A Philadelphia Story: Founders and Famous Families from the City of Brotherly Love
COPYRIGHT © 2016 by Lori Litchman
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any fashion, print, facsimile, or electronic, or by any method yet to be developed, without express permission of the copyright holder.
For further information, please contact the publisher:
Clerisy Press
An imprint of AdventureKEEN
2204 1st Ave. S., Suite 102
Birmingham, AL 35233
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Litchman, Lori.
Title: A Philadelphia story: founders and famous families from the City of Brotherly Love / Lori Litchman.
Description: Covington, KY: Clerisy Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015044042 | ISBN 9781578605699 (paperback) ISBN 9781578605705 (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: Philadelphia (Pa.)—History. | Philadelphia (Pa.)—Biography.
Statesmen—Pennsylvania—Philadelphia—Biography. | Families— Pennsylvania—Philadelphia—Biography. | Philadelphia (Pa.)—Social life and customs. | Historic sites—Pennsylvania—Philadelphia. | Historic buildiings—Pennsylvania—Philadelphia. | Philadelphia (Pa.)—Buildings, structures, etc. | BISAC: HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA).
Classification: LCC F158.3 .L78 2016 | DDC 974.8/11—dc23
LC record available at lccn.loc.gov/2015044042
Distributed by Publishers Group West
First edition, first printing
Project editor: Ritchey Halphen
Cover design: Scott McGrew
Text design: Annie Long and Travis Bryant
Cover photos: (Front, top and bottom) Ed Yakovich via Wikimedia Commons, public domain; unknown photographer, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. (Back, left) Dave Tavani. (Back, right) Penn’s Treaty with the Indians, by Benjamin West; via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Interior photos: As noted on page
Copyeditor: Lisa C. Bailey
Proofreader: Susan Elliott Brown
Indexer: Ann Weik Cassar / Cassar Technical Services
For my beloved city and all of her children
AUTHOR’S NOTE
PHILADELPHIA IS QUITE POSSIBLY my first true love.
I was not born here. I came to the city as a teenager when I attended a summer program at the University of Pennsylvania. I was a country bumpkin, having grown up in rural Pennsylvania. The city wooed me instantly with its immediacy of services and amenities, but it was the character of Philadelphia that hooked me. I grew up in a hardscrabble place, and Philadelphia had that same vibe. I could feel the love and work that went into the making of the city. I was head over heels in an instant.
I knew I had to go to college in Philadelphia. The following year, I started as a freshman at La Salle University, nestled in the Germantown section of the city. So began my decades-long love affair with Philadelphia. I truly love my city, and, as in any relationship, we have had our ups and downs. I actually wrote my MFA thesis about finding nature in Philadelphia, a feat that is easy to do, given the foundation of the city as William Penn’s “greene countrie towne.”
When offered the opportunity to write about Philadelphia’s founders and famous families and their contributions to the city, I jumped at the chance. My research method included using what I already knew about Philadelphia and adding to that by spending a year researching and learning more. This book is not an academic text, nor is it your typical history book. I like to think of it as history for the modern reader: You can read it from start to finish, or you can flip around throughout to read short bits. It is a series of snapshots about the founders and families and how those people contributed to the firsts that helped make Philadelphia the city that it has become. And it is arranged thematically rather than chronologically, looking at how the city was shaped through areas like health, law, music, sports, and other facets of society.
I spent countless hours researching everything I could about the city and its people. Inevitably, I had to leave things out, else the book would end up a tome. Nevertheless, this is a work of nonfiction. Everything is real and fact-based.
As a resident of the city for decades, I’m keenly aware that Philadelphia is not without its problems—no major city is. However, I have consciously chosen not to emphasize political scandals, corruption, or other negative pieces of Philadelphia’s history. You can find plenty about those things on your own. Rather, this book is meant to be a love story, because in times of love, the city has shone brightly. And as the city undergoes a renaissance, it’s a great time to be a Philadelphian and to visit the birthplace of our nation. I hope that you find Philadelphia as charming as I do—and that you fall in love with her, too.
—Lori Litchman
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