National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal government's official list of districts, buildings and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property; the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register and the process for adding properties to it. Of the more than one million properties on the National Register, 80,000 are listed individually; the remainder are contributing resources within historic districts. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service, an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate and protect historic sites in the United States.
While National Register listings are symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties. Protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places; the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Historic sites outside the country proper, but associated with the United States are listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, multiple property submissions; the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties: district, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties; some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service.
These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks, National Memorials, some National Monuments. On October 15, 1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices; the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Register's creation, as well as any other historic sites in the National Park system. Approval of the act, amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy; the 1966 act required those agencies to work in conjunction with the SHPO and an independent federal agency, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, to confront adverse effects of federal activities on historic preservation. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, with director George B.
Hartzog Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law. Ernest Connally was the Office's first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register; the division administered several existing programs, including the Historic Sites Survey and the Historic American Buildings Survey, as well as the new National Register and Historic Preservation Fund. The first official Keeper of the Register was an architectural historian. During the Register's earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small and underfunded. However, funds were still being supplied for the Historic Preservation Fund to provide matching grants-in-aid to listed property owners, first for house museums and institutional buildings, but for commercial structures as well. A few years in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U.
S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two "Assistant Directorates." Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation. From 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs. Jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate, he was described as a skilled administrator, sensitive to the need for the NPS to work with SHPOs, local governments. Although not described in detail in the 1966 act, SHPOs became integral to the process of listing properties on the National Register; the 1980 amendments of the 1966 law further defined the responsibilities of SHPOs concerning the National Register.
Several 1992 amendments of the NHPA added a category to the National Register, known as Traditional Cultural Properties: those properties associated with Native American or Hawaiian groups
Philadelphia Register of Historic Places
The Philadelphia Register of Historic Places is a register of historic places by the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Buildings, sites, objects and districts can be added to the list. According to the Philadelphia Historical Commission, sites eligible for listing are those that possess any of the following: Has significant character, interest or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the city, commonwealth or nation, or is associated with the life of a person significant in the past. Associated with an event of importance to the history of the city, commonwealth or nation. Reflects the environment in an era characterized by a distinctive architectural style. Embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or engineering specimen. Is the work of a designer, landscape architect or designer, or engineer whose work has influenced the historical, economic, social, or cultural development of the city, commonwealth or nation. Contains elements of design, materials or craftsmanship which represent a significant innovation.
Is part of or related to a square, park or other distinctive area which should be preserved according to a historic, cultural or architectural motif. Represents an established and familiar visual feature of the neighborhood, community or city. Has yielded, or may be to yield, information important in pre-history or history. Exemplifies the cultural, economic, social or historical heritage of the community. Properties listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places may be recognized on the National Register of Historic Places, be listed as a National Historic Landmark, or listed as a contributing property in a National Historic District; the Philadelphia Historical Commission is the city agency responsible for overseeing the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and ensuring the preservation of Philadelphia's historic resources including buildings, sites, objects and districts. The lists below contain properties on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places: Properties that do not have an official address as assigned by Philadelphia's Office of Property Assessment.
Historic districts listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places: List of National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places listings in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places listings in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City of Philadelphia Historical Commission Philadelphia Register of Historic Places - Lists
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, sometimes known colloquially as Philly, is the largest city in the U. S. state and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-most populous U. S. city, with a 2017 census-estimated population of 1,580,863. Since 1854, the city has been coterminous with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the eighth-largest U. S. metropolitan statistical area, with over 6 million residents as of 2017. Philadelphia is the economic and cultural anchor of the greater Delaware Valley, located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within the Northeast megalopolis; the Delaware Valley's population of 7.2 million ranks it as the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States. William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city in 1682 to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia played an instrumental role in the American Revolution as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 at the Second Continental Congress, the Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787.
Several other key events occurred in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War including the First Continental Congress, the preservation of the Liberty Bell, the Battle of Germantown, the Siege of Fort Mifflin. Philadelphia was one of the nation's capitals during the revolution, served as temporary U. S. capital while Washington, D. C. was under construction. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became a railroad hub; the city grew from an influx of European immigrants, most of whom came from Ireland and Germany—the three largest reported ancestry groups in the city as of 2015. In the early 20th century, Philadelphia became a prime destination for African Americans during the Great Migration after the Civil War, as well as Puerto Ricans; the city's population doubled from one million to two million people between 1890 and 1950. The Philadelphia area's many universities and colleges make it a top study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational and economic hub. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Philadelphia area had a gross domestic product of US$445 billion in 2017, the eighth-largest metropolitan economy in the United States.
Philadelphia is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania and is home to five Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is expanding, with a market of 81,900 commercial properties in 2016, including several nationally prominent skyscrapers. Philadelphia has more outdoor murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the same watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States; the city is known for its arts, culture and colonial history, attracting 42 million domestic tourists in 2016 who spent US$6.8 billion, generating an estimated $11 billion in total economic impact in the city and surrounding four counties of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia has emerged as a biotechnology hub. Philadelphia is the birthplace of the United States Marine Corps, is the home of many U. S. firsts, including the first library, medical school, national capital, stock exchange and business school. Philadelphia contains 67 National Historic Landmarks and the World Heritage Site of Independence Hall.
The city became a member of the Organization of World Heritage Cities in 2015, as the first World Heritage City in the United States. Although Philadelphia is undergoing gentrification, the city maintains mitigation strategies to minimize displacement of homeowners in gentrifying neighborhoods. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon; the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are called Delaware Indians, their historical territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island, the Lower Hudson Valley. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, exacerbated by losses from intertribal conflicts. Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases smallpox, violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people fought the Lenape. Surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin; the American Revolutionary War and United States' independence pushed them further west.
In the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape reside in Oklahoma, with some communities living in Wisconsin, in their traditional homelands. Europeans came to the Delaware Valley in the early 17th century, with the first settlements founded by the Dutch, who in 1623 built Fort Nassau on the Delaware River opposite the Schuylkill River in what is now Brooklawn, New Jersey; the Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony. In 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their military defeat of the English colony of Maryland. In 1648, the Dutch built Fort Beversreede on the west bank of the Delaware, south of the Schuylkill near the present-day Eastwick neighborhood, to reassert their dominion over the area.
The Swedes responded by building Fort Nya Korsholm, or New Korsholm, named after a town in Finland with a Swedish majority. In 1655, a
Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with the two sections together totalling 2,052 acres. Management of Fairmount Park and the entire citywide park system is overseen by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, a city department created in 2010 from the merger of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Department of Recreation. Many other city parks had been included in the Fairmount Park system prior to 2010, including Wissahickon Valley Park in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennypack Park in Northeast Philadelphia, Cobbs Creek Park in West Philadelphia, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park in South Philadelphia and 58 additional parks, plazas and public golf courses spread throughout the city. Since the 2010 merger, the term "Fairmount Park system" is no longer used by the Parks & Recreation department, the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park and all other park areas are considered separate entities.
Fairmount Park, Philadelphia's first park, occupies 2,052 acres adjacent to the banks of the Schuylkill River. Since 2010, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation divides the original park into East and West Fairmount parks; the original domain of Fairmount Park consisted of three areas: "South Park" or the South Garden below the Fairmount Water Works extending to the Callowhill Street Bridge. The South Garden predated the establishment of the Park Commission in 1867, while Lemon Hill and Sedgeley were added in 1855–56. After the Civil War, work progressed on laying out West Park. In the 1870s, the Fairmount Park Commission expropriated properties along the Wissahickon Creek to extend Fairmount Park; the Schuylkill River Trail is a modern paved multi-use trail by Kelly Drive in the East Park. The Belmont Plateau Cross Country Course is located in the park; the 1923 and 1976 USA Cross Country Championships were held in the park. The park grew out of the Lemon Hill estate of Henry Pratt, whose land was owned by Robert Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Purchased by the city in 1844, the estate was dedicated to the public by city council's ordinance on September 15, 1855. A series of state and local legislative acts over the next three years increased the holdings of the city. In 1858, the city held a design competition to re-landscape Lemon Hill and Sedgeley for public use as the best way to better protect the city's water supply; as the site of the 1876 Centennial Exposition and the first zoo in the United States, the Philadelphia Zoo, Fairmount Park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 7, 1972. The adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park, located to the immediate northwest, was included in the Fairmount Park NRHP registration document. Park properties include the Centennial Arboretum, a Horticulture Center, Fairmount Water Works, Memorial Hall, Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, Boathouse Row, Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse, recreation centers, reservoirs and other pieces of art. Fairmount Park is home to a large collection of public art due to the efforts of the Association for Public Art, a non-profit organization founded in 1872 to embellish Fairmount Park with outdoor sculpture, including the Florentine Lions installed in 1887.
The Art Association continues to commission and care for a large number of sculptures, in coordination with the park and city. In 2007, the Art Association installed Iroquois by Mark di Suvero near the Philadelphia Museum of Art on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Mount Pleasant, built in 1762–65 for a Scottish ship captain named John Macpherson, is administered by the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Art Museum administers Cedar Grove Mansion, a house built in 1748–50 in what became the Frankford neighborhood of the city. Cedar Grove was relocated to the park in 1926–1928. Other historic houses in the park, listed by year of construction, include Boelson Cottage, The Lilacs, Letitia Street House, Ridgeland Mansion, Belmont Mansion, The Cliffs, Woodford Mansion, Hatfield House, Randolph House, Strawberry Mansion, The Solitude, Sweetbriar Mansion, Ormiston Mansion, Lemon Hill Mansion, Chamounix Mansion, Rockland Mansion, the Ohio House, built for the Centennial Exposition of 1876. Sedgeley Mansion was built in 1799 on Lemon Hill abandoned and demolished after being acquired through eminent domain by the city in 1857.
The Sedgeley property included a servant's cottage constructed of stone which still exists. The cottage was designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe and is presently known as the Sedgeley Porter's House. Philadelphia portal List of parks in Philadelphia Philadelphia Aquarium Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival of Greater Philadelphia Sedgley Woods Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club Fazio, Michael W; the Domestic Architecture of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Johns Hopkins University Press Moss, Roger W..
Philadelphia Mint
The Philadelphia Mint was created from the need to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States. This led the Founding Fathers of the United States to make an establishment of a continental national mint, a main priority after the ratification of the Constitution of the United States; the Coinage Act of 1792 was entered into law on April 2. It proclaimed the creation of the United States Mint. Philadelphia at that time was the nation's capital; the Mint Act instituted a decimal system based on a dollar unit. David Rittenhouse, an American scientist, was appointed the first director of the mint by President George Washington. Two lots were purchased by Rittenhouse on July 18, 1792, at Seventh Street and 631 Filbert Street in Philadelphia for $4,266.67. The next day, demolition of an abandoned whiskey distillery on the property began. Foundation work began on July 31, by September 7, the first building was ready for installation of the smelting furnace; the smelt house was the first public building.
A three-story brick structure facing Seventh Street was constructed a few months later. Measuring nearly 37 ft wide on the street, it only extended back 33 ft; the gold and silver for the mint were contained in basement vaults. The first floor housed deposit and weighing rooms, along with the press room, where striking coins took place. Mint official offices were on the second floor, the assay office was located on the third floor. A photograph of the Seventh Street building taken around 1908 show that by the year 1792 and the words "Ye Olde Mint" had been painted onto the facade. Between the smelt house and the building on Seventh Street, a mill house was built. Horses in the basement turned a rolling mill located on the first floor. In January 1816, the smelt and mill houses were destroyed by a fire; the smelt house was never repaired and all smelting was done elsewhere. The mill house, destroyed, was soon replaced with a large brick building, it included a new steam engine in the basement to power the machinery.
Until 1833, these three buildings provided the United States with hard currency. Operations moved to the second Philadelphia mint in 1833, the land housing the first mint was sold. In the late 19th or early 20th century, the property was sold to Frank Stewart, who approached the city, asking them to preserve or relocate the historic buildings. With no governmental help, the first mint was demolished between 1907 and 1911. Now, only a small plaque remains to memorialize the spot. On July 4, 1829, a cornerstone was laid for the building at the intersection of Chestnut and Juniper Streets, it was designed by William Strickland. The second Philadelphia Mint, the "Grecian Temple", was constructed of white marble with classic Greek-style columns on front and back. Measuring 150 ft wide in front by 204 ft deep, it was a huge improvement over the first facility, in space as well as image. Opening in January 1833, its production was constrained by the outdated machinery salvaged from the first mint. Franklin Peale was sent to Europe to study advanced coinmaking technologies which were brought back and implemented, increasing productivity and quality.
Sold in 1902, the second mint was demolished. The cornerstone buried in 1833 was unearthed and contained a candy jar with a petrified cork stoppering it. Inside the jar were three coins, a few newspapers, a scroll with information on the first mint and the creation of the second; the site has been occupied since 1914 by 1339 Chestnut Street. The third Philadelphia Mint was built at 1700 Spring Garden Street and opened in 1901, it was designed by William Martin Aiken, Architect for the Treasury, but it was constructed under James Knox Taylor. It was a block from the United States Smelting Company, at Broad and Spring Garden Streets. In one year alone, the mint produced 501,000,000 coins, as well as 90,000,000 coins for foreign countries. A massive structure nearly a full city block, it was an instant landmark, characterized by a Roman temple facade. Visitors enjoyed seven themed glass mosaics designed by Louis C. Tiffany in a gold-backed vaulted ceiling; the mosaics depicted ancient Roman coinmaking methods.
This mint still stands intact, much of the interior is intact, as well. It was acquired by the Community College of Philadelphia in 1973. A tribute page has been created. Two blocks from the site of the first mint, the fourth and current Philadelphia Mint opened its doors in 1969, it was designed by Philadelphia architect Vincent G. Kling, who would help design Five Penn Center, Centre Square, the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, it was the world's largest mint when it was built and held that distinction as of October 2017. The Philadelphia Mint can produce up to one million coins in 30 minutes, it took three years for the original mint to produce that many. The mint produces medals and awards for military and civil services. Engraving of all dies and strikers only occurs here. Uncirculated coins minted here have the "P" mint mark, while circulated coins from before 1980 carried no mint mark except the Jefferson nickels minted from 1942–1945 and the 1979 Susan B. Anthony dollar coins. Since 1980, all coins minted there have the "P" mint mark except cents until 2017.
Tours can be taken. This takes place via an enclosed catwalk above the minting facility itself. Various video stations are p
Economy of Philadelphia
Philadelphia is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Philadelphia area had a total gross metropolitan product of $347 billion in 2010, the seventh-largest metropolitan economy in the United States. With a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation; the city is the nation's fourth-largest consumer media market, as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research. The city is home to several Fortune 500 companies. Philadelphia has shifted to service-based economy. Financial activities account for the largest sector of the metro economy, it is one of the largest health education and research centers in the United States. Philadelphia's history attracts many tourists, with the Liberty Bell receiving over 2 million visitors in 2010. Philadelphia's economic sectors include higher education, oil refining, food processing, health care and biotechnology, telecommunications and financial services.
The federal government has several facilities in Philadelphia. The city served as the capital city of the United States, before the construction of Washington, D. C. Today, the East Coast operations of the United States Mint are based near the historic district, the Federal Reserve Bank's Philadelphia division is based there as well. Philadelphia is home to the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; the Delaware Valley contains the headquarters of twelve Fortune 500 corporations, four of which are in Philadelphia proper. Fortune 500 companies in Delaware Valley include cable television and internet provider Comcast, insurance companies Colonial Penn, CIGNA and Lincoln Financial Group, energy company Sunoco, food services company Aramark and Crown Holdings Incorporated, chemical makers Rohm and Haas Company and FMC Corporation, pharmaceutical companies Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline and defense Boeing Rotercraft Systems and Lockheed Martin and automotive parts retailer Pep Boys.
With the historic presence of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the large ridership at 30th Street Station, Amtrak maintains a significant presence in the city. These jobs include customer service representatives and ticket processing and other behind-the-scenes personnel, in addition to the normal functions of the railroad; the city is a legal center. It is home to the law schools of Penn, Temple, Rutgers and Widener; the headquarters of the American Law Institute is located in the city as well as the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Ten of the 100 largest law firms in the US have their headquarters or largest office in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is an important center for medicine, a distinction that it has held since the colonial period; the city is home to the first hospital in the British North American colonies, Pennsylvania Hospital, the first medical school in what is now the United States, at the University of Pennsylvania. Penn, the city's largest private employer runs a large teaching hospital and extensive medical system.
There are major hospitals affiliated with Temple University School of Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Philadelphia has three distinguished children's hospitals: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the nation's first pediatric hospital, St. Christopher's Hospital, the Shriners' Hospital. In the city's northern section are Albert Einstein Medical Center, in the northeast section, Fox Chase Cancer Center. Together, health care is the largest sector of employment in the city. Several medical professional associations are headquartered in Philadelphia. With Philadelphia's importance as a medical research center, the region supports the pharmaceutical industry. GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Merck, GE Healthcare and Johnson and Siemens Medical Solutions are just some of the large pharmaceutical companies with operations in the region; the city is home to the nation's first school of pharmacy, the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, now called the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
Tourism is a major industry in Philadelphia, the 11th-most-visited city in the United States in 2008. It welcomed 710,000 visitors from foreign countries in 2008, up 29% from the previous year. Shopping options in Center City include The Gallery at Market East, The Shops at Liberty Place, Jewelers' Row, South Street, Old City's 3rd Street Corridor, a wide variety of standalone independent retailers; the Rittenhouse area, known as Philadelphia's outdoor shopping mall, includes Rittenhouse Row, a four-block section of Walnut Street, which has higher-end clothing chain stores and some hipster-inspired clothing stores. The parallel streets of Sansom and Chestnut have some high-end boutiques and clothing retailers. Old City the 3rd Street corridor, has locally owned independent boutiques and art/design galleries. Midway between Old City and Broad Street is the Reading Terminal Market, with dozens of take-out restaurants, specialty food vendors, small grocery store operators, a few of which are operated by Amish farmers from nearby Lancaster County.
Philadelphia has a few eclectic neighborhood shopping districts, which consist of a few blocks along a major neighborhood thoroughfare, such as in Manayunk or Chestnut Hill. The Italian Market in South Philadelphia offers groceries, meats and housewares from Italy, but now from many nationalities. Two famed cheesesteak restaurants, Geno's
Germantown, Philadelphia
Germantown is an area in Northwest Philadelphia. Founded by German Quaker and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854; the area, about six miles northwest from the city center, now consists of two neighborhoods:'Germantown' and'East Germantown'. Germantown has played a significant role in American history. Today the area remains rich in historic sites and buildings from the colonial era, some of which are open to the public. Germantown stretches for about two miles along Germantown Avenue northwest from Windrim and Roberts Avenues. Germantown has been bounded on the southwest by Wissahickon Avenue, on the southeast by Roberts Avenue, on the east by Wister Street and Stenton Avenue, but its northwest border has expanded and contracted over the years; when first incorporated as a borough in 1689, Germantown was separated from the rural Germantown Township by Washington Lane. Today, the western part of the former borough is the neighborhood known as'Germantown' and the eastern part is the neighborhood of'East Germantown'.
While the boundary between the two neighborhoods is not well-defined and has varied over time, these days'Germantown' refers to the part of the former borough that lies west of Germantown Avenue, up through West Johnson Street, and'East Germantown' to the part that lies east of Germantown Avenue, up through East Upsal Street. The neighborhood of Mount Airy lies to the northwest and West Oak Lane to the northeast, Logan to the east, Nicetown–Tioga to the south, East Falls to the southwest; the majority of Germantown is covered by the 19144 zip code, but the area north of Chew Avenue falls in the 19138 zip code. Germantown was founded on October 6, 1683, by German settlers: thirteen Quaker and Mennonite families from Krefeld. Today the founding day of Germantown is remembered as German-American Day, a holiday in the United States, observed annually on October 6. On August 12, 1689, William Penn at London signed a charter constituting some of the inhabitants a corporation by the name of "the bailiff and commonalty of Germantown, in the county of Philadelphia, in the province of Pennsylvania."
Francis Daniel Pastorius was the first bailiff. Jacob Telner, Derick Isacks op den Graeff and his brother Abraham Isacks op den Graeff, Reynier Tyson, Tennis Coender were burgesses, besides six committeemen, they had authority to hold "the general court of the corporation of Germantowne", to make laws for the government of the settlement, to hold a court of record. This court went into operation in 1690, continued its services for sixteen years. Sometimes, to distinguish Germantown from the upper portion of German township, outside the borough, the township portion was called Upper Germantown. In 1688, five years after its founding, Germantown became the birthplace of the anti-slavery movement in America. Pastorius, Gerret Hendericks, Derick Updegraeff and Abraham Updengraef gathered at Thones Kunders's house and wrote a two-page condemnation of slavery and sent it to the governing bodies of their Quaker church, the Society of Friends; the petition was based upon the Bible's Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Though the Quaker establishment took no immediate action, the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery was a clear and forceful argument against slavery and initiated the process of banning slavery in the Society of Friends and Pennsylvania. In 1723, Germantown became the site of the first Church of the Brethren congregation in the New World; when Philadelphia was occupied by the British during the American Revolutionary War, British units were housed in Germantown. In the Battle of Germantown, on October 4, 1777, the Continental Army attacked this garrison. During the battle, a party of citizens fired on the British troops, as they marched up the avenue, mortally wounded British Brigadier General Agnew; the Americans withdrew after firing on one another in the confusion of the battle, leading to the determination that the battle resulted in a defeat of the Americans. However, the battle is sometimes considered a victory by Americans; the American loss was 673 and the British loss was 575, but along with the Army's success under Brigadier General Horatio Gates at Saratoga on October 17 when John Burgoyne surrendered, the battle led to the official recognition of the Americans by France, which formed an alliance with the Americans afterward.
During his presidency, George Washington and his family lodged at the Deshler-Morris House in Germantown to escape the city and the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. The first bank of the United States was located here during his administration. Germantown proper, the adjacent German Township, were incorporated into the City of Philadelphia in 1854 by the Act of Consolidation. Italians began settling Germantown in 1880, comprised an active and vibrant part of the community; the significant changes that occurred in Philadelphia's demographics at the start of the 20th century caused major shifts in Germantown's ethnic makeup as well. When the first wave of the Great Migration brought more than 140,000 African Americans to the city from the South, long-established Philadelphians started to move to the outskirts
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