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Seen in this exterior view, the Home of the Merciful Savior for Crippled Children, located at 45th St. and Baltimore Ave., was built ca. 1885. This photo is from the turn of the last century.
The Philadelphia Zoo contained a vast assortment of animals, including llamas.
The population was heavily concentrated at the east end of West Philadelphia, near the bridges to Center City. At the west end, many large estates and farms were to be found. Whites were overwhelmingly the dominant racial group, concentrated in West Philadelphia’s streetcar suburbs. Much of the area shown at the center of the map below Market St. was, as the urban historian Kenneth Jackson puts it, a “crabgrass frontier,” whose development awaited the coming of the Market St. Elevated.
This image shows in the foreground Furness Library, Penn’s first library, whose architect was the industrial age architect Frank Furness, with College Hall in the background. The library was built on former almshouse land and was dedicated in 1891.
In 1900, streetcars, carriages, and pedestrians shared the Market Street bridge across the Schuylkill River.
Clarence H. Clark’s mansion was built ca. 1875, on the southwest corner of 42nd & Locust streets. Clark’s residence was surrounded by extensive park grounds.
Joseph M. Wilson (1838-1902) was co-founder, with his brother John A. Wilson, of the famed Victorian-era architectural and civil engineering firm of Wilson Brothers & Co. Wilson, who resided in West Philadelphia at 3501 Powelton Ave., designed the Main Exhibition Building (Main Hall) and Machinery Hall. Wilson Brothers & Co. built numerous buildings, bridges, and houses in Philadelphia.