The Boss of the City: The Stetson Legacy and Industrial North Philadelphia
07. 17. 2006
Introduction
This lecture and weeks exercises explores the development and decline of industry in North Philadelphia through the lens of the legendary Stetson Hat Factory. From a single room workshop at in 1865, John B. Stetson built the largest hat factory in the world in North Philadelphia. Covering over nine acres, the 25 building complex, once employed 5,000 workers and produced over 3,000,000 hats per year.
The Stetson hat Factory is a significant example of late 19th and early 20th century industrial production and urban company town, which served was the surrounding community, not only as a place of employment, but also provided a number of public services including a free health clinics, day-care, literacy and education services, as well as company owned sports and entertainment facilities.
As many factories and industrial production moved away from cities after WW II, many older industrial urban areas such as North Philadelphia went into decline. As trends in fashion turned away from wearing hats after 1960, production at the Stetson followed suit. In 1971 the John B. Stetson Company, with less than 300 employees, closed its doors in North Philadelphia for good. In 1979 the buildings were donated to the City of Philadelphia, who demolished all but 3 for historic preservation. An arson fire the following year destroyed the remaining properties in 1980. The Stetson Hospital at 1745 N. 4th St. is the only surviving building from the Stetson era.
Key terms
Capitalism
Refers to an economic system in which all or most of the means of production are privately owned and operated (commonly for profit), and where investments, production, distribution, income, and prices are determined largely through the operation of a free market rather than by centralized state control
(see
Corporate Paternalism
Refers to the hierarchic pattern of the family applied as a paradigm to state or corporate policy. And is often justified as a policy that prevents others from doing harm to themselves, and carries the belief that subordinates should be controlled in a "fatherly" (paternal) way for their own good.
(see
Industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period of rapid industrial growth causing a radical shift in focus from agriculture to industry during the late 1700's and early 1800's, marked by the development of harnessing of mechanical power namely the steam engine, and other technological forms of production. The Industrial Revolution was spearheaded by rapid changes in the manufacture of textiles, particularly in England about 1770 and 1830.
This period coincides with the emergence of the factory system of production, in which workers were brought together in one plant and supplied with tools, machines, and materials with which they worked in return for wages.
In many instances such as the auto industry, and as in the Stetson Hat factory, all aspects of an items production took place in a single centralized facility. In the case of the Ford motor company, every material that went into making an automobile, tires, steel, glass, etc., was created at a single facility in Dearborn, Michigan.
Factory system
The Stetson Factory is a classic example of centralized factory production, as a system of producing goods under one roof in an organized, large-scale manner. Starting around 1800 in America, the factory system began replacing earlier forms of production in which skilled craftsmen worked at home or a small shop. The factory commonly used the principle of "division of labor" to increase efficiency by dividing the work into small steps. Each small step would be done over and over by a worker, so unskilled labor could be hired. The factory system, combined with the Industrial Revolution, created an entirely new pattern of social life in American towns and cities.
(see
Post-industrial
A post-industrial society represents a shift from a centralized, factory system of production characteristic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Post-industrial also refers to the fact that the majority of those employed are not involved in the direct production of tangible goods. In contrast to centralized forms of production during the industrial revolution, the process of production is often split among several locations and production facilities. (see
Infrastructure
The basic facilities, services, and installations needed for the functioning of a community or city, such as transportation and communications systems, water and power lines, and public institutions including schools, post offices, and prisons.
(see
History of Philadelphia
Early Inhabitants
The Algonquian Indian tribes, Delaware and Shawnee, first occupied this region, living in villages along the creeks and rivers before the first Europeans arrived. Village populations ranged from 100 to 300 people, and these villages were moved frequently to support population growth.
First European Settlement
By 1609 Dutch and Swedish colonists had explored, traded, and farmed along the Delaware River. In 1615 a navigator from the Netherlands viewed the land site that became Philadelphia. A Dutch trading post and stockade were established within the present limits of Philadelphia in 1623. In the mid-1600's, several treaties were signed with the Indian tribes for the purchase of their lands. Between 1643 and 1681, Swedes and Dutch settled in the area, as well as Finns and English. Most of them lived in cabins on good farming land near the river. Fur and tobacco were their main commodities for trading.
First Colonial Settlement
In March 1681 William Penn received the title to Pennsylvania in a land grant from King Charles II of England. Penn assigned a commission to select a location with suitable water frontage on the Delaware River. Penn arrived at the site to establish the city, Philadelphia, in October 1682. He planned a rectangular grid pattern on 1,200 acres between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. At this time, the plan consisted of a 22- by 8-block grid pattern, a building and housing layout, and potential for the city to grow. His plan also provided an innovative urban planning design of four public squares (now parks) and a town square (now City Hall). Penn's plan would influence the future growth of Philadelphia and help set the urban planning pattern for many cities in America.
Incorporation of City
The governor and council established Philadelphia as the seat of government and capital of the colony of Pennsylvania in March 1683. During the next few years, Philadelphia expanded rapidly and flourished, with inhabitants numbering from a few hundred at first to a few thousand in 1700. Most settlers in the area now were Quakers or Friends from England, but as the community developed into a thriving trade center, increasing numbers of German, Scottish, and Irish immigrants arrived. The community was incorporated as a city in 1701. The population grew to about 7,000 in the early 1700's, and Philadelphia, a trading and manufacturing center, soon became a key port and major city before the American Revolution.
Philadelphia: U.S. and State "firsts"
- First public school in 1689
- State's first newspaper in 1719
- Colonies' first public library established in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin
- First volunteer fire company in 1736
- First novel published in America, 1744
- America's first hospital in 1755
- America's first stock exchange in 1746
- First fire insurance company in 1752
- First life insurance company in 1759
- First Continental Congress in 1774
- First American flag in 1777
- First commercial bank, chartered in 1781
- First "President's House" 1790 - 1800
- America's first paved turnpike
- First World's Fair in the United States in 1876
- Pennsylvania's first commercial television station in 1941
Philadelphia was the largest city in US until 1830
The Philadelphia Industrial Story
Early success of Philadelphia as an Industrial center can be traced to three conditions:
1) Transportation: city was positioned between two rivers, The Delaware, connecting the City to the sea and international trade, and the Schukyll, which connected the city to the interior and sources of raw materials.
2) Energy and Raw material: Pennsylvania is resource rich state, with coal, iron ore, timber, and a variety of stone for building material near to Philadelphia. First North American oil well tapped near Erie Pennsylvania, Philadelphia was once largest oil and gas refining center in US.
3) Political and Economic: Philadelphia was first US Capital and home to first Congress, also was Nation's center of banking and finance.
Philadelphia 1880 - 1920
Once known as “World’s Greatest Workshop”, ranked first in U.S. in production of hat making, clothing and knitted goods, carpets and rugs, locomotives, street cars, saws, surgical equipment, oil cloth, linoleum, pharmaceuticals
By 1917
manufacturing plants: 8,379
industrial employment: 250,000
40 hat making plants = more than 1/2 total production in US, and greater revenue than combined total of hat production in Britain
Urban Planning
Philadelphia began as a planned city, first laid out by William Penn in the fashion of a checkerboard. Philadelphia urbanization at first involved the movement and clustering of people into the city and later the transformation of the rural countryside into suburbs, thus forming one large metropolitan area.
Urbanization grew as immigrants came into the city. Philadelphia continued its street grid system indefinitely along the urban border. The rectangular survey of open farmland and the laying out of streets and blocks provided an effective and efficient method for rapid urban development. However, by the early 1900's, the city had outgrown itself; much of its growth happened without planning, which resulted in congestion. With improved highway networks, areas immediately outside the city became more accessible for development. Philadelphia continued to promote the city in the 1930's by issuing a pamphlet entitled "Philadelphia, Historic in the Past, Inviting in the Present, Superb in the Future," and implementing "The Regional Plan" for future expansion.
The 1950's saw a heavy migration of people and industry to the suburbs and many downtown jobs were lost. Most large cities like Philadelphia were suffering from suburban growth where the suburbs grew faster than the city itself. Many neighborhoods, such as Germantown, East Falls, Queen Village, Bridesburg, Kensington, and Manayunk, would retain the environment of the ethnic groups that initially settled there. Philadelphia engaged in a series of self-improvement plans in the 1950's by replacing blocks of buildings with beautiful parks, modern buildings, and parking garages and by providing better transportation. During this urban renewal the city lost some significant architecture and Victorian structures. But these improvement plans were an attempt to revitalize the downtown area, and the appearance of downtown changed dramatically with major redevelopment and restoration projects. Some areas that were once industrialized and populated are now open areas for future use. The city of Philadelphia has maintained itself while preserving as much as possible of the old and integrating the new.
Over the years, Philadelphia urban sprawl has extended nearly 100 square miles across southeastern Pennsylvania and into Delaware and New Jersey. The Philadelphia metropolitan area has expanded to the point that it merges with several nearby cities, forming a large urbanized area. The Philadelphia urban region is part of the huge, consolidated urban sprawl from Boston to Washington, and it is one of the few regions in the United States that has been urbanized for 300 years.
Exploring further: Philadelphia's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI)