions and Social Distancing requirements.  
https://www.phillytown76.com/080-bens-boston-neighborhood.html

PhillyTown76.com has re-designed our Ben's Quotes and Comments page. Take a look, you can now see all the Quote Designs, clearly read the entire Quote and click on Ben to see the available T's  for that Quote or Comment. Philly Town 76 will continue to add new and relevant Quotes and Comments made by Ben Franklin over 250 years ago.

 #076-Boogie Ben's Neighborhood
 #077-Philly Riverside
 #078-Ben Franklin Parkway
Three new Day Tripper Guides are now available on www.PhillyTown76.com. You will find each guide complete with maps, highlighting the traditional sites, cultural artifacts and the local favorite spots and stories that make Philadelphia a true gem and a great place to visit our American Heritage.
On the Website's main menu, you will find the "Day Tripper Colonial Map", select the Middle Colonies  and you will find the links to each one of the Day Tripper Guides. 

Each Guide is full of historical descriptions of each site, narrated with local antidotes and stories only a lifetime of Day Tripping in the City can experience. Colorful pictures will give you a sample of some of the beautiful architecture, fountains and gardens  you will see during your trip. 

There are several Hotel, Restaurant and Transportation recommendations that provide excellent food, lodging and service. You can find these establishments conveniently located in the immediate vicinity of each tour.

With this changing  COVID-19 regulations it will be a good idea to check with the individual venues highlighted in the Guide, we recommend giving them a call or checking  their website for current service status.    

On July 4th weekend, in 2008, Philadelphia Major Nutter married  Linda Wilde, a Betsy Ross impersonator, to Ralph Archbold, the famous Ben Franklin impersonator.  Their wedding rings were a dark gold with bits of the American flag, a kite, a lightning bolt, and a key embossed.