Memorializing a Forgotten Site in American History

by Richard Armandi,   
Blog Category: Historic Event
edited by Richard Fineo

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!​

Home and Shops at the 100 block of Market Street. 
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In 1728, at 139 Market Street, a squat three story, brick building, Ben Franklin opened his first print shop and began his successful business career.  

​Eleven (11) years later, on January 11, 1739, the printer announced in his Gazette that he had moved his shop, store, residence and (then) Post Office “four doors nearer the river” to 131 Market Street. This larger multi building property, had a dry goods storefront and a separate, two-story kitchen in back. This property additionally occupied the presents sites of 120 and 122 Church Street. 

Retiring in December of 1747 and then leaving the shop to his partner David Hall in May 1748, Franklin and his wife Debora moved to "a quieter part of town" at 2nd and Race. A mere 18 months, in 1750 the couple moved back to the “Jersey Market Area” at 141 Market Street. Debora, who lived all her life on Market Street, missed being at the market center and steps away from her favorite shops and friends.   

​Franklin’s newspaper the Pennsylvania Gazette and his Poor Richard's Almanac were first printed and distributed from these locations. These publications were the main source of news, shaping social and political opinion in Philadelphia and throughout the 13 Colonies. The Gazette, Poor Richard’s Almanac and the numerous Pamphlets published and distributed from this block were widely read in all 13 colonies and throughout the British Empire. ​Three personal and business dwellings, marking over 34 years of Franklin’s life and accomplishments, clearly mark this north side of the 100 Block of Market, as a significant historic site. 

Present Day​
Currently, on the north side of the 100 block of Market Street, you will find the Market Frankford Subway Line, 2nd & Market St. station and an off-ramp from Penn’s Landing. 
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​Evidently in the late 1960's, the entire north side of the 100 block of Market Street was removed from the registry of city streets and seeded to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, to be used as an off-ramp, for vehicular egress from the Penn's Landing project. 

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 “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.

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Illustration of a Philadelphia 18th century Market Place, possibly the Jersey Market on High Street

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”.

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Early photograph of colonial era homes in Philadelphia

​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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1830’s Lithograph of High Street and The Jersey Market

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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

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​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. 

139 Market Street (1960)

101 - 107 Market Street (1960)

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.  ​

Creating Penn Landing land- mass and construction of I95 (1968)

​​As it looks today

​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”.

Hail the Professional Journalistic Society whom in 1961 had the wherewithal to donate this plaque to commemorate the site.

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.  

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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.

Concept prospective photo West End 100 Block of Market

Concept perspective photo East End 100 Block of Market

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.   

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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