by departments of city government. The water department, city commissioners, city clerk, city treasurer, and other officers, were in the back room. The Mayor's Court was afterward removed to the StateHouse building. After the consolidation of the city and districts, in 1854, Councils resolved that the State-House should be the City Hall. To accommodate Select and Common Councils extensive alterations were necessary. They were completed about 1854, and since that time meetings of the Municipal Legislature have been continuous in that building. City Courts. One of the incidents of the charter of the city of Philadelphia, granted by William Penn in 1701, was the conferring of authority to exercise judicial functions within the city upon the officers of the corporation. In order to facilitate this design there was to be a city sheriff and a town clerk, who was to be clerk of the peace and clerk of the court and courts. The functions of the recorder, who in after-years acted as one of the presiding judges of the City Court and Mayor's Court, were not so well defined. He was "to do and execute all things which unto the office of Recorder of the said city doth or may belong." It is worthy of notice that in the original charter the recorder was not mentioned as being necessary to the corporate title. "Mayor and commonalty of Phila. in the province of Pennsylvania" was the title of the old city corporation, although in some parts of the charter the mayor and commonalty of the city of Phila.," omitting the words in the province of Pennsylvania, are spoken of as the official title. A court, whereof any four or more of the aldermen (whereof the mayor and recorder for the time being shall be two) has no name assigned to it in the charter further than a Court of Record." Under the charter Thomas Story was named as the first recorder, Thomas Farmer to be the city sheriff, and Robert Assheton to be the town clerk and clerk of the court and courts. Farmer was the county sheriff at the time. There does not appear to have been at any period afterward an attempt to constitute a separate city sheriff. The sheriff for the county was always considered to be the sheriff of the city. The case was different with the coroner. The charter does not command that the county sheriff shall be the city sheriff. But the county coroner was always to be the city coroner, whether he resided in the city or in the county. There is a curious provision in the charter in reference to this matter: "And I will that the coroners to be chosen by the county of Phila. for the time being shall be the coroners of the said city and liberties thereof; but that the freemen and inhabitants of the said city shall from time to time as often as occasion be have equal liberty with the inhabitants of the said county to recommend or choose persons to serve in the respective capacities of coroners and sheriff for the county of Phila. who shall reside in the said city." From this it would seem that the coroners and sheriff of the county were obliged to reside in the city. The court established under the charter without a This name was generally known as the City Court. Under the authority of the charter the city corporation, shortly after 1701, set up under ordinance a court for determining small debts, and to be held by the mayor or recorder with one or more of the aldermen. was called "the forty shillings court" "or the two weeks court." The management of this tribunal was not satisfactory. According to the recital in the act of May 28, 1715, "the several Laws of this Province for determining small Debts without formality of trial were designed for the Ease and Conveniency of the Subject; but Complaint is made by many of the Inhabitants of the City & County of Philadelphia that the manner of putting the same in Execution by some of the said City Magistrates and Officers, proves very chargeable and inconvenient." For remedy of this it was declared that the city ordinance under which the Forty Shillings or Two Weeks' Court exercised its functions was null and void, that no court in the province should have cognizance of debts and demands under forty shillings, and that the same should be recoverable by ordinary process before any justice of the peace. The Revolution was considered to have put an end to the corporation of the city under Penn. During the interval when there was no city corporation, under certain acts of Assembly the justices of the peace for the city of Philadelphia were authorized to hold "a city court." Under the act of March 11, 1789, creating the new city charter, this authority was annulled, and all the records and proceedings of the City Court were ordered to be transferred to the Mayor's Court on the 15th of April of the same year. Under the charter of 1789 the corporate title was "the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of Phila." The recorder elected by the mayor and aldermen was to hold his office for seven years, and to have all the powers and jurisdictions of a justice of the peace within the said city. A court with a large jurisdiction in cases of crimes and misdemeanors, to consist of the mayor, recorder, and aldermen, or any four or more of them, of whom the mayor or recorder for the time being shall be one, were given authority to hold a court of records to be entitled "the Mayor's Court for the city of Phila." Authority was granted at the same time to establish a city court to be called "the Alderman's Court," to consist of three of the aldermen of the city, any two of whom might be a quorum. The aldermen who were to constitute this court were to be appointed by the mayor and recorder four times in each year, or oftener, if they thought proper. The aldermen were to have a civil jurisdiction in "causes and matters cognizable before any one justice of the peace within the State, where the debt or demand amounts to forty shillings, and does not exceed ten pounds." In cases of debts under forty shillings, right was given to the mayor and any alderman within the city to "have cognizance of and a sole and exclusive right to hear and determine in a summary way all such matters and things." An appeal from the judgment from the mayor and alderman was allowed to the Aldermen's Court. The latter tribunal proved to be no more popular than the Forty Shillings Court of the early municipal period. The act of 1789, so far as related to the establishment and power of the Aldermen's Court, was repealed after fifteen years' experience, in 1804. The Mayor's Court came to an end under the act of 19th March, 1838, which created the Court of Criminal Sessions in the city and county of Philadelphia, and abolished the Mayor's Court. Aldermen and Justices of the City Court and Mayor's Court, 1701-1838.-Under the charter of the city granted by William Penn in 1701, the mayor, recorder, and aldermen were created justices of the peace, and justices of Oyer and Terminer in the city and liberties thereof; also "that they, or any four or more of them (whereof the mayor and recorder of the said city shall be two) shall and may forever hereafter have power and authority. . . to hear and inquire into all manner of treasons, murders, manslaughters, and all manner of offences, capital and criminal," etc.; also "to hold and keep a Court of Record quarterly or oftener, if they see occasion," etc. This was the establishment of the court which was known before the Revolution as the City Court. They were also justices of the quorum of the county courts. ALDERMEN HAVING RIGHT TO SIT IN THE CITY COURT.1 Oct. 25, 1701 (Charter).-*Edward Shippen, Joshua Carpenter, *Griffith Jones, *Anthony Morris, *Joseph Wilcox, Nathan Stanbury, Charles Read, Thomas Masters, William Carter. Before Oct. 3, 1704.-John Jones. Oct. 3, 1704.-Joshua Carpenter. Feb. 4, 1705.-Thomas Storey. Oct. 2, 1705.-Samuel Richardson. Oct. 5, 1708,-George Roch (did not qualify), Richard Hill, *Samuel Preston, Isaac Norris (did not qualify). Oct. 2, 1711.-*Jonathan Dickinson. Oct. 7, 1712.-*George Roch. Oct. 6, 1713.-Joseph Growden, *Isaac Norris, Pentecost Teague. Oct. 7, 1718.-Thomas Griffith, William Fishbourn. Oct. 20, 1720.-Israel Pemberton (did not qualify). Oct. 4, 1748.—*Robert Strettel, Septimus Robinson (did not accept). Oct. 7, 1755.—*John Stamper, *Attwood Shute, *Thomas Lawrence. Oct. 4, 1759.-*John Wilcocks, Jacob Duché, William Coxe. Oct. 2, 1759.-*Thos. Willing (did not accept until 1761), Daniel Benezet (esigned Oct. 7, 1766). October, 1761.-*Henry Hannis, *Samuel Rhoads. Oct. 7, 1766.-Amos Strettel, *Samuel Shoemaker. Oct. 2, 1770.-James Allen, Joshua Howell (did not accept), *William Oct. 4, 1774.-*Samuel Powell, George Clymer. Last minutes of meeting of Aldermen and Common Council under the charter of 1701, dated Feb. 17, 1776. There must have been a stoppage of justice for some time. The City Court was held to be abrogated by the supposed annulment of the charter of the city. The Convention of Pennsylvania in July, 1776, appointed thirty-six justices for the city and county of Philadelphia. Offenses triable before the City Court must have been tried in the County Court (See "Court-Houses.") In 1777 a better order was established. There were justices of the peace appointed for the city wards. Presumably they held the City Court. JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. 14, 1777 14, 1777 14, 1777 14, 1777 March 28, 1777 Samuel Simpson, Middle Ward, elected....... Feb. William Ball, High Street Ward... March 28, 1777 March 28, 1777 .March 28, 1777 March 28, 1777 March 28, 1777 March 28, 1777 March 28, 1777 ..Jan. William Adcock, Chestnut Street Ward.......Jan. Samuel Morris, Jr., Walnut Street Ward......Jan. Benjamin Paschal, Dock Street Ward..........Jan. William Rush, North Mulberry Ward.........May John Miller.... 5, 1779 5, 1779 5, 1779 5, 1779 7, 1779 10, 1784 Joseph Wharton, New Market Ward........... May .Feb. Robert McKnight, Walnut Ward................Feb. 9, 1787 28, 1787 New City Hall.-During several years after consolidation propositions relating to the erection of a new city hall for the use of the corporation was discussed. As early as 1838 an act was passed authorizing the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of Philadelphia to erect a city hall on any part of the lots of Oct. 2, 1722.—*Clement Plumsted, Israel Pemberton (would not accept), ground in said city now known by the name of Penn *Thomas Griffitts, Charles Read, Benjamin Vining. Oct. 6, 1724.-Thomas Lawrence, Evan Owen. Sept. 29, 1726.-*Anthony Morris (did not act). Oct. 3, 1727.-Edward Roberts. Oct. 7, 1729.-*Samuel Hassel, John Jones, George Fitzwater, George Oct. 6, 1730.-*William Allen, Isaac Norris, Jr. Oct. 1, 1734.-Edward Roberts. Oct. 6, 1741-*Benjamin Shoemaker, *William Till, Joseph Turner, *James Hamilton. Oct. 4, 1743.-*William Attwood, Abraham Taylor, Samuel Powel, Jr., *Edward Shippen. Oct. 6, 1747.-Samuel Maddox (did not accept), *Charles Willing (died November, 1754), *William Plumsted. 1 Those marked were elected mayor during their terms. Square. The expenses of erecting the hall were to be paid out of the treasury of the city. There was a proviso that the consent of the commissioners of the county of Philadelphia should first be had. The grant of the Centre Square to the city by Penn was not clearly expressed as to the direct intention further than the same might be used for public buildings. In "a short advertisement" upon the situation and extent of the city of Philadelphia, explanatory of Holme's "Portraiture of the Plan of the City," issued about 1685, is this language: "In the center of the City is a square of 10 A. At each angle are to be 2 These do not seem to have been commissioned. houses for Publick affairs as a Meeting-house House, Assembly, or State-House, Market-House, SchoolHouse, and several other buildings for publick Concerns." Although there was considerable discussion upon the subject of a new city hall in 1838, the project failed. On the 16th of March, 1847, an act was passed authorizing the commissioners of the county of Philadelphia, by the consent of Select and Common Councils of the city, to erect a new court upon a part of the said State-House Square. Councils were also authorized by the same act to " cause a new city hall to be erected on any other part of said square; the location and erection of said buildings to be first approved by the County Board of said Philadelphia County." There was much discussion in the newspapers about this proposition, and plans of buildings were prepared. But eventually the subject seemed to have been abandoned. On the 31st of September, 1868, City Councils passed an ordinance providing for the erection of municipal buildings on Independence Square, and designating commissioners to carry the same into effect. These gentlemen met shortly afterward, and organized and advertised for architectural plans for the buildings. On the 17th of September following plans and drawings were received from various architects, and at a meeting of the commissioners shortly afterward the plan of John McArthur, Jr., was selected, and he was appointed architect of the work. Contracts were solicited and awarded in January, 1870, but work was not begun. As soon as it appeared that the commissioners were determined to erect the new city buildings, there sprung up a very decided opposition to the use of Independence Square for such a purpose. It was argued that the erection of buildings for the accommodation of the municipality and courts would be a desecration of ground sacred to patriotic veneration by reason of Revolutionary memories connected with the old StateHouse. This opposition was something more than sentimental. The Legislature was in session, and the controversy was transferred to that forum. The opponents of the use of Independence Square succeeded, and on the 5th of August, 1870, an act of Assembly was passed by which Theodore Cuyler, John Rice, Samuel C. Perkins, John Price Wetherill, Lewis C. Cassidy, Henry M. Phillips, William L. Stokes, William Devine, and the mayor of the city of Philadelphia, and the presidents of Select and Common Councils for the time being were constituted commissioners "for the erection of the public buildings required to accommodate the courts and for all municipal purposes in the city of Philadelphia." This board was in nature permanent until the public buildings were finished. The commissioners had authority to fill vacancies in their own number, and also to increase their number to thirteen.1 1 In 1882 only one of them remained, the others having died or resigned. The president, Samuel C. Perkins, was at that time the only original member of the commission. The commissioners were given authority to procure plans for the buildings, and adopt them, make contracts, and superintend the carrying on of the work. They were entitled to make requisitions on the City Councils for the amount required annually toward the expense of construction. The commissioners were authorized and directed to locate the buildings on either Washington or Penn Square, as might be determined by vote of the citizens at the election in October, 1870. Within thirty days afterward the question was determined, and the commissioners were authorized to commence the work. If Washington Square was selected by a majority of votes, Councils were directed to execute to the commissioners the proper deed or deeds. As to the four Penn Squares, at the intersection of Broad and Market Streets, if the decision of the people was in favor of Washington Square, Councils were directed to convey one of said squares to each of the following institutions: Academy of Fine Arts, Academy of Natural Sciences, Franklin Institute, and Philadelphia Library, "for the purpose of allowing them to erect thereon ornamental and suitable buildings for their respective institutions." If Penn Square was chosen as the site of the public buildings, the commissioners were authorized to vacate so much of Market or of Broad Streeet as they might deem needful, and lay out streets passing around said buildings of width not less than one hundred feet." During a portion of the year succeeding the appointment of the commissioners there was a lively controversy as to the site of the new buildings. A large number of property-holders and business men were anxious to retain the public buildings at the old site at Sixth and Chestnut Streets, while other persons who were interested in property farther west preferred the Penn Square location. "A series of litigations ensued; application was made to the Legislature; resistance was attempted in the City Councils, and the elements of the most vehement partisan prejudice were used to frustrate the law and to procure its repeal." After a bitter contention, mostly waged through the newspapers, the vote was taken in October, and the return was as follows: For Washington Square, 32,825 votes; for Penn Square, 51,623. This was decisive, and the commissioners entered upon their duties as well as they could. Subsequent adverse efforts delayed the actual commencement of work for a year. The decisions, popular, legal, and legislative, being in favor of the Penn Square site, the commissioners commenced work on Jan. 7, 1871, by removing the iron railings which inclosed the four squares. After the passage of the act of 1828, which declared that the Centre Square (then one inclosure) should be cut by running Market and Broad Streets through it, 2 B. H. Brewster's address at laying the corner-stone of the public buildings, 1874. one hundred and sixty-one feet high. The pavilions are crowned with massive dormer-windows, in marble, forty-two feet high, flanked by marble caryatides twenty feet nine inches high. The corner pavilions are fitted with marble dormer-windows, with caryatides. The central court-yard is one hundred and eighty-six feet north and south by two hundred and twenty feet east and west. From the north side of the central court-yard rises a grand tower of ninety feet square at the base, gracefully falling off at each story until it becomes, at the spring of the dome (which is three hundred and fifteen feet above the level of the court-yard), an octagon of fifty-six feet in diameter, tapering to the height of eighty-four feet, where it is to be crowned with a statue of the founder of Pennsylvania, thirty-six feet in height, thus completing the extraordinary altitude of four hundred and thirty-five feet, making it the highest artificial construction in the world. Town-House of the Northern Liberties.-That part of the township of Northern Liberties which had become populous, so as to be, in fact, a suburb of the city, had arrived at such a condition of importance in 1795 that it was necessary to place it under some sort of municipal regulation. A division was made the four plots made by this bisection were first inclosed with a wooden fence, or paling, and afterward by iron railings. On the 10th of August, 1871, the ground was broken by John Rice, then president of the Board of Commissioners, and on the 12th of August, 1872, at two o'clock P.M., the first stone of the foundation was laid. One of the most important questions presented to the commission was whether they should allow Broad and Market Streets to be continued through the square, and erect four buildings on the corner lots, or take the whole square as originally laid out, including the ground occupied by streets, and erect thereon one building. The commissioners resolved upon the latter plan, and whether their decision was right or wrong was of little moment after the work had so far progressed that it could not be undone. The excavations for the cellars and foundations required the removal of one hundred and forty-one thousand five hundred cubic yards of earth. The building occupies four hundred and seventy feet from east to west, and four hundred and eighty-six and a half feet from north to south, and covers an area, exclusive of the court-yards, of nearly six and a half acres. It is larger than any single building in America. The main building is ninetyfour feet high, and consists of a basement story eigh-in the thickly-settled portions of the district for electeen feet in height, a principal story of thirty-six feet, an upper story of thirty-one feet, surmounted by another of fifteen feet. The small rooms opening into the court-yards are each divided into two stories for the purpose of making useful all space. The several stories are to be approached by four large elevators at the intersection of the leading corridors, together with eight grand staircases, one in each of the four corners of the building, and one in each of the centre pavilions at the north, south, east, and west fronts. The entire structure contains five hundred and twenty rooms, all fire-proof in material, and provided with every possible convenience for heat, light, and ventilation. The architecture presents a rich example of the style 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 ornamentation or in the ordonnance of its details. The whole exterior is bold and effective in outline and rich in its parts, elaborated with highly ornate columns, pediments, pilasters, cornices, enriched windows, and other appropriate adornments, wrought in artistic forms, expressing American ideas and developing American genius. The interior is richly decorated with carvings in relief, full-length figures upon the spandrels of the arches, carved keystones, caryatides, and other ornaments. The entrance pavilions are eighty-six feet wide, and rise to the height of two hundred and one feet. The corner pavilions are forty-eight feet square and tion purposes. In that year an act of Assembly was passed to authorize the building of a town-house and market-place in the Northern Liberties. Twenty feet of ground on each side of Second Street, between Coates and Poplar Streets, had been previously dedicated by the owners of lots to encourage the improvement of that part of the county. They undertook to build the market-house by subscription, without cost to the public. The town-house was directed to be commenced in the middle of Second Street, forty feet north of Coates Street, and was to be twenty-six feet front by thirty feet in depth along Second Street, where it joined the market-house, eighteen feet wide, which originally extended to Brown Street. This building was probably finished in a year or two. It was constructed in the style of the old court-house at Second and Market Streets. Arches rising from the ground to the height of one story gave passage to the market-house beyond. The main room of the town hall was in the second story. The building was of brick, with a small cupola on top, and was in general appearance similar to the market-hall standing at the intersection of Second and Pine Streets. When the Northern Liberties were incorporated as a district, on March 29, 1803, the town house of the Northern Liberties became the Commissioners' Hall. The commissioners were elected May 7th, and met for the first time May 11th at the town house. The building was occupied for several years, but was entirely too small for the intended purpose. In the early part of 1814 the commissioners of the Northern Liberties purchased a building on the east side of Third Street, between Tammany [or Buttonwood] Street and Green Street, which was formerly known as the officers' house of the military barracks. The commissioners first occupied that building on the 17th of February, 1815. Previously the old house was used as a tavern. After the commissioners of the Northern Liberties bought the barracks building, an act of Assembly was passed declaring that thereafter that building should be the Commissioners' Hall of the Northern Liberties. The building was of plain brick, which in later times was rough-cast. During the period that the Northern Liberties had a mayor, his office was in the basement of the building, and there were rooms for lock-up and accommodation of the watch. The Recorder's Court of the Northern Liberties, with criminal jurisdiction, was held in the first story from 1836 to 1838, Robert T. Conrad being the recorder or judge. PRESIDENTS OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF NORTHERN LIBERTIES. Incorporated March 29, 1803. May 13, 1803-May, 1805.-Dr. Peter Peres. Southwark Commissioners' Hall.-The southern suburbs were erected into a municipality denominated the district of Southwark by act of Assembly passed May 14, 1762. It was a qualified organization, composed of three surveyors and regulators, three assessors, and three supervisors, also an overseer of the poor and an inspector, having the same power as similar officers in townships. In 1794 the district of Southwark was incorporated with fifteen commissioners, having general municipal powers, among which were the erection of buildings. The Board of Commissioners first met on the 26th of May of that year, at the house of Catharine Fritz, which was an inn, and situated in Front Street, below Catharine. This place was not agreeable, and it was determined at once to take the lease for public purposes of Jonathan Penrose's house, at a rent of thirty dollars per annum, he to furnish one window for election, "to put a cloth on the floor, if the board considers it necessary, to keep the place clean, take care of the wood, etc." This building stood north of Christian Street, and east of Second, on the back part of the lot afterward occupied by the commissioners' hall. In the succeeding year the meeting-place of the commissioners was at James Little's school-house. In 1797, during the yellow fever, the board met at Crosby's house, near Moyamensing road, afterward at Sampson Goff's house, Fifth and Christian Streets, but they went back to Little's school-house after the epidemic had ceased. In 1798 the yellow fever again drove them to the house of Sampson Crosby. It was there resolved to meet regularly in a new brick building at John McLeod's rope-walk, in Front Street, at a rent of six dollars per month. In 1799 a stone building in the rear of the Third Baptist Church, which stood about the head of the present Scott's Court, was rented. About 1810 the commissioners purchased from Paul Beck a lot of ground on the east side of Second Street, above Christian, where they erected a plain and substantial two-story brick building, forty feet deep by sixty-nine feet in width. This hall was first occupied by the commissioners April 11, 1811. There was a large hall for public meetings in the first story. The commissioners usually met in the second story. The front of the hall stood back from Second Street, but the building extended to a street in the rear, running from Catharine to Christian, which was at one time called Sutherland Street. There was a vacant space north and south of the building. At Second Street, at each side of the lot, were erected, some time after the hall was built, two fire-engine houses, which were occupied for some years by the Southwark and Weccacoe Fire Companies. The new Southwark Hall was first occupied by the commissioners April 11, 1811. After consolidation this building was used as a police station. It was ordered to be torn down in 1882, and replaced by a new station-house. PRESIDENTS OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE May, 1794-May, 1795.-Joseph Marsh. Spring Garden Hall.-When the District of Spring Garden was incorporated, March 22, 1813, it was directed that the citizens of the district should meet together at the school-house belonging to the Spring Garden Association, which was situate at the northeast corner of Eighth and Buttonwood Streets, and is still standing (1884). They were to choose twelve commissioners at the election to be held there. |