First publication, November, 1880.
Second publication, June, 1882
Third publication, July, 1883....

The last, less than 1882....

The "Twenty Cities" publication, less than 1882.

In communicating this census of manufactures to the City Councils, Mayor King, in his message of Jan. 1, 1883, remarks that

"The publication made a few months since of the census of these industries, which appeared to show a decline from 1870 to 1880, instead of the increase of which every citizen must be conscious, led to a movement on the part of some public-spirited citizens for the purpose of securing a recount of the statistics of establishments and of the numbers employed in manufactures, for which purpose a simple and apparently effective plan was proposed to me, and in which my co-operation was requested. Believing that a great public service would be done by a faithful re-examination of these great interests, I tendered the fullest practicable aid of the lieutenants and officers of the police in each ward and district of the city, and they were furnished with blank forms and instructions as to the manner of obtaining information. The work was done very promptly and in the most careful and official manner, and more than 10,000 manufacturing establishments were examined, and their statistics as to the class of products and the number of persons employed in each case were obtained and placed in the hands of Mr. Blodget for compilation and classification. I cannot speak too strongly of the care and spirit shown by the lieutenants and officers charged with this duty, and I am assured that their work is at least equal in value to that of any of the regular decennial census-takings, so far as the forms extend. The results already show a very large increase over the reported figures made public a short time since as for the census of 1880, there being over 11,000 industrial establishments instead of 8300, as then reported, and about 235,000 persons employed in these establishments instead of 173,000, as reported for 1880. The changes are so great and so striking in most of the greater industries as to show an absolute necessity for making the present revision thorough and complete, and for then making it public in proper official form. As instances of the omissions in some departments, the increase in printing and publishing is from $9,000,000 to $23,000,000 in value. In iron manufactories nearly 11,000 men are reported in excess of the former numbers, and in textile fabrics about 20,000 persons more are found, in fact, to be employed. The entire excess in the number of persons employed is about 65,000, as so far reported on the official forms.

"The superintendence and management of the present industrial census has been confided to Lorin Blodget, whose superintendence of both the former censuses, that of 1860 and that of 1870, has given him a very thorough knowledge of the entire city, and enables him to make the work as nearly perfect in its details as is practicable in anything so great in all its proportions, both of labor required and of results obtained. It has already been recognized by the statistical departments of both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and it cannot fail to restore the reputation and honor of the city as the leading industrial centre in this country, if not in the world."

The growth of manufactures in Philadelphia from 1682 to 1883 has been traced from their early origin to their full development, as far as defective records would permit. The early history of these individual industries, scattered in detached fragments through many publications, have been collected and chronologically arranged, to present, as far as practical, a continuous narrative of their development.

It was

not merely statistical information of the growth as a whole, but the individual exigencies whether for prosperity or adversity have been collected and recorded. The early history of infant industries presents much data connected with family history, and shows how, generation after generation, the same family have clung to the business their progenitors started, growing in knowledge and increasing in experience, as well as in fortune, until the manufacture has been perfected by the combined experience of father and sons directed continuously and perseveringly to the same great end. Perhaps to this cause, as much as to any other, is the perfection arrived at in Philadelphia manufactures to be attributed. But, be the cause whatever it may, the fact is incontrovertible that, in this year of 1884, Philadelphia stands at the head of manufacturing centres in the United States, as well as a prominent competitor in the same line with any city in the world.

CHAPTER LVII.

THE INDUSTRIES OF PHILADELPHIA.

SITUATED in the centre of the great iron district, Philadelphia has become the largest manufactory of iron in the United States. This industry, in 1882, was conducted in over 500 establishments, employing over 27,000 hands, and turning out a yearly product valued at more than $50,000,000. When to these are added the large number of establishments in other branches of manufacture which use iron in some form, it will be seen that this industry ranks first in magnitude and value. The great supply of iron within immediate reach of the city, the abundant amount of coal, and the ease with which it is transported, all contribute to swell the volume and value of the industry. It was among the very earliest which the founder of Pennsylvania looked after, and endeavored by all means to promote and foster. In a letter to Lord Keeper North, in July, 1683, he mentions the existence of "mineral of copper and iron in

divers places" in the province.1 Gabriel Thomas, a resident of the province from about that date, writing in 1698,' states that ironstone ore had been lately found, which far exceeded that in England, being richer and less drossy, and that some preparations had been made to carry on an iron-work." He also mentions copper "far exceeding ours, being richer, finer, and of a more glorious color. Backward in the country lies the mines, where is copper and minerals, of which there is some improvement made already in order to bring them to greater perfection, and that will be a means to erect inland market towns, which exceeding promotes traffic."

In 1702, James Logan wrote to Penn as follows: "I have spoke to the chief of those concerned in iron mines, but they seem careless, never having had a meeting since thy departure. Their answer is that they have not yet found any considerable vein."

In 1708, William Penn wrote to James Logan to "remember the mines, which the Governor makes yet a secret even to thee and all the world but himself and Mitchell. Pray penetrate the matter, and let us see the oare in as large quantity as thou canst." Nine years later the first iron furnace in the province is thus described in one of Jonathan Dickinson's letters, written in 1717:

3

"This last summer one Thomas Rutter, a smith, who lives not far from Germantown, hath removed further up in the country, and of his own strength hath set upon making iron. Such it proves to be, as is highly set by all the smiths here, who say that the best of Swedes iron doth not exceed it; and we have accounts of others that are going on with the iron-works. It is supposed there is stone (ore) sufficient for ages to come. The first projectors may open the way, and in all likelihood hemp and iron may be improved and transported home in time, if not discouraged. Certainly a few years may supply this place for its domestic services, as may be easily supposed."

Mrs. James, in her "Memorial of Thomas Potts, Jr.," says that on the 24th of September, 1717, Sir William Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania, “wrote to the Board of Trade in London that he had found great plenty of iron ore in Pennsylvania." The exact location of Rutter's iron forge, or bloomery, cannot be ascertained. In July, 1718, Jonathan

1 The metrical composition entitled "A Short Description of Pennsylvania, or a Relation what Things are Known, Enjoyed, and like to be Discovered in said Province. Issued as a token of good-will... of England. By Richard Frame. Printed and sold by William Bradford in Philadelphia, 1692," mentions iron among other things, and says, that at "a certain place . . . about forty pounds" had been made. This pamphlet is in the Philadelphia Library.

2"An Historical and Geographical Account of the Province and County of Pennsylvania and of West Jersey, in America. . . . By Gabriel Thomas, who resided there fifteen years." London.

3 Logan Papers.

4 The minutes of the Common Council show that among the tradesmen admitted to the "freedom of the city" in 1717 and 1718 were George Plumley, Joseph Trotter, and Richard Gosling, cutlers; James Everet and Simon Edgell, pewterers; Peter Steel and James Winstanly, braziers; Francis Richardson, William England, and Edward Hunt, goldsmiths; Edmund Billington, whitesmith; and fourteen blacksmiths. In 1718, in consequence of petition "from several tradesmen and manufacturers" complaining that notwithstanding they had taken out their freedoms, many strangers daily came in and settled who were not entitled to carry on business, the Common Council gave permission to such trades as

Dickinson writes, "The expectations from the ironworks forty miles up the Schuylkill are very great." This probably referred to the Coventry Forge, in the upper part of Chester County, where Samuel Nutt had taken up land "on French Creek in 1717, and about that time built a forge there." It is thought that Nutt's forge went into operation in 1720. Jonathan Dickinson wrote in 1719,

"Our iron promises well. What has been sent over to England hath been greatly approved. Our smiths work up all they make, and it is as good as the best Swedish. Many who have come over under covenants for four years are now masters of great estates. Our friends do increase mightily, and a great people there is in this wilderness country, which is becoming like a fruitful field. A gentleman, one William Trent, of our city, is forming a little town about his set of mills that he hath at Delaware Falls" (Trenton).

A forge also existed about this time in Manatawny (now Montgomery County), but then in Philadelphia. The Elizabeth Furnace, near Lancaster, was owned in 1775 by Benezet & Co., of Philadelphia. It was built and managed by an eccentric and extravagant German baron, Henry William Steigel. He is said to have cast the first stoves that were made in this country, which were probably the same as the "Jamb Stoves" cast by Nicholas Sauer, at Germantown."

In 1726 the Assembly, in an address to the descendants of Penn, adopted after the arrival of Governor Gordon, remarking upon the general prosperity of the colony, attributes it to the emission of paper money and notes that many iron-works had been built. Several companies were already engaged in carrying on iron-works. In 1728-29 the colony exported two

desired to frame and bring in an ordinance whereby they could be incorporated. In 1767 the silversmiths petitioned for the establishment of an assay-office to regulate, assay, and stamp gold and silver. 5 Day's Historical Collections.

The following obituary notice in the Pennsylvania Gazette for March 5 to March 23, 1729-30, establishes the priority of Rutter in the ironmaking business: "March 13th.-On Sunday night last died here, Thomas Rutter, Sr., after a short illness. He was the first that erected an iron-work in Pennsylvania.”

On the 4th of March, 1727, Jeremiah Langhorne, of Bucks, Anthony Morris, James Logan, Charles Reed, Robert Ellis, George Fitzwater, Clement Plumsted, William Allen, Andrew Bradford, John Hopkins, Thomas Linsley, Joseph Turner, Griffith Owen, and Samuel Powel, of Philadelphia, the owners of the Durham tract, in Bucks County, formed themselves into a stock company for the purpose of making iron. The property was divided into sixty equal shares, and conveyed for fiftyone years to Griffith Owen and Samuel Powel, in trust for the owners. The first election for officers was held March 25th, and the company proceeded immediately to the erection of a furnace, thirty by forty and twenty feet high, and other improvements. The first blast was begun in the spring of 1728, but after running about one hundred tons of metal they were obliged to blow out. The second blast was begun late in the following fall, on a stock of five or six hundred tons. In November, 1728, James Logan shipped three tons of pig-iron to England as a specimen. This was before a forge had been erected at Durham, and the company had their metal wrought up into bars elsewhere. The old date stone was preserved and walled in the new furnace. The first furnace was torn down in 1819, and a new one built a short distance from its site A new furnace was erected in 1848, on the site of the old one, and has been in successful operation since. In 1864, Edward Cooper and Abraham S. Hewitt, of New York, became the owners of the property. The keystone of the Durham Furnace, bearing date "1727," was exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876.

* Letter of James Logan, Nov. 6, 1728.

hundred and seventy-four tons of pig-iron to England, and the iron industry may be considered as fairly established at that date. In 1728, Mr. Logan wrote that there were four furnaces in Pennsylvania in blast. One of these was the Durham Furnace in Bucks County. Which of these four furnaces was the first, or who first made iron in them, is a thing which we presume nobody knows. A petition was presented in February, 1729, by the proprietors of iron-works lately erected in the province, praying that a duty be laid on all iron imported from Maryland. This was induced by a law passed by Maryland laying a duty on Pennsylvania produce; but, the latter being repealed, retaliation was not considered necessary. In 1742, William Branson, of Philadelphia, erected a forge on Conestoga Creek, near the Chester County line, which he called Windsor. This forge was afterward owned by an English company, and still later by David Jenkins. In Nicholas Scull's map (1759) two iron-works are marked down at Pottstown, at the mouth of the Manatawny, one on each side of the stream, but no names are given. From another source it appears that one of them was named Pottsgrove, the original name of Pottstown, laid out in 1752 by James Potts. Nicholas Scull's map shows above Pottstown, McCall's forge, Pool Forge, and Pine Forge. On the same map there are laid down Mayberry's forge and one or two iron-works on the east of the Schuylkill. Pine Forge was built by Thomas Potts in 1747, and owned by his son John in 1768; in 1785 it was connected with a rolling-mill. It is said by Mrs. James, that Samuel Nutt built the first steel-works in the province on French Creek in 1734, and that probably William Branson was associated with him. They were known as the Vincent Steel-Works, and were owned in 1756 by William Branson, and are thus described in Israel Acrelius' "History of New Sweden:"

"At French Creek, or Branz's Works, there is a steel furnace built with a draught-hole, and called an air oven.' In this iron bars are set at a distance of an inch apart. Between them are scattered horn, coal-dust, ashes, etc. The iron bars are thus covered with blisters, and this is called blister-steel.' It serves as the best steel to put upon edge-tools. These steel-works are now said to be out of operation."

In 1750 there was a plating forge with a tilt-hammer, in Byberry township, in the northeastern part of Philadelphia County, the only one in the province, owned by John Hall, and two steel furnaces within the city limits, one of which-Paschal's-was built in 1747, and the other was owned by William Branson. Paschal's was at the corner of Eighth and Walnut Streets, and Branson's was located near where Thomas Penn "first lived in the upper end of Chestnut Street."

An act of Parliament was passed in 1749 entitled au act to encourage the importation of pig and bar iron from his Majesty's colonies in America, and to prevent the erection of any mill or other engine for slitting or rolling iron, or any plating forge to work

with a tilt-hammer, or any furnace for making steel in any of said colonies." It forbade the use of any forges, furnaces, or mills that were not at work before the 24th of June, 1750, and required that a return of them should be made. In answer to a proclamation made to ascertain the number of these works which were then in operation, it was returned that Stephen Paschal's steel furnace, at the northwest corner of Walnut Street and Eighth, was built in the year 1747, and that blistered steel was made there; also, that William Branson was owner of a steel furnace in the city (location not mentioned), and that John Hall owned a plating tilt-hammer forge at Byberry, in the county of Philadelphia.' This act was passed in pursuance of a determination in Great Britain to discourage American manufactures.

The steel furnace erected by Paschal was, in 1787, owned by Nancarrow & Matlack, and when visited in that year by Gen. Washington was mentioned as "the largest and best in America." That partnership was dissolved in 1790, and the furnace, house, and lot offered for sale; the furnace was in good repair, and capable of making twenty-two tons of steel at a blast. White Matlack soon afterward conveyed the property to John Ireland; and his former partner, John Nancarrow, a Scotchman, removed to Seventh Street, where he continued the business of steel making. There was also, at this period, an air furnace at the northwest corner of Ninth and Walnut Streets, belonging wholly or in part to John Nancarrow, who is said, at one time, to have made steel under ground at that place. An anchor forge existed in 1755, in Front Street, opposite Union, and was then owned by Daniel Offley. It continued in operation during the Revolution. Newly-invented boxes for carriagewheels were made in 1785 at the air furnace of William Somerton, at Eighth and Walnut Streets.

Whitehead Humphreys was, in 1770, the proprietor of a steel furnace on Seventh Street, between Market and Chestnut, where he also made edge-tools. He received one hundred pounds from the Provincial Assembly for his encouragement, and in 1772, set up a lottery to raise seven hundred pounds to assist him in his steel-works. In 1778, Congress authorized the Board of War to contract with him for the manufacture of steel for the Continental artificers, from the iron of the Andover Works, New Jersey. The State Legislature, in 1786, appropriated three hundred pounds as a loan to Humphreys, for five years, to aid him in making steel from bar iron "as good as in England." Mr. Clymer, of Pennsylvania, in the debate in Congress in 1789, referred to this furnace of Humphreys as having made three hundred tons of steel in two years, and was then making at the rate

1 In February, 1775, Uriah Woolman and B. Shoemaker, on Market Street, Philadelphia, advertised in the Pennsylvania Packet, "Pennsyl vania steel manufactured by W. Humphreys, of an excellent quality, and warranted equal to Euglish, to be sold in blister, faggot, or flat bar suitable for carriage springs."

of two hundred and thirty tons annually. Although an infant manufacture, with very little aid from the State, he believed it capable of making a supply sufficient for the whole Union. The importance of steel at Philadelphia had decreased very largely. The perfection attained here in its manufacture, and the reduced price, were regarded by the Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Manufactures as insuring the success of workers in that article. Henry Voight, a watchmaker of this city in 1793, made valuable improvements in the manufacture of steel.1

The amount of iron exported from this city in the year ending April 5, 1766, was 882 tons of bar, at £26 per ton, and 813 tons of pig-iron, at £7 10s. per ton. In the three years preceding the war, ending Jan. 5, 1774, the exports were respectively 2358, 2205, and 1564 tons. In the manufacture of steel, nails, firearms, machinery, and other metallic products, Pennsylvania early acquired the same prominence she had in the production of the raw material. Philadelphia, as the principal commercial city of the country, possessed a varied industry and a large proportion of skillful artificers, as well as many persons who were industrious promoters of all the mechanical arts. Her shipping created a large demand for nails, iron, and steel, material for which was chiefly furnished by her furnaces and forges. In the procession that celebrated the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1788, a carriage, drawn by nine horses, contained the representatives of the blacksmiths, whitesmiths, and nailers in full employ. The blacksmiths completed, during the procession, a full set of plow-irons out of old swords, worked a sword into a sickle, turned several horseshoes, and did other jobs on demand. L. Goodman, whitesmith, finished and sold nails, spikes, and broad tacks. They were followed by two hundred others of their trades, with the device, "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." The goldsmiths, silversmiths, and jewelers followed their senior member, William Ball, to the number of thirty-five.

William Somerville opened the City Iron Foundry, at the northwest corner of Juniper and Filbert Streets, in the year 1818. The establishment occupied a lot fifty feet front on Filbert Street, and ran one hundred and fifty feet to an alley which was sometimes called Paper Alley. There were air-furnaces, a cupola, bellows, etc. This property was offered for sale in 1820. It was purchased by Cadwalader Evans and Bracken after the death of Oliver Evans. Bracken ceased to be a member of the firm in 1822, and Cadwalader and Oliver Evans, Jr., continued

1 William Priest, in a letter dated March 1, 1794, written to a friend in London, said, "Peter Brown, a blacksmith of this city, having made his fortune, set up his coach; but, so far from having been ashamed of the means by which he had acquired his riches, caused a large anvil to be painted on each panel of his carriage, with two naked arms in the act of striking. The motto, By this I got ye.' The frontispiece is a well-executed engraving, in colors, of 'Peter Brown's arms.'" Peter Brown, blacksmith, in 1798, lived at No. 144 North Front Street, and is probably the same spoken of by this writer.

the business as iron founders and steam-engine makers. Subsequently, Cadwalader and Oliver Evans removed to High Street, between Schuylkill Fifth and Schuylkill Sixth, where they devoted themselves principally to the manufacture of plows and machinery. On the 14th of April, 1825, they obtained a patent for a self-sharpening plow.

The Eagle Works, at the corner of Callowhill and Nixon [now Twenty-third] Streets, established during the Revolution, were used for casting cannon, and afterward were turned to more peaceable lines of iron manufacture. Robert Morris, Jr., son of Robert Morris, financier of the Revolution, was at one time interested in them. In 1810 they belonged to Henry Foxall and William and Samuel Richards. There were a foundry, four air furnaces, and a blacksmithand a carpenter-shop. There were prepared iron castings of every description, sugar-kettles, sugar-mill rollers, sugar-mill pumpers, soap and other large boilers, screws, wheel works for machinery, cylinders for steam engines, and cannon. Twelve hundred tons of iron could be manufactured annually. Seven hundred tons had been made in some years before 1810, but at that time the demand had fallen to about three hundred tons per annum. At this furnace, about 1820, Samuel Richards cast the first large twenty-two-inch iron main-pipes that were made in America, and a good deal of iron-pipe casting was afterward done at these works. About thirty thousand feet, in sections nine feet in length, were cast. at that time.

It has been shown that German blistered steel was made near Philadelphia prior to the Revolution. In 1810 there was one steel manufacturer in the city and one in the county of Philadelphia. In 1829 there were three steel furnaces in the city, and but fourteen in the whole Union. In 1850, the manufacture of steel in Philadelphia was carried on by James Rowland & Co., Kensington, who made 600 tons; J. Robbins, Kensington, 400 tons; Earp & Brink, Kensington, 100 tons; Robert S. Johnson, Kensington, 400 tons; and W. & H. Rowland, Oxford, 700 tons.

George Magee was a nailer at the corner of Front and Arch Streets as early as 1731, advertising for sale, wholesale and retail, all sorts of deck and other nails of his own manufacture. In 1789, Samuel Briggs, of Philadelphia, memorialized the Legislature and Congress on the subject of a machine for making nails, screws, and gimlets. He had, three years before, made the patterns for the castings of Fitch's steamboat, and now deposited with the executive of the State the model of his nail-machine in a sealed box, subject to the order of the State or Federal Legislatures. He and his son, in 1797, received the first letters patent for nail-making machinery issued under the general patent laws of the United States. The second was granted in 1794 to Thomas Perkins, also of Philadelphia. In 1797 there were three manufacturers of cut-nails, and one of patent nails in the city.